"I've always liked being a priest and a teacher," says Father George O'Brien, chair of the English department and chaplain at Mount St. Mary's College. "I've always liked that you're able to teach and have that world of ideas.
"But then being in residence at a parish, you're dealing with people, too - real life people - and you're trying to get them interested in the liturgy and to be involved in their church. Then on weekends, you're the liturgist. You're leading them in liturgy and worshipping God and trying to give them some insights into Scripture."
The 75-year-old priest, who recently celebrated his golden jubilee, was ordained by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre in 1957. After five years of parish work, his full-time ministry became education.
He taught mostly English and religion at then-Pius X High School in Downey, St. Paul's High School in Santa Fe Springs, Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance and Bishop Conaty High School in Los Angeles. At the latter two secondary schools, he also served as principal.
For a couple years, he taught part-time at Mount St. Mary's College, before joining the faculty full-time in the fall of 1978. During the last eight years, he's chaired the English department, an administrative position he held once before. This semester, as he has for many years, he's also teaching freshman English, along with a "Fact and Fiction" literature course.
During his three decades at Mount St. Mary's, Father O'Brien has seen the college's student population diversify "enormously," from being almost all-white to mirroring the demographics of today's Los Angeles County. Most of the students are Latino, with a healthy mix of African Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders and whites.
The priest has also witnessed another change - what he calls the "ATM Mentality" about college. He says, "It's like you park as close as you can to the ATM machine, do the transaction and then you're on your way," with a chuckle. "Because we live in this instant gratification, electronic society, with lots of pressures.
"It's like students today want education that way, too," he points out. "It's something for their career that's needed, but let's just get the transaction over with as quickly as possible. So that's a thing you're always dealing with. But there's this world of ideas here, too, that we're trying to get at. And that's a challenge."
A college degree has largely become something young people see as necessary to move on to the next step, he adds. Careerism, in short, usually trumps learning for learning's sake.
As a result of this, and the current video culture, teachers have to work harder at keeping students' attention in class. Father O'Brien says the whole English department uses more film and projections, and less straight lectures. Still, he reports that he's not a PowerPoint person, having students just read slides off a color screen. Instead he prefers to vary his classes with activities and discussions.
"And yet even though it's the hurried culture, the world of ideas is still there," he says, nodding. "The non-English majors in my class this morning really got into a book they're reading. So there's plenty of good cognition going on, too. It's just that we live in a high-pressured society, and time lines are budgeted up all the time."
But for the outgoing priest with the deep yet friendly voice and quick grin, the joys have far outnumbered the challenges over three decades in higher education. When people ask how he's doing, he often quips: "Well, I still waddle up to Mount St. Mary's [Chalon campus in Brentwood] every day."
One of the big joys is teaching freshman English as well as literature to upper division classes. This gives him the chance to see students mature and blossom. He also likes working one-on-one with students on writing assignments, pointing out some of the terse commandments of Strunk and White on how to make their sentences stronger and paragraphs tighter.
"I still love teaching because you can make a difference with the students - maybe they learned something that they didn't know before and they've delved a little bit deeper," he notes. "And as they go through college, you can see the growth, and that's really fun because maybe you've been part of the steps."
In addition, of course, there's the college teacher's special pleasure of having former students come back during Founder's Day (homecoming) and learning about their personal successes out in the world. Plus, he just likes working in a "wonderful community," with colleagues who care deeply about what they're doing.
But teaching literature to impressionable young minds sometimes provides another delight, according to Father O'Brien. One of his own professors pointed out to him that reading may not only be enjoyed; it can also offer psychological insights into characters.
And at its highest level, great books and short stories can provide readers with philosophical and religious observations about their very existence. In other words, the big issues - What's the purpose of life? How should one behave ethically? - are put under a microscope of words to examine at one's leisure.
"You don't have to just reserve these issues for homily time on Sunday," he says. "And with non-Catholics in the classroom, I don't want to lecture them about religion. But when it comes up in the context of discussing a book, it's natural to talk about the purpose of life, what's right and wrong, and one's relationship with God. Here's literature reflecting life."
Reflecting on his own life and vocation, Father O'Brien, who is in residence at Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills, reports he grew up in a parish - St. Anthony's in Long Beach - that had "terrific" priests and nuns while he was going to parochial elementary and high school. It also didn't hurt that his parents attended daily Mass.
"That's bound to have an effect on your value system," he declares. "Good role models never hurt anybody."
Being a priest/teacher has involved a certain amount of juggling, the academic admits. But it's worked out over the years. He has always celebrated the earliest daily Mass at his parish before heading off to his day job to teach an early class.
"I don't think I ever viewed the two ministries as in opposition," Father O'Brien says with a straight face, before chuckling again. "Because with the English and teaching, I was always able to steal stuff to use as a lead in a homily."
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