Stonehill Stories Episode 6

Preview

0:00 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: If anything else in the spiritual life, we’re called to a friendship with God, and Eucharist, the Rosary, all of these methods are ways to help us develop that friendship with God. 

Introduction

0:15 - Liam Dacko: Hello and welcome to Stonehill Stories, the official podcast of Stonehill College! I’m your host, Liam Dacko, Class of 2016. I’m excited to share my conversation with Fr. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C., known to most as “Fr. Willy.” An alumnus from the Class of 1967, he has led with friendship through various roles in the Congregation of Holy Cross, including most recently as president of Holy Cross Family Ministries.

Interview

0:42 - Liam Dacko: Fr. Willy, I wanted to start off by thanking you so much for joining us. As a Holy Cross priest, you play a really important role in the Stonehill community and we’re really happy to have some Holy Cross representation on the podcast. 

0:55 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Great. It’s my delight to be here with you and it’s easy walk from where I reside on the other side of campus. So this is great. I live in The Barn, the Holy Cross community residence.

1:08 - Liam Dacko: And you haven’t always lived there, of course. You grew up in Old Town, Maine. I believe you were one of 12 children?

1:15 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: That’s right. I was number eight in the family lineup. And Old Town is halfway into the state of Maine. You can still go 200 miles more and be in the United States before you hit the Canadian border. It’s a small town right near Bangor and it is on the Penobscot River. I grew up on French Island in Old Town. The life of most people was centered on several institutions. The Catholic Church, the parish was really important, the schools, the parish school, and there were several other Catholic parishes just within a few miles. In my case, I went away to a high school at St. Joseph’s University in New Brunswick, Canada, which is about 300 miles away. And when I was in the eighth grade, the pastor of the parish announced to us that the boy with the highest grade point average at the end of the year would get a scholarship to go to St. Joseph’s University. So, I said to myself and a couple of my friends too, I’m going to get that scholarship. So, I ended up getting it. And so, I went away for high school and I’m really glad that I did that because it introduced me to a whole new way of life. And it was run by the Congregation of Holy Cross, which is the same congregation that founded and sponsored Stonehill College. 

2:50 - Liam Dacko: So, was that connection to Holy Cross ultimately what drew you to Stonehill College a few years later? 

2:56 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: It really was. I think from growing up in my family, I always thought about the priesthood, but it wasn’t…you know, the deal was sealed, I think, when I went to St. Joseph’s and the priest who was my spiritual director said, you know, if you have a vocation to the priesthood, and I think you do, you have to make a decision this summer to enter a university program because you have to major in philosophy in those days. So, I came home, and I applied to the Diocese of Portland, Maine. I was accepted. I was told to appear at the Grand Seminary in Montreal to continue studies. And I was, I still remember this very clearly, I was being driven to Montreal. We got to the suburbs by my brother. When we got to the suburbs, I said, “Stop, I’m not going through with this.” And turned the car around and came back home. And I went to the parish priest and said, “You know, it just occurred to me on the way that Holy Cross was such an exciting community. They’re smart, they teach, they travel, they’re missionaries, they go all around the world. And it just occurred to me when we were making that trip that I never thought of joining Holy Cross, but are there American Holy Cross?” And he said, “Yes, there are. They’re at the University of Notre Dame, they’re at Stonehill College.” And so, in a couple of weeks, I found myself at Stonehill College. And we had a seminary, which is now called Holy Cross Center, but it was Holy Cross Seminary at the time. And that’s where I began. 

4:38 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: As a junior, I transferred into Stonehill. Stonehill was a very different place at the time. There were at least 30 scholastic brothers who were undergraduate men who were studying to become brothers of Holy Cross. And we had at least 60, maybe 70 young men who were at Holy Cross Seminary who were preparing for the priesthood. And so, from first year of college through senior year, you could be here for four years. And also, you would also go away for a year of novitiate that time too, which I did. After junior year, I went to Bennington, Vermont for a year. That’s an introduction to the religious life. It’s a year of prayer and working on, in our case, we worked on a farm. We had all these animals and fields we had to take care of. But it’s a wonderful year, a contemplative year, and a year in which it’s really a deciding year for a lot of men who are considering the priesthood or women who are entering religious life too. They have the same process of going through a novitiate. So, after that, I took vows for one year and came back, finished at Stonehill, and then went off to Washington for theology, graduate studies. And after one year, then they transferred that whole Holy Cross College to the University of Notre Dame. So, I ended up spending the final three years of preparation for the priesthood at the University of Notre Dame.

6:12 - Liam Dacko: You sort of touched upon this already, but I’d love to explore the idea of pursuing a vocation. Why did living a spiritual life seem like the appropriate vocation for you? 

