As part of my Jesuit formation, I spent two years (1980 – 1982) at Fordham University studying philosophy — well, I was supposed to be studying philosophy. I was initially enrolled in a program which would have earned me the coveted and elusive, “Masters in Humanity” degree. Well, it turned out the “MaHum” was really two-year degree in Thomastic philosophy — so I dropped out of the masters program, and with some undergraduate units in philosophy from earlier studies at L.M.U., I was able to complete the Society’s requirements in a year and a half.

That gave me a whole semester in New York City with “nothing to do.” Enter one of the angels of my life:  Tom McCormick, S.J. Tom had been on the Novitiate staff when I was there and had been my superior at Sullivan Hall at L.M.U. Now he was in charge of all the California Jesuits in formation. He gave me permission to drop the masters in philosophy — and then encouraged me to use that last semester in New York to find some art classes. (It wouldn’t be the last time he did that.)

So in the spring of 1982, three or four days a week I took the “D Train” from Fordham Road down to Columbus Circle to take painting classes at the renown “Art Students League of New York.” Located on 57th Street, painters such as Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko all studied there. The place reeked of history and oil paint. I loved it. The classes were in portrait painting. I kept a few of the canvas boards from those months — proof that I could work in oil paint and that I once had the patience and skill to paint without making too much of a mess.