“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”
The previous quote appears in the Shakesperean play As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII. I was on a bus trip to the Catholic Shrines of Canada while I was reading this play. I was an English minor in college, so I read Shakespeare, among other authors, for enjoyment and inspiration. At a roadside rest stop I was approached by the tour guide and offered a request. “Would I be willing to celebrate Mass for the passengers on the bus at the hotel on Saturday evening?” I responded that I would if I could; I was not a priest. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. However, that request stuck with me. What would happen in a world if there was a shortage of priests? One man plays many parts. Was the priesthood a role for which I was chosen?
Three decades later another question was posed. “Are you an actor, or are your real?” It was asked by one of the HBO production crew members. He was seeking a blessing on an early Lenten Friday, and he wanted to make sure that the blessing would be authentic. Weeks later Mark Ruffalo would offer a similar assessment – “I once played a Father Joe in a movie and I wanted to meet the real one.” Indeed, one man plays many parts.
My twenty-fifth anniversary as a Roman Catholic priest occurred this week – Wednesday, 15 May. I woke up that morning, ate a bowl of Special K, drove to the Cathedral, vested one final time as a transitional deacon, and prayed. The Mass was beginning and Archbishop Bevilacqua, before he entered the Cathedral Sanctuary, stopped, and remarked to my mom that she had the best seat in the house. “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances.”
My first entrance was at St. Denis Parish in Havertown. It was in Havertown where I first offered last rites, where I reawakened my love of biscotti and other Italian treats, where I discovered the simplicity of puppet ministry, and where I embraced the beauty of high school ministry. World Youth Day trips to Rome and Toronto led to the doors of Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls where I would spend twenty-one years, or eighty-four percent of my priesthood.
The puppetry would continue. Little Flower’s mascot is a Sentinel which is a cool name, but a Roman nightwatchman is not something you would associate with an all-girls school. So secondary mascots were prevalent – a monkey, penguin, peacock, ladybug, koala, otter, owl, and several others, would be added to my puppet collection. I would teach Latin for each of those twenty-one years along with classes in Church History, Morality, Sacraments, Ecclesiology, and the Paschal Mystery. Special moments were on Thursday evenings when Senior Retreats were celebrated at local convents in the area. Evenings were spent with the Sisters at St. Joan of Arc, St. Joachim, Holy Innocents, St. Veronica, St. Martin of Tours, St. Bartholomew, St. Leo, St. Matthew, St. Cecilia, and at the retreat house with the Trinitarian Sisters next to Father Judge High School. The highlight of these years was the visit of the Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her sainted parents in September 2015. A day surrounded by the Canticle of Love.
My exit there in November of 2022 was unexpected, yet the entrance was to come home. My parents worshipped at Our Lady of Peace Church before I was born. Ridley has always been my home, and the ballfield at Blackrock Park has been a site of frequent frustrations. We may strike out; we may walk it off. We are indeed merely players. God bless you!