Cdr. Bucher's Catholic schooldays

HOW a nun obtained a free railway ticket to enable him to enter a famous American Catholic school is told by Cdr. Lloyd M. Bucher, former captain of the U.S.S. Pueblo, in his newly published book, "Bucher. My Story."
In the book Bucher recounts the seizure in 1968 of the U.S. Navy's intelligence ship by North Korea and the ordeal of himself and his crew in captivity.
He describes his early upbringing in a Catholic orphanage operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph and later at Fr. Flanagan's famous Boys' Town, Nebraska. From an Idaho State orphanage run by Mormons. Bucher was transferred to St. Joseph Catholic mission and orphanage in the North near the famous Nez Perce Indian reservation, where, he says, the Sisters "were trying to tame one of the last great wilderness areas of the United States."
A film about Boys' Town excited Bucher's desire to go there. He wrote a letter to Fr. Flanagan, asking him for admission.
"It must have been a good letter because Fr. Flanagan replied -to the Sisters, seeking more information." The Sisters agreed that Fr. Flanagan could do more for Bucher's future "than their small wilderness mission," so they enthusiastically urged his acceptance.
Neither Boys' Town nor St. Joseph Mission had money for his fare, "hut the good Mother Superior used her influence on the Union Pacific Railroad and persuaded them to let me ride on a free pass.
"So it happened that in the summer of 1941 I made alone the long overland trip to Omaha." he recounts. "The guard had been charged to keep an eye on me, but I maintained the most careful behaviour on the train.
Bucher did well at Boys' Town through the years, becoming an athletic star and graduate in the lop 10 of his class in 1946. He later became the first Boys' Town old boy to command a U.S. Navy ship.
Retreat of the future?
IT could he the retreat of the --11future. There were 96 men and women, priests, scholastics and nuns, teachers and university students, young and retired. married couples and recent
converts. They were praying a course of studies together in lecture room, late-night discussions, chapel, bar and even on the football field.
It was, in fact, the fifth "Living Theology" summer school. held again this year at Coloma College, West Wickham, Kent — run by a team of Jesuit theologians, some of them teachers at Heythrop College,
Many of the "students" came specially for Fr. John Russell's course on Teilhard de Chardin and Fr. John Mahoney's course on Moral Problems in Medicine. Fr. John Ashton lectured on Faith and Revelation in St. John's Gospel, and Fr. Kevin Donovan on Faith and the Sacred.
There were also courses on Faith and Culture (Fr. Peter Hebblethwaite), Grace, Faith and Justification (Fr. Edward Yarnold, Master of Campion Hall, Oxford). Faith and Ecumenism (Fr. Gerard Hughes, chaplain to the Catholics of Glasgow University), Faith in the Classroom (Fr. Paul Edwards), and Christian Dogmatics (Fr. Robert Butterworth).
Fr. Michael Bossy of Stonyhurst College spoke on Faith and the Miracles of Christ, and Fr. Mahoney gave an additional talk on Private Confession.
The course was described by one participant as "an act of faith and reassurance." The experiment will be repeated next year.
Irish addicts in London
FR. SIMON O'BYRNE. 0.F.M., fr m Limerick, has visited Londo to look at the hard drug situ tion because he estimates that 30 per cent of
all addicts in ritain are Irish and many are returning home and "turning n" other young people.
Fr. Simon hinks that too much attentio is paid by the Church to bricks and mortar. He said he saw no reason why church buildings should not be converted into "doss-houses for drop-outs". As for saying Mass, "I could do that on the corner of the street here," he said outside a pub used by hippies.
His Catholic Youth Crusade, which claims to have a third of Ireland's youth as members, has its own prayer against drug addiction.
Disc jockey Savile in pulpit
SPEAKING for three quarters of an hour without notes, Jimmy Savile, the disc jockey and entertainer, gave the address on Sunday of last week at St. Patrick's Church, Jersey, at the invitation of the parish priest, Fr. Anthony Moore.
Welcoming him. Fr. Moore said: "Some people will no doubt make the criticism that to make use of a famous star by inviting him to speak from the pulpit is little more than a gimmick.
"That is correct. It is a gimmick, and I cannot think of a better way of getting through than the message Jimmy will put across this morning. After all, there is really only one Star, and anything that anyone can do or say to bring us closer to Him, then God bless him for it."
Beginning "Hallo all!" Mr. Saviie said: "I don't see myself as any sort of gimmick at the moment. I rather like to think of myself as an ordinary person who has been invited here to say my piece, for surely a pulpit should be a place not only for the clergy but for anyone to come to and expound their views an life."
He spoke of his early working life in a coal mine, being injured in an explosion and having to wear a steel corset for many years. He said the injury had forced him to find another way of living.
"I found that I had some talent for organising and running dances, and that was how I first entered the entertainment business. I worked myself very hard over the years, and am now in the position of needing to work only one day a week.
"I could, if I wished. spend all my spare time on pleasure; but a full stomach sometimes forgets what it is like to go hungry. It is often quite difficult to he successful and still remember the other side of the coin."
Addressing particularly the young people in the congregation, Mr. Savile said: "If you don't dig all this religious business, don't just turn your back on it. God has plenty of patience and will wait for you. The worst thing you can do is to sever everything."
He said he had spoken in ten different churches of seven denominations this year, and done charitable work in "strange places of mentally disturbed people," including Broadmoor and Rampton.