Tales out of school

Just stumbled across this on 'Remembering Fr. Bill Doran, SJ (1923 - 2011)': "This Jesuit tribute contains excerpts from an article written by Fr. George Sullivan, SJ, that was published in the Spring 2011 issue of the Wisconsin Province Newsletter." I excerpt the following.

"When Bill came in as principal of Marquette High in 1968, he followed a year of real thugs in the previous senior class. There were constant fire alarms and bomb threats and the student body president had to be hustled out after school. And this was with George Haas and Joe Labaj in charge. Finally, George had a meeting with the parents of 12 suspects in the auditorium and, while he talked to them, he had scholastic Mike Fargione set off fireworks in the gallery. Thank God no parent had a heart condition. George said, 'This is what we put up with every day.'

Boy, that takes me back. Or it would if this description matched what I or any of my classmates remembered from that year.

"When Bill came in as principal, the new junior and senior classes wanted to get the school back to normal. In the first week Bill got up on stage in the auditorium and addressed the students for about 20 minutes. George Sullivan cannot remember the exact words but they were so moving that he had the entire student body behind him and ready to move forward. At the last assembly of the year, Fr. Maurice Mohr got up and thanked the students for such a good year and Bill for leading the school out of the wilderness. Those who knew Bill as the mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet may not know that, at one moment, he was Superman. (Bill became president of MUHS three months later when George Haas went on to Argentina.)

If anyone from our class has a papal audience, I suppose we'll hear of the tales about us that were told to Fr. Bergoglio back home.