Father Pius at 80

It’s been many years since Fa“There is Something Always to Give:” a lonely time for him. He says, ther Pius taught in the class“I know from my own childhood room at Priory, but whenever he crosses campus, it’s obvious that the special connection he has with kids is still there. Maybe it’s his quiet smile, or the playful sparkle in his eye, a look that says he might have a joke to share. Whatever it is, children pick up on Father Pius at 80 that it can hurt when the grownups ignore you. 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 attention and help to build up their egos, (to feel that they) count for something.” it. Even the smallest Priory resiHelping kids to feel that they dents—the children of on-campus count has been a kind of mission faculty—light up when Father Pius comes around. for Father Pius. Over the years, he’s learned that Kate Molak, daughter of Head of School Tim Molak, even little gestures can mean a lot. One shy seventh remembers his happy greeting from when she was grader from years past stands out in his memory. little: “Hello, neighbor!” “She wasn’t even my student, but somehow we

When asked about his way with young children, always crossed paths and I greeted her. She’d say, Father Pius smiles. “They’re great friends. They are ‘Good morning,’ very shyly. So I started offering like little dogs in that they’re sincere about their afher a high five. And the others watched, thinking fection. They don’t calculate, they don’t analyze you. what will happen now? She reciprocated.” He They like you or they don’t like you. They are very laughs with pleasure. “These things taught me a lot, rewarding.” A little attention, he says, goes a long gave me some confidence and satisfaction. Even if way. you wonder, what am I going to do now? There is

Father Pius reflects, “How it is this develops something always to give.” it’s hard to say. That we love children. It’s just After more than fifty years of living in a monassomething natural.” Perhaps those who don’t have tic community, Father Pius has learned a few things. their own children, he speculates, are more open to “To be patient with others,” he says. “And with connecting with all kids. His early years in Hungary myself too.” Living with others is not always easy. also had their effect. “I saw many young people “You are not hand-picked by God so you fit together suffering, deprived of certain necessities of daily perfectly. You have to work on it. That’s your challife, or little luxuries that children like to have. They lenge, because that’s the ideal and the idea you were discriminated against, not necessarily by other represent toward others. That’s what human society people but by their circumstances.” is. You can see today that we are unhappy because

When he was a boy, Father Pius remembers the we cannot live together. At so, at least compassion, difficulty of moving from his parents’ home to his gratitude, that was my response. You try to do what grandparents’ house to attend a better school. It was little you can to help people.”

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In January, Father Pius turns eighty years old. About his birthday, he says, wryly, “I have one every year.” He adds, “I am grateful because what I really had was what I experienced, good or bad. I am grateful about being able to move around. And I look ahead to some more time to fix some of my mistakes in life.”

Of the fifteen young men he was ordained with in Hungary, some of whom he remembers as very athletic while he was sickly, he is the only one still alive. “I certainly did not expect to live this long, and relatively well. And while the great champions of the soccer field, they are all gone.”

And then his thoughts turn from Hungary back to present day at the Priory where he enjoys, among other things, working on the computer. “I keep learning little things,” he says. And he uses the Internet. “It’s so slow today,” he comments. “I don’t know why.”

One thing is for sure—Father Pius’ mind is as sharp and quick as ever.

Father Pius and Augie Schlaak, son of Academic Dean/Assist. Head of School, Brian Schlaak, play a counting game.

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