6:23 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Thank you for that. It’s a very good question, and it’s often come up. As a young altar boy, like nine or ten years old, at that time, being an altar server, I remember thinking, “Wow, what a privilege it is to be able to consecrate the host and the wine through the power of the Holy Spirit into the body and the blood of Christ.” We just were fortunate to have very good priests in our parish at the time, and they just did a lot of good things. They took care of people that were dying and the elderly and the poor. And in the Catholic school too, the nuns were always saying, you know, “Who wants to be a priest? Who wants to be a nun? Who’s going to be a brother?” And all that. So, it would keep reminding us and inviting us to think about it. So that was the beginning. When I went away to college, I had a spiritual director. We had talked about a vocation to the priesthood. And from those conversations, he’s the one that said, I think you do have a vocation, so I would encourage you to pursue it if that’s what you want to do. So that’s what happened. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted that decision. I’ve been a priest now for 53 years, and it’s just been like an amazing life. I never could have imagined all the different works and places I’ve worked around the world. 

7:51 - Liam Dacko: After you were ordained, you returned to Stonehill and you worked here throughout the 80s. What were you doing here at that time?

7:58 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Sure.

7:58 - Liam Dacko: And what were some of the takeaways from those experiences? 

8:01 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Sure. The principal work that I did here was in Campus Ministry and in Residence Life. So, I ran Holy Cross Center. At the time, it became a dormitory, a mixed dormitory for men and women. And also, I was working in Campus Ministry as one of several priests. And then in 1992, I went on sabbatical and planned to return to Stonehill after that. So, I was out at the School of Applied Theology in Berkeley, run by the Jesuit fathers at that time. In the middle of that year, the provincial superior came to me, and he said, “You know, there’s a parish in Bennington. We already had one parish that was administered by Holy Cross. He’s asking us to take that other parish, which is a diocesan parish.” So, he said, “The bishop’s plan, he can’t announce this publicly, but he’s hoping that we can take over that parish to the second parish in Bennington, and we need someone who can be gentle with people and help them move along to this merger, which is coming down the line.” So, he said, “And I’d like to ask you to become the pastor of that parish.”

9:22 - Liam Dacko: Bennington’s beautiful. What was your experience like there? 

9:25 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: I loved Bennington. In fact, I had been there for a year as a novice back in 1965/66. So, this is now 1992/93. So I was there as a pastor. I was very happy. It was just wonderful, wonderful people and all of that. And at the end of that first year, actually 10 months into it, we had an election for a new provincial superior. Hugh Cleary was elected the provincial superior. He also graduated from Stonehill. He appoints someone to be his assistant superior too. And I was appointed to be the assistant superior at that time. I had to leave Bennington very suddenly after 10 months and move to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and got involved in the leadership of Holy Cross at that time. So I was there for four years in Bridgeport. After four years, at a general chapter in Rome, which I was participating in, Hugh Cleary was elected the superior general. So, the head of the whole order. All of a sudden, I came back as the provincial superior in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 

10:39 - Liam Dacko: Being provincial superior, it’s obviously a job with a lot of weight and a lot of potential to have positive impact on others. What would you say is your sort of leadership style? What was the leadership style that you exercised during that time? 

10:57 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: You know, actually it’s evolved since then. But at the time I was realizing, number one, that, well, I think I’m in over my head. I cannot do this alone. I need God’s help. I need to really be a man of serious prayer. So that discipline was even more intense for me during that time. And then you have a council of senior priests that are chosen to advise you too. So that’s a big help. But they’re not right there at your elbow. They give their opinions, and they go back home. So, the leadership style, you have to be like a pastor to all of the members of the community. You’ve got to be supportive primarily, but also challenging. So, I was only superior for two years. Then I went off to California and was at Family Theater Productions. 

11:56 - Liam Dacko: And for our listeners, Family Theater Productions is an organization that was founded by Fr. Patrick Peyton, who was a Holy Cross priest. They produce family and faith-based media that features stories with heart. Fr. Willy, how did you end up there? 

12:12 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: The superior who followed me as the provincial superior is also a classmate. And when he was elected, he said, “Would you go out to Family Theater Productions?” I said, “I have no training or any…I like films and all that.” But he said, “Well, all you need to do is provide some stability for that place.” Because Fr. Peyton who founded it, he had died in 1992. And from that time on, we had, I think we had six different priests who were sent out there to be the directors of Family Theater Productions. And the one who lasted the longest was there for 18 months. So, he said, “All we need you to do is support the staff that’s there and to provide some stability.” So, I went out there in 2000 and I stayed there until 2014. And it’s one of the richest experiences I’ve had in my life. I also lived at a great parish in Santa Monica, St. Monica’s. It was a great, a great place to live and to work, mainly on the weekends. Then during the week, I was working at Family Theater Productions. 

