SIXTY-TWO YEARS AGO THIS MONTH

MY FIRST DAY OF TWELVE YEARS OF SEMINARY

Staring into a blazing sun, this photo was taken in September of 1958 a few minutes before I left home to go to Saint Thomas Seminary on old Brownsboro Road in Louisville. I had just turned fourteen. I remember buying this first black suit in Louisville at Robert Hall Clothes. 

Robert Hall Clothes Company lasted nationally from 1938-1977

Looking back, I realize now that I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that nobody was pressuring me, but I felt "compelled" to go see if I could be a priest. In fact, almost everyone I knew, from my parish priest to many in my hometown, either laughed at the idea, humored me thinking I'd be back home soon or could care less. I had very little support. In fact, my self-perception was so distorted that it has taken me until recently to get this old photo out and have it restored so I can really look at it. What I see in that photo now is certainly not what I saw then! 

Looking back, sixty-two years later, it feels like I imagine I would feel if I had crossed a mine-field loaded with land-mines during a war and survived the crossing. All I can say now is that I am "simply amazed - forever grateful." I have been very happy as a priest, but I would not want to go through those first six years of seminary again! 

This is what it looked like when I first arrived. After sixty-two years, I can still remember arriving at the front door one Sunday afternoon in September.

Saint Thomas Seminary was closed fifty years ago this year. There is no trace of it left. It was demolished and replaced by a high-end subdivision called the Woods of Saint Thomas. 

I still dream about it. In my dreams I am always walking through an abandoned building with vines growing all over it. As I am walking through it, I am imagining how it would look "restored." I guess my mind is still trying to "redeem" those stressful years.