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Raymond Baumhart, SJ

It was during World War II. I was a Navy officer, having attended Catholic elementary and high schools, and earned a degree in business from Northwestern University. I was waiting for my ship in San Francisco. At the suggestion of a friend, I made a weekend preached retreat at a Jesuit house in Los Altos, California. A Navy buddy made it with me.

After one of the talks he and I were walking the grounds of El Retiro. I said, "Mike, Father Stack said that the Church will need priests after the war. You are intelligent, educated, a practicing Catholic, a good person. Why don't you become a priest?" The words were still in the air when I realized with astonishment that they applied to me. Mike put the same thought into words. Up to that moment, I planned to marry, raise a family, and become a big success in business.

There's a saying: if you want to learn to pray, go to sea. I went to sea (the Pacific) and prayed about the idea of a vocation to the priesthood. After the war ended and I was released by the Navy, I made a retreat of election at Milford, Ohio, then the Jesuit novitiate of the Chicago Province. I was especially impressed by the inspired logic of the Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Though I was familiar with diocesan priests, I preferred being a priest-teacher to being a parish priest. Some prior success as a boys club activities director and in educational activities in the Navy moved me in that direction. And though I had learned from Vincentians at DePaul Academy, I thought that the Jesuits did the priest-teacher thing better. So I joined the Society of Jesus three months after leaving military service. In the 54 years since then I have had difficulties but never a doubt that I am doing what God wants me to do. The costs of this life have been more than I thought they would be, but the rewards have been much, much more.

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