Father William Westhoven

Father William Westhoven was a priest at the Passionist Retreat House at St Paul Of The Cross Monastery on Plymouth Road. He was the retreat master at the first four retreats I made there. I went there in the middle fifties with a group from Ford. We were all young, most of us just starting our families, and the retreats were geared to our station in life. Father Declan was the retreat director, a man with an unusual memory. While he saw us only once a week end in a year, he was able to remember our names every year we went there.

In these retreats we were exposed to a deeper religious education than we had had at Catholic school. The lectures explained our life journey and it's goal of achieving eternal life, (something we all wanted.) It was explained that it is possible to live the life of a saint, even in this secular world. It was here that I was informed about the book "The Imitation Of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. This is a small book and is broken into four parts: One: Admonitions Useful for a Spiritual Life. Two: Admonitions Leading to the Inner Life. Three: The Inward Speaking of Christ to a Faithful Soul. Four: Which Treats Especially of the Sacrament of the Altar. At that time it was an eye opener for most of us and we sometimes discussed what we learned during the year. Many of us went on annual retreats for over ten years.

Father William gave us lectures on how to live but he gave us even more after classes. He told us about his life in China, how the Chinese Communists decided to eradicate Christianity in China, how he was rounded up with other priests and Protestant ministers and put in jail. He made his bad treatment in jail very real for us. After a few years his health began to fail and he was one of the first, three, religious people expelled from China. In order to get out of China they had to walk out on a bridge and all were so weak they would not have made it if some on the other side had not come forward to help. When he regained his health, such as it was, he began to give retreats. He once surprised us all when he began to play the organ at the Sunday morning mass, he was good. After he died we decided to break our large group apart and form another group, it was named the Father William Group. I was elected to head that group and our numbers grew, all new members coming from Ford. Father William taught us about suffering and always giving thanks to God for our lives.

Jim Sheedy was a member of the Father William group and I recall how he thanked me for getting him there. A few of us convinced a fallen away Catholic to join us on a retreat. He was living a licentious life, sleeping with whoever he could persuade. Yet, he did come and was enchanted by Father William. He told us he was going to change his life. But, the lure of the flesh enveloped him once more and he did not join us again.

All this came back to me when I recommended, on Facebook, that the book "The Imitation of Christ" was appropriate. I still pick it up and read a few lines that are useful in specific situations. Yes, a form of prayer.