Quote of the Day
"I believe I have no prejudices whatsoever. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race. That's bad enough for me.
—Mark Twain

 Verse of the Day 

Some people like to make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise soothe and heal. 
–Prov 12:18

And then. . . 

Fr. Bob DeRouen was an unusual priest. I met him my freshman year of high school. He taught Spanish and English. He had somehow smuggled a parakeet into his residence room and one of the other priests saw it. Since Fr. Bob was a free spirit, the bird was also free, sitting on a perch. The priest thought it was stuffed and went to feel it. The bird nailed him on the finger. 

Our family celebrated birthdays in style. We usually had a priest or nun join us and since there were eight children, we had quite a few birthdays. I invited Fr. Bob. He brought Speedy Gonzalez in his brief case. When he opened the bag, Speedy flew out and Rosie, our dog nailed him. Since I was closest, I grabbed Rosie and pried Speedy out of her mouth. More stories about Speedy will follow.

When I went to high school, there was still much segregation. There were even places that still had water fountains labeled "colored" and "white." There was none of that in the Catholic high school I attended. Once when I was getting on a bus with a classmate who was black, the bus driver said, "to the rear of the bus!" I was shocked. Fr. Bob, who was with us, simply went to the back of the bus and sat next to my friend. Fr. Bob was French from Cajun country and his skin was a little dark. The bus driver saw his roman collar and came back and said, "Oh Father, I didn't mean you!" Without any sarcasm in his voice, Fr. Bob replied, "It's ok, I have colored blood in me too. . . it's red, just like his."

Last update: 2/4/00