Anniversary of the Assassination of Jack Kennedy

This day in 1963, around 2 PM, I sat in my religion class at St. Joe's High School in Cleveland, Ohio . . . when a voice came over the PA system asking us to pray for President Kennedy--he had been shot. Thirty minutes later, Brother Stanley Matthews, SM, in quavering voice, said, "He's dead, boys. Pray for him, for ourselves, for our Country."

We left school as stunned as if our Dad had died. For us Irish Catholics especially, this was the saddest, most traumatic day of our lives.

I still pray for Jack Kennedy, for ourselves, for our Country.