A Tribute to My Mentor

This is an exciting and joyous time in my life. In less than 24 hours, I will have finished my BA in philosophy from Conception Seminary College, a project I started nearly 11 years ago. Already, I have some very promising leads in my career search. There is a newspaper considering me for a semi-regular op. ed. column. (I hope to call it either The Fifth Column or The Philosopher's Stones, but we'll see...) And, to top it off, I'm having a badassed summer for the first time in several years. If you'd have seen me five years ago, you'd have gotten no indication that I had the potential to be at the wonderful crossroads at which I find myself today. My life was heading nowhere, and I was moving toward that nowhere as fast as I could drunk-drive. When nobody else, including myself, saw any good in me or any cause for hope, Father John Regan, then director of vocations for the Diocese of Joliet, whom I had known from my pathetic first attempt at getting a seminary education, believed in me. He offered me a second chance, paving the way for me to complete my education, inspiring me to have confidence in myself (which some might argue has gone way overboard!), and enabling me to be where I am today, with, barring any bullsquash interventions on the part of the fates, a bright and promising life ahead of me. A real hero isn't Zeus, a flawless, all-powerful superbeing. A real hero is a regular person, faced with everyday choices, battling his or her demons--sometimes unsuccesfully, and making a positive impact on his or her fellow people. In my life, Father John Regan has been a real hero. The video below is a tribute I paid to him at a 2006 appreciation dinner marking his retirement from 13 years as Vocation Director. Please take a few moments to watch it, and get to know the John Regan I've been blessed to know.