You may remember that I left St. Joe's for the Jesuit Novitiate in 1966. That was a very valuable experience: it taught me Ignatian spirituality and convinced me I had a different vocation. I left shortly before vows in 1968. After graduating from USF (Latin major-- what else?) in 1970, I went to Berkeley graduate school in ancient history. After five years there, I left with an MA and most importantly the love of my life, my wife Sarah. I worked at USF for seven years, first in the Registrar's office and then the Computer Center, before getting a job as a software engineer with IBM in New York. We left San Francisco with two sons, Stephen and Mark, and returned with a third, Thomas. We have been living in Morgan Hill since 1986. I retired from IBM after 21 years in 2003. I deliberately left IBM at a relatively early age so that I could start a new career with ministry in the church. (Yes, it didn't get out of my bloodstream.) I am currently Liturgy Coordinator (probably no surprise to any of you) at my parish, St. Catherine's. It is a part-time job, except during Christmas and Easter, that allows me time to care for the house and my executive wife(Deputy County Librarian for Santa Clara County). We are soon to be grandparents for our oldest boy. Our middle boy is getting married this summer. And our youngest is graduating from UCSB in June. I am in my third year of the ministry training program (ILM) for the Diocese of San Jose.

UPDATE-Jan 18, 2011
I was ordained a permanent deacon on May 8, 2010 and assigned to my home parish, where I preach, baptize, assist at Mass on a regular schedule and am the RCIA director. My primary focus as a deacon is on the spiritually marginalized, both former Catholics who are wandering and others seeking meaning in their lives. Sarah has retired from the Santa Clara County Library system and now writes, teaches (online) and is the in-coming president of her area within the American Library Association. As you can from the picture, we have four grandchildren, two from each of our sons, Stephen and Mark.  Our third son, Thomas, took vows as a Jesuit scholastic and is currently studying philosophy at St Louis University.

plflowers@charter.net