1939 Letters

Good advice that I received in 1939: “Pray hard and leave the future in the hands of God.”

These are two of my ordination classmates Fr. Frank Flynn and Fr. Fred La Brake just before they left for British Columbia on May 7th, 1939. Fr. Frank was from Toronto and volunteered to go out to the new diocese in Nelson, BC. He became the Vicar General of his diocese and was buried out west.

The Harpers used to visit our family on Saturday nights to play card games with my parents. I visited Dan Harper in Providence Hospital before he died.

Fr. Hugh Callahan was the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Toronto. Before that, he was the Director of Catechetics. I became his Vice-Chancellor. He later became pastor of Blessed Sacrament parish.

Fr. Jim Fullerton taught me to become an Altar Boy. He had a brother who was a priest. He spoke at my First Mass at Holy Name parish. He became the Director of Charities for the Archdiocese.

In September of 1939, the Rector of St. Augustine’s Seminary, Msgr. Brennan, wrote to Dr. Motry asking him take me at Catholic University of America to study Canon Law. Dr. Motry said that they had already started classes and I would have to arrange it with Fr. Armand who was in charge of the residence for student priests. Cardinal McGuigan of Toronto contacted Fr. Armand, who said ‘We can’t take him – because of the War every place is taken since they cannot study over in Rome. He better unpack… O wait, I just remembered that they are starting a new Faculty of Canon Law in Quebec City. I have a letter from the rector there saying that they are looking for students’. So the Chancellor, Fr. Callahan, called Quebec and they said ‘We’d be delighted to have Fr. Foy’. That night, I was on the train to Quebec to study for a Doctorate in Canon Law for three years.