Father Robert Purcell S.J.

Nature is holding back winter, it is just cold and in the 50’s for now. This is good and will give my body a chance to adjust before the real cold and snow comes. Of all the seasonal body adjustments I find this one, fall to winter, the hardest. The sun seldom comes out and snow for me is just something to bear.

In our bi-weekly faith sharing group today the question was asked who our best teacher was. I have had a few great teachers but, for me, the answer was simple. Easily it was Fr. Purcell S.J. my speech teacher for the four years I was at Jesuit College, a Jesuit seminary in Minnesota. I entered the place a shy, introverted student with a speech defect and left four years later as an articulate, extroverted student without much of a speech defect.

Father Purcell taught us all how to speak figuratively and for me literally. One technique he taught us was how to keep an observation diary, to notice small things in life and see deeply into them. One of my first entries in my first Observation Diary was: “A mufti-colored rainbow effect is produced in the insides of milk pitchers after constant use.” I consider these postings Diary of A Worm, when they are at their best, an outgrowth of this lesson of how to keep an observation diary. Over the years I was able to keep in contact with Father Purcell and visited him often in his later years and was able to give him pages from the Diary of the Worm.

When Father Purcell noticed my speech defect he gave me special attention and tutoring. One summer he took a special course in Chicago of how to work with persons like myself. When he returned he had special exercises and tapes for me to practice speaking clearly. Thanks to him, after four years I was able to communicate effectively and clearly.

I noticed today at Faith Sharing that all the best teachers mentioned were ones that gave the person special attention, usually positive but in a few case negative. We all seek attention and recognition for who we are. We are not an island and need others to challenge us and/or encourage us. We all need great teachers.

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