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I said, “You don't mean it, sir.” “Yes,” he said, “and I'm looking for that. Keep your eye out. You'll see Bridges back in the church before he dies.”
That was interesting. That was amusing. There was a grain of truth in it. He might come back. I still watch. As of 1953, I still say, “Some day I'll probably read in the paper that Bridges has been received back into the church of his baptism and his childhood.” It might be. Worse things could have happened. Of course, he's complicated his path back enormously now by divorce, evil living, I guess remarriage and a lot of other things. So that complicates his path back into the church, but as it stood at that date when he was married to one wife and had his children in a Catholic school it would not have been difficult and it would not have created a terrific rumpus either. It would not have created any rumpus among the longshoremen, because very large numbers of them were certainly Catholic.
As a matter of fact, I asked Roger Lapham's son, the newspaper one, a very nice man, about the waterfront mission. As a newspaper man he knew something about it. He told me very fine things about it and he gave me a glowing description of the young priest who was working
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