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more than just a job ��� it was a logical extension of his vocation. Year after year his students would witness his euphoria in sharing knowledge, insights and perspectives with them. And even a few of his colleagues, like Ingrid Dorer Fitzpatrick and Steve Sommers, were fortunate enough to teamteach ���Civilization��� classes with him. What outstanding professional experiences these were for Steve and Ingrid, for not many instructors have opportunities to share their classroom with such a master teacher. Moreover, whether Richard was seated in front of a class analyzing a literary text or sharing his Sunday homilies with his parishioners, he cherished his teaching role as a sacred undertaking. I remember that in one of his opening-of-the-school-year addresses to fellow teachers, he cited a passage from Robert Bolt���s play A Man for All Seasons. In this dramatic rendition of the life of Sir Thomas More, there is an exchange between More and Richard Rich, an ambitious young man who wants Sir Thomas to use his influence to help him attain a court appointment. Instead, More encourages him to pursue a more admirable career path. More tells Rich, (and I quote) ���Why not be a teacher? You���d be a fine teacher. Perhaps even a great one.��� Rich counters: ���And if I was, who would know it?��� In his wisdom, Sir Thomas replies, ���You, your pupils, your friends, [and] God. Not a bad public, that . . .��� Like his hero, Sir Thomas More, Dick Dolezal recognized that teaching truly is a vocation, not merely a profession. What makes it so is that one does not merely choose teaching as one���s daily occupation. It is a calling for which one receives the necessary graces to devote one���s entire life not to fame and fortune but rather to a quiet life of scholarship and the thorough preparation of lessons so that one can enthusiastically invite others into a joyful love of learning. Those caught up in the ���getting and spending��� that takes place in the material world fail to recognize the value of good teaching. As More suggests, however, and as our good friend Richard Dolezal reminded us, great teachers constantly challenge themselves to do their best and always subject themselves to the scrutiny of their students, their colleagues and their God. And, finally, no listing of Richard���s admirable qualities would be complete without noting that he was first and foremost a man of deep faith. He had faith in his ability to carry out his responsibilities as a priest and educator, he had faith in his fellow human beings, and he had a deep and abiding faith in God. Many of you know that Emily Dickinson, the Belle of Amherst, was one of Richard���s favorite poets because of her ability to compress so much meaning into brief poetic passages. She often wrote about mortality, and occasionally she expressed a somewhat guarded hope in life everlasting. On her tombstone appears the enigmatic phrase, ���Called back.��� Just those two words ��� ���Called back.��� As a traveler on his pilgrim way, I am sure that Richard, like all of us, occasionally contemplated such questions as, ���Called back where?��� ���Called back to what?��� or even ���Called back to whom?��� But I am equally certain that, despite the periodic doubts that are characteristic of the human condition, our friend Richard, as a man of faith, believed that all of us truly are called back ��� called back to a loving God in whose divine embrace we will spend a resplendent eternity. And so, today, despite our sorrow, we can envision the moment at which Richard transitioned from this earthly existence to eternal life, greeted by his Creator with these approving words: ���Well done, good and faithful servant . . . Come share your master���s joy.��� n ���Richard���s optimistic outlook, his wonderful sense of humor and his ability to enjoy a hearty laugh or a practical joke were constant reminders to all of us not to take ourselves too seriously.��� LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 53