Of Martha’s family, only Louise had attended the simple civil ceremony.
Now, after fifteen years, Martha’s relatives were beginning to thaw; at least Frank and Martha were now invited to family gatherings. They were childless. Some of the family saw that as God’s punishment.
Martha was Vince’s godmother. That selection had been made well before her “pagan” wedding. Vincent had always been close to Martha, even though in more recent years he was troubled by her sinful state.
“So,” Frank said, “how ya doin’, Vinnie? This place as nice as it seems? It seems new. It even smells, new.”
“It is nice, Uncle Frank. And it’s exciting. Our faculty-well, they’re Sulpician priests. All they do is teach seminarians. That’s what they joined up for. It’s not like it was at Sacred Heart. The priests on that faculty never got a chance to do what they signed up for-being priests in a parish. These guys-the Sulps-chose to teach. And it shows. It’s challenging.
“Which reminds me, Tony …” He turned to his brother. “How’re you doing at De LaSalle?”
“Pretty damn good-”
“Tony!” Louise shushed her son. “Don’t swear! We’re in the seminary.”
“Sorry, Ma. We’re doin’ very well, Vin. We’re three and oh. We’re lookin’ at an unbeaten season. And my arm has never been better.”
“How about your studies?”
“Yes!” their mother seconded.
“They’re okay … well, adequate. They’re never gonna put bread on the table. Football will.”
“But for how many years?” Vince pointed out.
“Enough,” Tony replied. “Enough to salt away a stash. Besides, my plan is to play pro football until my joints won’t bend anymore. And then, you know what? I’m gonna do sports broadcasts. I’ve got more vocabulary than all the guys doin’ play-by-play put together.”
“Tony …” Vince shook his head. “Do you ever look at the statistics? Do you have any idea what the odds are? The odds that you can make it to the pros? Granted, if you get that far, you’d probably be a cinch for broadcasting. But how big a chance do you have to beat out the best of the best?”
“That’s what I tell him all the time, Vincent,” Louise said. “Listen to your brother, Tony. He knows what he’s talking about.”
“I’m bored!” Lucy complained loudly. She was close to whining. “Can I go outside?”
“No,” her mother said. “Be a nice girl and sit still.”
Lucy subsided, but looked as if she might burst into tears at any minute. She wriggled unhappily on her chair, almost in rhythm with her trembling lower lip.
“Why not?” Frank said. “There’s nothing out here to hurt her.”
“For cryin’ out loud,” Tony said, “let her go before she drives us all nuts.” Tony had seen his sister in action; he knew that she was not about to sit silent and/or still.
“Oh, all right,” Louise relented. “But stay out in front where all the cars are parked. And don’t bother anyone. Mind now, stay in front.”
Freed from the adult world, Lucy went skipping out of the room and up the exit steps.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us,” Louise said, “I want to talk to my baby for a little while.” She grasped one of Vincent’s sleeves and tugged on it.
Vincent, laughing, went off with his mother. The others grinned at the sight. Vincent made almost two of her. That she should commandeer her son all the while calling him her “baby” was ludicrous. Only a mother could pull it off.
6
“Where can we talk?” Louise asked.
Vincent thought for a moment. “If you don’t mind walking, the cloisters.”
“Walking is good.”
Vincent led the way to the enclosed walkways. Constructed of brick and lots of glass, the cloisters area was H-shaped. Two north-south walkways joined the two residence halls with the main building. An east-west structure joined the aforementioned cloisters. They were used extensively to get from here to there.
The main building contained offices, library, refectory, and classrooms. The residence halls-named Edward and William after two of the founding Michigan bishops-contained student and faculty rooms and large recreation rooms. Students and staff were constantly on the move from one place to another. Cloisters, because they were so light and airy-and heated in winter-were popular places just to walk or, while walking, for conversation or prayer.
Vincent and Louise walked slowly but steadily. Only occasionally did anyone pass them. The area, though wide open, was nonetheless one of the most private areas in the institution.
“Vinnie,” his mother began, “pretty soon you’re going to be a priest.”
“Ma, it’s a good four years off.”
“Four years goes awful fast.”
“Not for me.”
“I know. I know, baby. But when you get older, time seems to go faster.”
“Ma, you’re only forty-three!”
“I know. It wasn’t me I wanted to talk to you about. It’s your aunt Martha.”
Vincent stopped walking. So his mother did too. Then they began again.
“I worry a lot about Martha,” Louise said. “It’s her marriage. She suffers so much because she can’t take Communion. You know she goes to church every Sunday … the Holy Days too. Did you know that?”
“No … not really. Holy Days too?”
“And Frank goes with her. Of course he’s not a Catholic. But he loves her so much. And in four years you’re going to be a holy priest of God. Sometimes before I go to sleep at night, I imagine how beautiful it’s gonna be when you say your first Solemn High Mass.” Louise’s smile was beatific. “And then I think of Martha-and Frank too. She’s your godmother. She’ll be at your Mass. And she won’t be able to take Communion.” Tears formed, then brimmed.
They walked in silence.
“Can’t you do something, Vinnie?”
“Ma, what can I do?”
“Something. Anything.”
“We don’t even study the marriage laws of the Church until my fourth year. I haven’t the slightest idea of all that might be good or bad in their marriage. I’m just at sea, Ma.”
“Won’t you try? For me?”
He had no idea what if anything he might be able to do. But this was his mother. No one on earth did he love as he loved his mother. “Ma, I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to fix things up. Trust me?”
She tilted her chin. He bent closer. She kissed him on both cheeks. “Now,” she said, “let’s go back to the parlor. Then you can take Aunt Martha and Uncle Frank for a nice walk and tell them you’re going to help them.”
“But, Ma-”
“Then Aunt Martha will be as happy as me that you’re going to help her. Not another word now …” She put a finger to his lips to prevent what he intended to be another word.
They returned to the parlor to find Tony doing stretching exercises in one corner and Frank and Martha sitting on the couch contentedly holding hands. At the sight of the couple’s bliss, Vincent was confused. He knew from Church law that they were not married in the eyes of that same Church. But … living in sin? He wondered.
Louise steered straight for her sister and brother-in-law. “Vinnie wants to take you to see-what was it you were going to show them, baby?”
“The … uh … the crypt chapels.”
“I’ll just take Tony outside so we can be with Lucy,” Louise said. “You can find us there after your little tour.”
Martha smiled conspiratorially. “Come on, Frank …”
All the three needed was to turn a corner from the parlor to the prayer hall, which, besides being a place for morning, noon, and evening prayer, tripled as a classroom and an entertainment center.
They entered a series of five impressive small chapels, all portioned off from one large room and separated from one another by nothing more than a small space.
“Each of five faculty members has one of these chapels as his own. And all five celebrate Mass daily and all at the same time.”
“Isn’t that a little confusing?” Frank asked.