LONG BEFORE I EVER EVEN HEARD OF GOD... HE KNEW ME AND HE FORMED ME IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB...KING DAVID IN ONE OF HIS LOVE SONGS PUTS IT THIS WAY:

"Oh Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up.You understand my thought afar off. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. For you formed my inward parts: you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame is not hidden from you. WHEN I WAS MADE IN SECRET AND SKILLFULLY WROUGHT IN LOWEST PART OF THE EARTH!"

I WAS BORN AT THE HEART OF THE LAST GREAT DEPRESSION...ON THE SECOND DAY OF JANUARY 1934. I WAS TO BE THE FOURTH MOUTH TO FEED IN A FAMILY OF SIX. SOMEHOW, I NEVER FELT REALLY WANTED. I REMEMBER HOW I WEPT DURING MOST OF THE RECENT FILM: CINDERELLA MAN. SOMEHOW I COULD RELATE TO THAT FILM EVEN THOUGH IN THE 30'S I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND MY OWN PAIN. AS A STAUNCH ROMAN CATHOLIC YOUNG MAN, HOWEVER, IT DID NOT TAKE ME LONG TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GAIN LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE WITHIN AN IRISH CATHOLIC FAMILY. I ENTERED A CARMELITE SEMINARY AT THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 14 YEARS AND BY THE TIME I WAS ORDAINED A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AT 26 YEARS OF AGE, I EXCELLED IN SPORTS, LANGUAGE AND A LOVE FOR THE POOR. I ENTHUSIASTICALLY VOLUNTEERED FOR THE ORDER'S WORSE FOREIGN MISSION FIELD: THE MARXIST BARRIOS OF SOUTHWESTERN SANTIAGO DE CHILE. MY PARISH ASSIGNMNENT: SANTO CURA DE ARS - NAMED AFTER THAT FAMOUS FRENCH LOVER OF THE POOR, THE CURE OF ARS. I IMMEDIATELY THREW MYSELF INTO THE TASK OF "CATHOLICIZING" - TO COIN A PHRASE... THE HARDENED HEARTS OF SANTIAGO'S POOR WHITE AND BLUE COLLAR WORKERS. ARMED SOLELY WITH A MORAL THEOLOGY BOOK AND A WELL WORN CANON LAW TEXT, I FAILED MISERABLY! I EVENTUALLY WAS WON OVER BY THE MARXIST PHILOSOPHY OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND BEGAN TO ESPOUSE THE DOCTRINE OF MARXISM MYSELF. I BEGAN TO SLIP, FIRST SPIRITUALLY AND THEN MORALLY. BEFORE LONG, I WAS BRAGGING ON MYSELF AS A MARXIST CHRISTIAN AND A THEOLOGICAL AGNOSTIC. In A WORD... I BECAME APOSTATE OR NON-BELIEVING MYSELF. MANY YEARS OF HEAVY DRINKING AND MORAL DECLINE FOLLOWED UNTIL WONDERFUL HE CAME ALONG!