13:28 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: So, we were doing a radio production. We, in Spanish and English. We were running a student film festival competition called the Angelus Student Film Festival Competition. That led to contact with a lot of the A-list personalities in Hollywood like Loretta Young, someone that supported Fr. Peyton when he got there back in the 40s. She was still alive when I got out there. Gregory Peck was the honorary chair of our film festival. Unfortunately, he died before the event took place. So, his widow is the one that, that came and accepted the award for, as the honorary chair. You know, he was in To Kill a Mockingbird and all these wonderful films. And a great Catholic man who loved, spent a lot of his time doing readings for children in the library in the last years of his life. Some just amazing people. Ricardo Montalban was also one of the honorary chairs, and he was a wonderful character. He, and- 

14:33 - Liam Dacko: He was on Fantasy Island, right? 

14:34 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: On Fantasy Island, yeah. He was the voice of, was it Khan? 

14:39 - Liam Dacko: Oh, on Star Trek. Yep. 

14:40 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Yes. 

14:42 - Liam Dacko: I mean, it sounds like you, you’ve met and worked with a lot of really interesting people through that experience. And, you know, that’s one of the reasons I was really excited to talk to you today. I’m something of a film and TV buff myself. I worked at Paramount Pictures before I started working at Stonehill. You know, I’m wondering, what were the films that had the biggest impact on you growing up? 

15:05 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Sure. Yeah. Growing up, I think It’s a Wonderful Life. I try to watch that every year. A Man for All Seasons, I think, is almost a perfect film. And it’s the story of a heroic man, Thomas More, who’s a canonized saint, a martyr for the faith. 

15:20 - Liam Dacko: Faith has the power to change lives, but so does film. 

15:25 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Yes.

15:26 - Liam Dacko: In what ways, through your work with Family Theater Productions, have you seen film change hearts and minds? 

15:33 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: I would say more than anything, any other program, it was the student film festival that we ran, because we would get submissions from, they had to be students who were in film schools at the time that they created the films. And they were usually short films, 10 minutes, and they were either live action, documentaries, or animation. You had to get Hollywood directors and writers to come and judge those submissions. And that was an exciting process to begin with. But then those young filmmakers, we would take the winners in each category and bring them to the Sundance Film Festival. They would get exposure there. We brought them to Rome and to Milan. Some of them got to meet Pope Benedict in Rome and all of that. So that experience, I think for a lot of them, was enriching. And not in every case, but I think in a lot of cases, whether they were Jewish, or Catholic, or Protestant, they ended up having their faith enriched by that experience with other filmmakers and in all of these venues around the world. And we were looking for films that inspired, that were truthful, and that were reaching out and encouraging people to move towards inclusivity, toward a mutual understanding, toward reconciliation and peace. 

17:10 - Liam Dacko: After your time at Family Theater Productions ended in 2014, you transitioned to Holy Cross Family Ministries, a religious organization also founded by Fr. Patrick Peyton. And located in Easton, the organization provides access to high quality prayer and faith-based experiences and services. What was your day-to-day like there? 

17:30 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: The whole ministry, it’s a family of ministries because we’re in 28 different locations in 17 countries on five continents. So, we have in East Africa, in Ghana, in West Africa, in India, in the Philippines, in Latin America, in four countries in Latin America, in Canada, in France, Ireland. We have all these ministry centers where there’s a lot of promotion of family prayer. And we have institutes in the family that do research on family life and how can we assist families that are in dire poverty, as in some places in Latin America, and in India, and East Africa. How can we assist families in the United States and the developed world? So those institutes are gathering data and suggesting ways. You asked about leadership style. For me, being involved as the president of Holy Cross Family Ministries meant dealing with all of these ministry centers, these leaders. And the leadership style for me evolved quite a bit at Family Theatre and here into a team form of leadership that really relies a lot on close collaborators. So, you need to try to do everything yourself, you’re just bound to fail or be very limited in what you can accomplish. But with a team and with God’s help, you can do incredible things. I’m amazed at what is continuing to go on at Holy Cross Family Ministries here on campus, but all around the world as well. 

19:15 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: It’s a huge operation with great potential and it’s something, it’s even more developed than when Fr. Peyton was alive, because we’re not doing these magnificent large events, but we’re reaching into very poor areas. One example in Kampala in Uganda, some of the missionaries that we have there, they go into these poor areas and there was one man who did not even have clothes enough that he could go to church, and he had never owned his own Rosary. He said, “I always prayed with my fingers,” but when he was given a Rosary, he was so thrilled to own his own Rosary that he didn’t have to use his fingers to count the Hail Marys and all the prayers he was doing. And they helped him get clothing so that he felt like he could go to church as well. He was too embarrassed to go to church before that. So, they’re dealing not just with the spiritual dimension of the people they’re working with, but also helping them to live with certain dignity and respect as well. 

