Page 28 - Priorities #66- Winter 2017

Perhaps his trademark generosity stems from the deprivations of his youth. “I know from my own childhood that it can hurt when the grown-ups ignore you.”
Father Pius was only thirty when he first arrived at Priory. He’s eighty-seven now, and his years as a German and Latin teacher are well behind him, but he looks back on them fondly. His first students helped him learn English, including American slang, and when girls arrived at Priory in the early nineties, he welcomed the new influx of energy. They added more “human society,” he says.
Father Pius’s playful smile and affectionate nature endeared him to students, and he’s always forged spe- cial connection with the smallest Priory residents, the children of on-campus faculty. Kate Molak, daughter of Head of School Tim Molak, remembers his happy greeting from when she was little: “Hello, neighbor!” Perhaps his trademark generosity stems from the deprivations of his youth. “I know from my own childhood that it can hurt when the grown-ups ignore you,” Father Pius has said. “Not to hurt you, but just as if children are not yet completely human, which is a great, great mistake. Because kids need a lot of atten- tion and help to build up their egos, (to feel that they) count for something.”
He knows little gestures can mean a lot, as when he sought to connect with one shy seventh grad- er. “She wasn’t even my student, but somehow we always crossed paths and I greeted her. She’d say, ‘Goodmorning,’veryshyly. SoIstartedofferingher ahigh-five. Andtheotherswatched,thinkingwhat will happen now? She reciprocated.” The memory makes him laugh. “These things taught me a lot, gave me some confidence and satisfaction. Even if you wonder, what am I going to do now? There is something always to give.”