Father Faricy SJ
by Patricia Tomiello Perry
"I'm the least likely person in the world to have become a priest, and then to stay one. I better tell you right away that I was a bad kid. No, I don't mean difficult, I mean I did a lot of bad things. I cheated my way through high school." He even sold his school books at the beginning of each year.
Father Faricy says "if anyone ever doubts that the Lord is merciful" they need to hear his story. Graduating second to the bottom in his military high school class of 120 students, young Faricy did not have many options. His parents came from good families and wanted him to go to college, but his score on the College Board entrance exam was too low. He said he "knew nothing" because he had not paid attention for twelve straight years.
So, young Faricy joined the Navy. Although he "knew nothing" he was exceptionally bright. His officers wanted to test him. Finding out that the test included the plane geometry he flunked in high school, he read a book on the subject the night before, was fascinated how it all hung together, and he got the highest mark in plane geometry on the test the next day. That was how he got an appointment at the United States Naval Academy. The first year of college proved difficult, but he persisted and thereby met with success.
Faricy was assigned to the USS Leary, a destroyer in the North Atlantic. Still, his involvement in various criminal activities, including the black market, caused his mother to ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for his salvation. His ship docked in Lisbon, Portugal and from there he was off to a new adventure he had never dreamt.
"More or less by accident, I got to Fatima in 1948 when they were just beginning to make it a shrine." One small stand sold wine and sandwiches, and another sold rosaries. "I'm a Catholic so I bought a rosary, and then I realized I didn't know how to say it. So, I bought a little book written in several different languages that told me how pray the rosary."
Back on the USS Leary, heading to Norfolk, Virginia at 20 knots in a 20 mile an hour wind, he realized he was converted, but he "didn't know how to disentangle" himself from his bad ways. He even felt God's call to become a priest, but how? "I hadn't met a priest I didn't think was a jerk . . . that is how I felt at that time." Then he adds a little sarcastic wit, "I wasn't entirely wrong, of course." Besides, how could he become a priest when involved in criminal activity? "But," he told God, "if you do it, I'll do it." Praying the rosary in the 40 mile an hour wind, soaking wet in the ocean spray, he became a new man with a powerful gift of faith.
Converted, he regularly prayed the rosary, read the Bible from start to finish, and prayed the Stations of the Cross. "On the fourth station . . . I finally got it that the Lord died for me. And that means you, too." God's mercy changed his life.
Although Faricy loved his life as a sailor, he left to become a Jesuit priest and a Professor of Spirituality. Sent to Rome to teach graduate priests, God led him to the Charismatic Renewal. He prayed earnestly for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. On his knees, reaching out to God while forgiving others that hurt him, he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Prayers turned into laughter as he experienced joy.
"The second part of my life was just beginning." Gifts of prophesy and healing followed along with leadership positions in the Charismatic Renewal; he became a member of the National Service Committee. His book, Your Wounds Will I Heal, epitomizes life's purpose:
It is not so much that I claim [Jesus] as my Lord, as that I let him claim me. I give up being lord of my own life, letting go and entering, with my whole life, freely and consciously into the realm of his Lordship by willingly accepting that Lordship (p. 124).
Jesus transformed a disobedient and defiant schoolboy and a criminalist young sailor into a Jesuit priest, baptized with the Holy Spirit, prophesying and teaching others to become closer to God. Although now an octogenarian and retired, the theologian makes his home base at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is an Emeritus Professor of Spirituality there as well as at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He still travels the world teaching and giving seminars, from St. Bernard Catholic Church in Tracy, California where these photographs were taken, to Italy, Malaysia, Japan, England and more.
"I don't know what happened there at Fatima. I still don't know," says Father Faricy. He does give us a clue when he writes, "I can know [Jesus] mainly through his love for me. He loves me, and his love for me accepts me, forgives me, affirms me"(p. 122).
Father Robert Faricy has written and co-authored books, DVD's and CD's on various topics including Jesus and Jesus' mother, gifts of the Spirit, healing, discernments, and spiritual warfare. You may find his teachings on the web site http://www.robertfaricy.org/cgi/ .
© 2010 Patricia T Perry.
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