20:22 - Liam Dacko: And you’ve retired from Holy Cross Family Ministries. 

20:25 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: I did, yeah. 

20:26 - Liam Dacko: In the last few years. 

20:26- Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Yeah, I like to say rewired rather than retired. 

20:29 - Liam Dacko: Oh, I like that. I like that. 

20:32 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Because as a member of Holy Cross and as a priest, there’s always things you can do. I did work on this little book in the last couple of years and also help out in parishes. There are always things that you can do. But I also have a lot more control over my personal schedule too. 

20:53 - Liam Dacko: Oh, that’s always nice.

20:55 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: You’ll see me walking around campus. 

20:57 - Liam Dacko: Well, it’s a beautiful campus to walk around. 

20:58 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Yeah, it is. 

20:59 - Liam Dacko: Might as well take advantage of it. Tell me about the book you wrote. What’s it called? 

21:04 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: It’s called The Family That Prays Together Stays Together. And it really came about because there are so many people that say, “You know, the Rosary is just too long. I don’t have time to pray five decades of the Rosary” or “It’s boring.” Even the gospels say you should avoid vain repetition of words. So, I wanted to address a lot of those issues. On a personal level, Rosary really was and remains important in my life. I think if anything else in the spiritual life, we’re called to a friendship with God, and Eucharist, the Rosary, all of these methods are ways to help us develop that friendship with God and to begin to realize that God is real and that we’re going to spend eternity with him. So, to me, the Rosary is a personal way of deepening that friendship with our Lord, that personal encounter. So, I’ve got a number of friends. I like spending time with them. And if God is a friend of ours, we need to spend time with him too, so that He can say at the end, “I know you. Welcome.”

22:19 - Liam Dacko: Fr. Willy, as part of your job, I’m sure you have inspired plenty of people, particularly when it comes to matters of faith. Walk me through the approach you take when people come to you who are struggling with their faith. What sort of messages do you try to impart upon them? 

22:37 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Sure. By the way, your questions have been great today, so thank you for that. 

22:40 - Liam Dacko: Oh, thank you.

22:42 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: My first impulse is just to listen. And I’ve discovered over the years that it is not my role to solve people’s problems if they come to me, but it is my role to listen, just to listen to them with your heart and to be available to support them and to help them make the decision. But they need to make the decision themselves. I may be able to help them with a few tools, but in the end, it’s really just being there and supporting them.

23:14 - Liam Dacko: And we, through this podcast, often try to share with students and prospective students the idea that Stonehill is a place to find your purpose or calling. You mentioned that you’ve been a priest for over 50 years now. Looking back on your life and journey, what would you say your life’s calling has been? 

23:36 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: You know, Stonehill used to have a lot of their literature, that theme was “The Making of a Person.” There’s something that captures a special reality about an education. And at the same time, as Matthew Kelly, I think, says, “You’re called to be the very best version of yourself that you can be.” There’s a richness in that as well. For me, I would say the life’s calling is to recognize that you’re not alone, that God who created you wants nothing more…who created me, wants nothing more than for me to be in a relationship with Him, of friendship, and to spend eternity with Him. And to do that in such a way that it invites as many other people as well to do that. 

24:38 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: C.S. Lewis, he said, “Long after all of the nebulae, all the planets and the Milky Way and all of those physical things are gone from existence, the reality is that because you’re created in the image and likeness of God, you will still be around.” When everything, all of the physical world is far gone, eternity is long. So just be aware of the great dignity that you’re called to. You’re a son of God, daughter of God. Anyway, I’m embellishing on what he said, but that’s the great awareness that this life is just a moment. It’s just the beginning of a great adventure that goes on for all eternity beyond this life. 

25:32 - Liam Dacko: I really appreciate the profound way you’ve addressed my questions. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I think you’ll give our listeners a lot to think about. Before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a great time chatting with you and been wonderful getting to know you. 

25:50 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Thank you very much, Liam. I’d like to just end with a little prayer. Maybe we can just end with a Hail Mary. 

25:58 - Liam Dacko: That would be great. 

25:59 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

26:02 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C./Liam Dacko: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

26:15 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Amen. 

26:16 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C./Liam Dacko: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. 

26:18 - Rev. Wilfred Raymond, C.S.C.: Thank you.

26:19 - Liam Dacko: Thank you, Fr. Willy. 

Credits

26:25 - Liam Dacko: Thank you for listening to Stonehill Stories! This podcast is produced by Jill Goddard and Liam Dacko of Stonehill College’s Office of Communications and Media Relations. Intro theme composed by Associate Professor of Music James Bohn. Outro theme composed by Philip Pereira. Graphic design assistance provided by Colin Spencer. To discover more about Stonehill College, visit our website at Stonehill.edu.