The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

F O C U S O N F S F I C T I O N B LESSED A RE THE P EACEMAKERS he call came during supper at a modest home in a Roman Catholic parish in Flatbush, in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York, in the Year of Our Lord 1939. Dad was telling Billy (Mom and the rest of the kids listening as they ate) what he was learn- ing in night school at St. John’s University, School of Commerce. All about corpo- rations: what they are, how they are formed and orga- nized, how they are seen as individuals under the law, the function of the Board of Directors, what proxies are. Dad had the gift of making such things simple and inter- esting. He should have been a teacher, with his love for explaining things and his voice, “soft as an Irish rain,” as Mom would say. Dad was right up to answer the doorbell. “Now who could that be, wanting us at suppertime?” Tim could see from his place at the table that it was a policeman. Everyone knew “Redface the Cop,” as Martin O’Rourke was called. The boys prayed that he was not calling to talk with Dad about something one of them might have done. Maybe he just wanted to remind Dad about the next meeting of the Ancient Order of Hibernians that both belonged to. After a whispered conversation, Dad said in a low voice, “Thanks, Martin, we’ll see what can be done.” Redface saluted. Dad went back to the table with a quick kiss for Mom. “Supper was delicious, wasn’t it, boys?” A cho- rus of “Yes!” followed. Then, to Mom, he said, “Sorry, Kathleen, but I’ve got to help out up the street. I shouldn’t be long. And with your permission I’ll take Tim along. There might be a chance for him to learn something.” “I know, of course. Jesus and Patrick be with you.” “And Mary and Joseph with you.” “Tim, lad, we’re going to the Quillens,” Dad said as they ran out the door. “You are going to learn a little about being a peacemaker. And isn’t the Quillen girl in your class?” Yes, Maureen Quillen was in Tim’s class, the eighth grade at St. Vincent’s gram- mar school, which was about to graduate. She lived with her mother and father and a new baby sister in a store- front next to the bar and grill on the corner. When a small business would fail, as often happened, and move out of a store, the owner of the property would some- T A N EARLY EDUCATION IN PEACEMAKING IN B ROOKLYN LASTS A LIFETIME . B Y F RANCIS X AVIER C UNNINGHAM Donald Mulligan 32 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4