Remembering a Kindness, 50 Years Later
December 11th, 2007 by Br. Pius, OP
It is a truism that the actions we undertake often have effects far beyond our expectations. Nonetheless, it is still remarkable to see how the actions of a priest, ministering to one of God’s people, can continue to be remembered and appreciated some 50 years after they occurred. Below is a letter that appeared in the Metropolitan Diary section of the New York Times on December 10, 2007. It is a reminder about the importance of the priesthood, and especially the self-sacrificial nature of the ordained ministry.
Dear Diary:
The Diary story of St. Martin of Tours (Oct. 15), who gave a beggar half his cloak, reminded me of a New York moment in late October 1956. I was an 18-year-old actress at the Blackfriars Theater, which was run by the Dominican order. Dominican priests take a vow of poverty and own nothing, not even their clothing, which is issued by the order.
Father Robert A. Morris, who worked at the theater, offered to share a cab on a windy night of freezing rain. I lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women, only a few blocks from the priory.
As we were driving down Lexington Avenue, a scantily clad man staggered into the street and ran into an oncoming car. The impact tossed his body into the air, and it landed beside the curb.
Father Morris ordered the cabby to stop and call the police. I watched from the cab as he ran to the man, removed his black wool coat and covered the man with it — not half the coat, as St. Martin did, but the whole thing. Then Father Morris knelt in the freezing rain, administering the last rites.
Shivering, he returned to the cab in his soaking clothes. “He needed the coat more than I do,” Father Morris said. And then a soft afterthought: “I hope the Dominicans will give me another coat.”
Jocelyn Krieger
Fr. Morris, has been a Dominican Friar for more than sixty years and this year celebrated his 57th year of priesthood. He currently resides at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory at Providence College in Rhode Island. He continues to teach at the College as an instructor in the theology department. He is also one of the members of the Provincial Vocations Council, which interviews men applying to enter the Dominicans of the Province of St. Joseph.
The Blackfriars Repertory Theatre continues in existence, producing plays in the New York City area. Its artistic director is Fr. Peter John Cameron, OP, a priest of the Province of St. Joseph. Last year, during Holy Week, the theater ran performances of King of Sorrows, a part of the radio play written by Dorothy Sayers.
