St. James Cathedral

January 1998, after the Mt. Elizabeth Incident

Reg takes a few hours for himself, and pays a visit to the Cathedral of St. James. He hasn’t been since he was thirteen.



During the summer after 6th grade, Reg’s parents became heavily involved in donating to the remodeling of St. James, and began to have ideas about Reg’s future. He was whisked through catechism and found himself suddenly an altar boy. Although he wasn’t really interested in his new appointment, he knew his parents were proud, which was enough for him.

At the end of summer, he was informed that he would be withdrawn from the school he attended with his friends, and would be enrolled at St. James Cathedral School. Reg’s mild protestations went unnoticed, and he spent the first three-quarters of 7th grade at the Catholic school, only occasionally seeing Henry, Derek, or Stevie.

Reg became withdrawn, and his grades suffered. His parents assumed this was an adjustment period, and Reg was never asked about any issues he might be having. One night, Reg sat at the dinner table with his parents as usual, listening to them plan his future. After realizing that his parents had some bizarre aspiration for him to become a Catholic Priest, Reg exploded, releasing a scathing and thoroughly unexpected tirade against their control, and refusing to pursue Catholicism any farther. He insisted on being returned to his previous school, on threat of failing out and shaming his parents in their little Catholic social circle.

His parents were quite taken aback by their mild-mannered son’s sudden assertiveness. There were quite a few discussions to which he was not privy, and he was eventually withdrawn from St. James, and reunited with his friends at their previous school. He and his parents stopped attending mass at St. James soon thereafter.

Upon his return, Reg endured quite a bit of crass teasing from non-friends, and now rarely mentions anything regarding that time in his life.



Stepping inside, he looks around, then slips a flask into the font of Holy Water by the door. Afterwards, he walks down the aisle, briefly stopping at a pew marked "Donated by the Taylor Family". It’s an off-time, and there are only a few people scattered through the cathedral. He walks slowly to the front, awkwardly pays his respects, then finds the offices off to the side.

Father O’Connor is busy with paperwork, but greets him warmly, noting that Reg has barely aged a day since he last saw him. Reg does his best to take that as a compliment, and spends time catching up with the priest. In truth, Reg isn’t sure why he needed to pay a visit to the cathedral, other than an odd gnawing in the back of his mind. If the priest notices, he doesn’t say anything, and they keep the conversation very general.

Father O’Connor doesn’t chastise him for not attending mass anymore, although he does say that he hopes to see him on Sunday. Reg nods and smiles, and gives a noncommittal answer. They say their goodbyes, and he excuses himself and leaves through the back door.

Reg wanders the grounds before returning to his car. Religion was a complicated topic for him, but recent events had made him question so many things. Maybe it was time to give the Church another chance.