Bob Thomas Writes

For 47 years Father Jake had ministered to the spiritual needs of over 40,000 students in a rural community school. He had attended their ball games, officiated at a few of their weddings, and too many funerals. Now, this year was his last. He planned to give his customary speech at graduation, thank the students, parents and faculty for 47 wonderful years, and slip into retirement.

Although the students, and in fact everyone in the small town called him Father Jake, he was not a Catholic Priest. Oddly enough, He was proud of the fact that few people actually knew what religion he was. . . because he had planned it that way 47 years ago when he left the pulpit to work with students. He didn’t want to influence them about their religious choices. And he didn’t want to contradict their family’s beliefs. He just wanted to impart some guidance and wisdom based on a thorough knowledge of religion. For the first 25 years or so, he had taught religion, but many years ago the A.C.L.U. and the Atheist groups had sued the government to separate church and state. So he was relegated to a small office in a back hallway and was allowed to offer advice to anyone who asked for it. . . but, they had to ask, he couldn’t just inject the subject of religion into a normal everyday conversation during school hours, or school functions. He could no longer pray for the safety of athletes before a game, or even say the blessing at a school banquet.

The last few years had been very hard on Father Jake. Not because he wasn’t allowed to teach religion, but because he felt that so many students needed the guidance that the ‘good word’ could provide. He watched them founder aimlessly through their lives without any direction. He saw them make mistakes simply because they were too young and inexperienced to know the consequences of their actions. He had planned to stay around until his 50th year. No reason for it, other than the number 50 sounded nice, but recent attempts to legislate God out of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag had been the last straw. He couldn’t imagine a country actually legislating God in any fashion. Especially a country that was created as “One Nation, Under God…”

A few days before commencement, Father Jake received a letter from the School Board reminding him of the restrictions on prayer in schools, along with the suggestion that he make a short, congratulatory speech to the students due to time restraints, the number of speakers etc. In other words, keep “God” out of it!

As Father Jake sat on the podium during commencement he listened to the various speakers tell the Graduates about the long difficult road ahead of them, or the many wonderful memories they would carry with them. He tried to think of what he could say to them to make them look to God for help when they needed it and, He worried that he had not been able to impart enough knowledge about the impact God could have on their lives.

He heard the Principal introduce him and walked to the podium. He looked out at the sea of young faces in caps and gowns. Behind them he saw parents and Grand Parents who once sat in the same seats before him. He stammered a bit, and began.

“This will be my last opportunity to talk with you all. I want to tell you that . . . Well, you should look within yourselves to find the . . . comfort needed when times are hard. I would like to tell you all that . . .uhm, well. . . there are thoughts you can find comfort in. . . umm, when you need to calm yourself. . . umm.” Father Jake realized that he couldn’t speak, without mentioning God or religion. He glanced at the A.C.L.U. and School Board Attorneys sitting in the back of the auditorium and said, ” Well, I just wanted to wish you all well on your long journey through life. Please call on me for any assistance I can give. I hope you all learned a little something from me over the last few years. I guess I’ll be retiring after this evening, so I won’t see most of you again. I love you all. Good Night”.

As Father Jake turned to leave, he was holding back tears. The 17 year old Valedictorian stood and came to him. She put her arm around him and whispered in his ear, “We love you too, Father Jake, please turn around.” Father Jake said, “No, I need to go.” The Valedictorian took Father Jake by the shoulders and turned him toward the audience and said, “Oh, Father Jake! You sneezed!” And the entire auditorium of 5000 students, parents, faculty and Lawyers, stood up, and in unison said, “GOD BLESS YOU FATHER JAKE”!

Later, as Father Jake was walking to his apartment, he thought to himself, “Three more years isn’t that long. Plus, I believe an epidemic of hay fever is breaking out!
I’ll be needed!”

Robert R. Thomas © 1996
May not be reproduced without
written permission of the author.