The first priest I remember was the pastor at St. Rocco's- Msgr DiGiovanni who prepared me for Communion, He waled with a staff that he often used to correct our incomplete genuflections. Fr. Cunningham and Fr. Stafford were the pastor and the curate at St. Ann'e in Flushing where I received Confirmation. In the Army I encountered a Fr. Thomas, an army chaplain in Viet Nam. When not in combat I would go to a leprosy orphanage where I met Fr. Tran who ran the orphanage with a group of VietNamese nuns.
When I returned stateside I wandered away for a while until I met Fr. O'Connell who was the Chaplain at SHAPE who was followed by Fr. Mastroantonio. O'Connel was light hearted Marcantonio was despondent. There was also Fr. McGee, the Irish chaplain to the British forces, who was the priest that married us
When I was transferred Kaiserslautern I worked with Fr. Alcuin Greenburg, a jewish convert to the faith who was a Benedictine Monk serving as an army chaplain to Landstuhl Hospital. There was also Malachi Higgiston who I met at Cursillo , who was stationed in Kaiserslautern.
Stateside again I worked with Fr. Colonel Speitel at Fort Dix. I reconnected with Malachi at Fort dix who sponsored me through the diaconate.
While in Italy there was the catholic chaplain Fr. Weydowich.
After my military career i lived and served in the Upper Darby area of Pennsylvania. Monsignor Fitzgerald was a typical Irish Philadelphian, Fr. Bill Chirriaco, Fr, Dominic, a Viet Namese priest, whose English was better than an irish immigrant priest who was in town to serve the illegal irish immigrants.
Coming to Alabama there was Joe Allen who rejected my help. Then there was Fr. Murphy at St. Johns where i have been for 20 years. Since Murphy left and died there was Monsignor Sexton and now Phil O'Kennedy as pastor. Ran through a number of associates, Allen Mackey, Thomas Woods, Joe Lodi, Fr. Jose, Mark Spruill and Fr. Roy Runkle who is the departing priest we feasted with last night.
All of these men have had varied influences on my life, for which I am grateful/
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