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Engaging cartoons/ cards.Love them. Who remembers the name of that homeless man that +W looked after.  In the 50 th card, bottom left, with a huge helmet/ tiara?? He was a bit in Ridgefield, then Winona. I forget his name...to say that he was "a character", would be an understatement.

I never met the man in question, but I heard stories about him. The Brothers were the "lore masters" since they persisted, while seminarians only had 6-7 years at the seminary max, and then they left to become priests (if they didn't leave earlier!)

It sounded like this man was a bit mental as well, going by the stories. I remember he actually died during my time at the seminary, he was in some non-Catholic setting like a group home, a Jєωιѕн something or other, I can't remember. I don't remember if the news came by word of mouth and/or it was in the Winona newspaper. It wasn't exactly a feel-good, storybook ending.

I was told the Bp. W kept him around as a constant reminder of how messed up the Modern World is, and the collateral damage it causes. Perhaps also to "test" the seminarians' virtue, to see if they have the minimal patience to deal with crazy people, the poor, etc. Because a priest will have to deal with that!

Imagine a bad seminarian/priest, only seeking the priesthood for the leisure/luxury/power/respect/comforts. Imagine how dealing with a homeless man would drive him insane. The bishop was quite wise!

I've dealt with a lot of similar things, and I'm just a chapel coordinator. I remember years back a man showed up in a Franciscan habit. He had hitchhiked to get here. I think he was seeking a "valid" priest or something -- apparently in his life quest, he had yet to find one. He left the way he came, on foot. I kept the whole interaction civil; we parted "on good terms". But he was a weirdo to be sure. This was in the earliest days of the Resistance, probably during 2013.

How about Mrs.John**n, who wore pants, and bossed all the seminarians, in 1988? Poor +W., he would preach everywhere against women wearing pants, but in Winona, SHE, not H.E., mostly wore the pants!!!

Yeah, not sure why they put up with her, other than that she was a good organizer.

Engaging cartoons/ cards.Love them. Who remembers the name of that homeless man that +W looked after.  In the 50 th card, bottom left, with a huge helmet/ tiara?? He was a bit in Ridgefield, then Winona. I forget his name...to say that he was "a character", would be an understatement.

How about Mrs.John**n, who wore pants, and bossed all the seminarians, in 1988? Poor +W., he would preach everywhere against women wearing pants, but in Winona, SHE, not H.E., mostly wore the pants!!!

If I recall the homeless man was named J.P.  His claim to fame, one year he accidentally walked in the bathroom and Archbishop Lefebvre was taking a dump.  J.P. never brushed his teeth and would eat like a horse. I am just curious if Bp. Williamson knew J.P. from his Ridgefield, Connecticut, days. 

I remember the cook, Scott (always had a plethora of beer cans in the back of his white Toyota truck), told me that when he was in culinary arts school there was a woman using an industrial mixer.  Her hair was down in a pony tail one day, and is got caught up in the mixer;  she snapped her neck instantly.