Losing Religion?

So, I was looking at this photo trying to figure out from which classroom this was taken. From what I can tell, this was Fr. James' religion class. Now, there were some odd characters that taught at Chanel around that time...but Fr. James was one downright eccentric cat. There was almost no way to predict his behavior whatsoever. Some things you could count on:

a.) He would stare in the opposite direction of the person he was reprimanding(a very uncomfortable moment if you were on the business end of that glare-kind of like looking into the eyes of an enraged, irrational wild beast...is he going to kill me?)

b.) Somebody would fart in the middle of dead silence. This would usually happen while we were reflecting on a Scripture reading in our "journals"(remember doing that?) This disturbace would usually send Fr. James into an emotional outrage, with him running from the room, slamming the door on his way out and leaving about 25 18-year-old men to sit there laughing uncomfortably. He usually came back but I seem to remember a few times when he didn't.

c.) Charles Clark would have one of his pretend "fits", falling on the floor, knocking a bunch of desks over, quivering and shaking while someone jammed a wallet into his mouth. This is one of the most hilarious things I ever saw anyone do at that school. I know it's in bad taste (especially if you've ever seen someone have a real seizure)...but what the hell, we were kids.

d.) Someone would inevitably leave one of these either on the chalkboard or on the projector screen:












This would usually send him running as well...

e.) On an exam day, we would spend almost the entire class period discussing tangential issues, then about 7-8 minutes before the end of the class, he would give us the exam. This was obviously ridiculous...an impossible task. But even more entertaining was the countdown to turn them in:
2 minutes...1 minute...30 seconds...17 seconds...9 seconds...4 seconds...1 second.

Wow.

Looking back on this, Fr. James probably had the early onset of dementia, which is a very sad condition. I've heard many people speak in high regard of him as a teacher as well as a man. I remember having a conversation with him (I don't know why or when) about fishing. He just seemed like a nice old man. Very grandfatherly. I can't say that I developed a deeper understanding of the scriptures but I sure did see some funny things in that class. And for me, humor is about as spiritual as it gets!

So, in spite of my sarcasm, here's to you Fr. James!