Brogan: Keepin' the Faith!

I don’t know about you, but the Christmas Season invariably makes me sometimes pine for the seeming stability that my Catholic faith brought me when I was growing up in Concord. Long before the Catholic Church became a punchline for comics or created silence during a discussion, it provided spiritual guidance and support to thousands of individuals in the Concord area.

It wasn’t unusual, when someone asked you where you resided, to respond, “I’m in St. Peter’s Parish”, immediately identifying yourself as more than likely living in Concord’s north end. Within a several mile radius, there were three Catholic Churches -St. Johns, Sacred Heart and St. Peters. Not far away in Penacook was Immaculate Conception and in the latter 50’s, I.H.M. (Immaculate Heart of Mary) arrived on the fast-growing Loudon Road. Nearly 1/5 of Concord’s residents identified as Catholic.

In addition, there were a number of Parochial Schools providing education to hundreds of students, grades 1- 12. There was St. John’s Elementary School and St. John’s High School which was located on Pleasant Street. In 1963, it was replaced by Bishop Brady High School. Sacred Heart Church operated a school next to their church on Pleasant Street and St. Peter’s had an elementary school at 25 Walker Street, currently the home of the NH Association for the Blind.

When I announced that I had enlisted in the US Navy, I was met with some incredulous looks by a great many friends. The Lottery System was in place during those Vietnam-era years and the chances of my being drafted were rather slim. “You’ll not survive Paul. It’s a tough haul for anyone, much less you!” (Whatever that meant).

My response was to smile and remind them that I’d spent years in the Catholic School system and would apply the lessons I learned to Basic Training. It worked.

While I grew up with the image of a perfect nun being Ingrid Bergman in “The Bells of St. Mary’s”, my own experiences were not the fodder for horror stories about yardsticks gone amuck or unreasonable punishments for the tiniest infractions. Instead I found some amazing educational opportunities provided to me if I wished to take them. In fact the nuns who taught us, the Sisters of Mercy, were probably among the most honest and direct individuals I’ve ever encountered in my life. They told it like it was and never allowed you to become too full of yourself. Humility was a virtue that was stressed.

True there were some colorful experiences. I was practically charged with heresy for questioning some facets of Doctrine. I think, however, that was mostly predicated by my accidentally calling Monseigneur Sliney, our Pastor, Monseigneur Slimey, having mistaken his handwriting scrawl as an m instead of an n. He also informed me at a latter date, that I could not be an Altar Boy because I was too fat to wear the cassock. ”We don’t have them in your size”, he told me in no uncertain terms.

Nevertheless, my years at St. Peter’s and later at Brady High were filled with wondrous educational avenues to pursue and a deep and abiding respect for the teachers who brought to life the various subjects. I remain a friend of Father Robert Goodwin who taught me Math and was a priest at St. Peter’s for many years, also becoming Administrator of Brady before retiring after a lifetime of unselfishly serving others.

I regularly traveled to Keene through the early 90’s to visit Sister Mary Acquin, a funny, knowledgeable, and warmly winning person whose classes took us out of the classroom by the sheer power of her personality and desire to making the learning experience all encompassing.

Like many, the problems that the Church has faced in the more recent decades, some of which they brought on themselves, has colored my expression of my faith. I no longer regularly attend Church or go to Confession but do belief. When I do go to Church, it is because I want to and it becomes the kind of complete experience that it once was.

In 1992 and 1993, I would pass a Catholic Church (Saint Ambrose) on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles on my way to work at CBS Television City. It was not unusual for me to stop in and light a candle or attend Mass and I found the comfort I received, a great help in keeping me from falling into the traps that so many who work in the entertainment industry are prone to fall into.

A recent poll found that New Hampshire was the second least religious state in the United States. Only about 24% of residents identify as being “very religious”. With the closing of churches and the merging of parishes and the often paltry attendance at Sunday Mass, I can attest to that probably being very true.

However, I was recently pleasantly surprised by a series of classes that I presented in conjunction with Peg Fargo, for the OLLI Program at Granite State College.

I was taking a break from my customary film classes and Peg from her acclaimed “Great Decision” classes. I offhandedly referenced my Migraines and how I “Offered them up for the Souls in Purgatory” or reasoned that “We all have our cross to bear”. These are phrases I’ve heard and used for the better part of a half century and whether you practice Catholicism or not, they remain an inherent part of your vocabulary.

That was all it took for Peg, who’d grown up in NY State and attended Catholic School, and I to start talking as though we were veterans of a similar conflict. We put together the class - “Growing Up Catholic” - and hoped that someone would be interested in attending.

It exceeded all expectations. It immediately filled in Concord and when it was announced that it would be presented in Manchester, the response was so great that a second class had to be scheduled.

Active Catholics, those who had fallen by the wayside, non-Catholics, non-believers and even a lovely Jewish couple came. For many, it was a chance to reevaluate the enormous positive impact their faith and/or schooling had and continued to have on their lives. It provided some with a chance to find an inner peace and even piece together some of which had been lost. In some ways I felt almost like a Missionary, helping to bring some clarity to the lives of others.

The Catholic Church is scrutinized by many and in a lot of instances, deservedly so. Mistakes have been made but you cannot eradicate some of the genuine good that the faith has brought to many - in the past and in the present. I hope change will continue to evolve because as I grow older, I am finding it to be true that believing in something can bring a value to your life as you recognize the passage of time and the realization that you won’t live forever.

During this Christmas Season, take a few minutes to pause and reflect - whether in a church setting or simply by taking a breather from the hectic, frantic pace that our lives seem to be constantly in. Let a few moments of peace wash over you. It is time well spent. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.