William M. Bichl, SJ, Detroit Province

I come from a devout Catholic family.  Religion in some form has always been there for me.  Both my parents were active in the parish.  My brother and I both attended the parish school, and were altar boys one after the other.  We liked the nuns and the priests at the parish and were inspired by them.

When I was finishing 6th grade, we moved into Chicago from a western suburb (Wheaton).  One underlying reason for the move was that, if I were accepted, I could go to Loyola Academy.  And underlying that hope (which was realized) was the further hope that I might receive a vocation to be a Jesuit!  Talk about farsighted parents!

I graduated from Loyola Academy in 1949, and went to Loyola University Chicago for college.  There I met several influential Jesuit priests, and thought I’d like to teach.  I filed away the remark of one Jesuit that he’d never consider teaching save as a Jesuit priest–but didn’t forget it.  He introduced me to St. Ignatius’s prayer, “Take and Receive.”  While I did not know what I wanted to do, I did know that Ignatius’s words, “Give me your love and your grace, and that is enough for me,” were true for me.

We moved from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio, while I was finishing my senior year at Loyola University in June of 1952.  The move put me in the Detroit Province when I joined the Society, since the summer I joined was the beginning of that province.  A year after Loyola, while doing a master’s at Xavier in Cincinnati, I received a letter from a college buddy who was joining the Jesuits.  Upon reading it, I said to the Lord, “You got me!” and applied to join.  That was in the spring of 1954, and still here I am.

Fr. William M. Bichl, SJ