Collins did two degrees while attending the seminary. He obtained an MA in middle English at the University of Western Ontario while simultaneously completing his Bachelor of Theology at St. Peter鱿鱼视频app in 1973.
Prieur recalls 鈥渁 model student who was easy to teach.鈥�
鈥淛ust sitting there you could see the brain turning all the time and any presentations he did were so colourful,鈥� said Prieur. 鈥淏y nature I think he鱿鱼视频app an introvert but he comes alive when he steps up before a group of people. He was full of creative imagination, has a wonderful sense of humour and is so articulate.鈥�
Watson was impressed by Collins鈥� breadth of knowledge.
鈥淗e was an absolutely brilliant intellectual who was able to draw on so many different strands,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淗e drew a lot from literature 鈥� especially Catholic literature. He drew on Cardinal Newman and the Fathers of the Church and Scripture. He had a wonderful memory and a wonderful mind that could assimilate and weave together all those different strands.
鈥淗e sometimes even drew examples from TV shows. I remember one homily in which he preached about the ideal priest based on characters from Star Trek.鈥�
Watson remembers a theology teacher who brought 鈥渁 great love of the English language and good writing, good speaking and the well chosen word.鈥�
鈥淗e always quoted Strunk & White鱿鱼视频app Elements of Style. In the margins of your paper he would just put, 鈥楨.S. 13鈥� and you knew you had to look up point 13 and that was the flaw in your paragraph, whether it was a run-on sentence or you were being obtuse.鈥�
Both men recall Collins鈥� love for the writings of Cardinal Newman, Prieur believing it provides 鈥渁 real key to his spirituality.鈥� Watson concurs: 鈥淣ewman captured for him the whole idea of the saintly intellect and that鱿鱼视频app a phrase that I think describes Thomas Collins 鈥� the union of a person of profound prayer with wonderful intellectual gifts who uses those gifts very generously but with great humility.鈥�
They remember Collins as a great lover and collector of books (Prieur recalls that Collins鈥� ideal form of recreation was walking to a bookstore), but Watson points out that Collins was also a 鈥渇irst-adopter鈥� in terms of new technology.
鈥淏ack when not a lot of people had personal computers, he always had one or two that he was working with,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淚 was here in 1988 and he was working with fairly primitive computer programs back then that would enable him to put Greek and Hebrew into his texts.鈥�
Collins also impressed both men with his efficient time management. When Watson was a student, Collins told him that, first and foremost, he was a priest whose door was always open. 鈥淚f there鱿鱼视频app a crisis or there鱿鱼视频app something you really need to talk to me about, come knock on my door any time of the day or night.鈥� said Collins. Watson says he took the invitation to heart at least once. 鈥淚 had to take him up on that at about two o鈥檆lock in the morning and he came to the door in his bathrobe and slippers and said, 鈥楥ome in, sit down, let鱿鱼视频app talk.鈥� 鈥�
An unfailingly approachable priest with a quiet manner, Collins could also be playful or mischievous, sometimes with spectacular effect. Watson recalls that during a course on the Book of Revelation that went just past Easter, Collins was talking about the importance of tradition in the Church. Discussing the singing of the Exsultet and the renewing of baptismal vows, he told the class of a 鈥渓ittle known ritual that many people have forgotten in connection with Easter 鈥� the breaking of the bunny.鈥�
鈥淎nd he pulls out a two-pound, solid chocolate Easter bunny and proceeded to start banging it on the desk and we thought he鈥檇 gone right off the deep end,鈥� Watson recalled. 鈥淭hen he came around and gave everybody a piece of the chocolate bunny before we started the class.鈥�
Watson also remembers Collins saying that one of his great memories as a priest and biblical scholar was the time he got to play Scrabble with the late Fr. Raymond Brown, an editor of the Jerome Biblical Commentary who was considered a guru of all things biblical in Catholic circles. Collins described Brown as 鈥渟o down-to-earth and so unassuming,鈥� Watson said.
鈥淎nd the same way that he spoke about Raymond Brown, I would speak about him,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭hat combination is profoundly attractive in a Christian leader. There are those who speak of cardinals as Princes of the Church. And there are some cardinals who probably act like Princes of the Church. Archbishop Collins takes the subway. We want people who are humble and accessible and who people can look to and say, 鈥楾hat鱿鱼视频app an example of how Christianity should be lived by its leaders.鈥� 鈥�
Tellingly, Collins did not say who won that game of Scrabble.
Prieur proudly points out that Collins, the first cardinal from St. Peter鱿鱼视频app, is scheduled to be the principal celebrant at a Mass on May 22 as the seminary turns 100 years old.
鈥淲e booked him two years ago,鈥� Prieur said, 鈥渂ut we all had in the back of our minds . . . could be . . . could be . . . and here it has come to pass. We鈥檒l have our first cardinal celebrating the Mass for the 100th anniversary of the seminary.鈥�
(Gooden is a freelance writer in London, Ont.)