MAXI BENEFITS
After thirty years Fr Paul Jervis meets again one of his heroes - Fr Stanley Maxwell SJ
It was a grand re-union for Fr Stanley Maxwell SJ and myself at St John’s Beaumont Prep School in Old Windsor on 9th August 2004. We had both parted from each other some thirty years ago when I had left the minor Seminary of St Paul in Guyana to join my family in New York in 1973. We were in the early movement of people leaving Guyana on account of the deterioration of life there.
After College and studies at the major Seminary in New York I was ordained a diocesan priest for the second New York diocese of Brooklyn, comprising also of Queens County.
During the years of my priesthood I was able to organise an annual Mass for the Guyanese Catholics in the New York metropolitan area and on October 15th we celebrated the 15th anniversary Mass with Guyana’s new bishop, Francis Alleyne OSB as celebrant.
Over the years of being in New York I have thought of the many Jesuit priests in Guyana who have had a great influence on my life, including Stanley Maxwell SJ. For the two and a half years I was a student at the minor Seminary in Guyana in preparation for the diocesan priesthood, Fr Maxwell taught English and many other things besides. Rarely was he found empty-handed, for he always had an electronic appliance of some sort in his hands - trying to make it workable or improving on the technology of the apparatus. In doing that he attracted the curiosity of his students, plus the young men from the nearby village of Better Hope, who learned the skill of repairing and building electronic gadgets from him. For those who had an appreciation for music, they were taught to play a variety of musical instruments by Fr Maxwell. I was introduced to playing the piano by him, but my poor instrumental performance is no reflection on his teaching ability. He is not only multi-talented and innovative, but his teaching methods are also unorthodox. Nevertheless the results were very fruitful - both for his students and certainly for myself. Fellow alumni cherish the happy memories of our time with ‘Maxi’ as he preferred to be called.
It was a sunless, grey day when I met him on the road near the entrance to St John’s Beaumont. The thirty years of our separation suddenly vanished as we were transplanted back to old times at St Paul’s Seminary. There was so much to share. Despite the calamitous, political events in Guyana in 1974 which brought him home to the UK, he continued, at St John’s Beaumont, to do what he did best - teaching boys his old trades. He continued teaching until 1987 and is still there as Chaplain
Fr Stanley Maxwell is now 82yrs old - still sound in mind and meekness of spirit. I was touched when he went down on his knees and begged my blessing - of course it was he who had blessed my life in countless ways. I presented him with a plaque in appreciation of what he did for me but he protested that he did not deserve it. It was only for the Greater Glory of God that he did so much good for me and for many others in Guyana in the true Ignatian spirit.
It was a grand re-union for Fr Stanley Maxwell SJ and myself at St John’s Beaumont Prep School in Old Windsor on 9th August 2004. We had both parted from each other some thirty years ago when I had left the minor Seminary of St Paul in Guyana to join my family in New York in 1973. We were in the early movement of people leaving Guyana on account of the deterioration of life there.
After College and studies at the major Seminary in New York I was ordained a diocesan priest for the second New York diocese of Brooklyn, comprising also of Queens County.
During the years of my priesthood I was able to organise an annual Mass for the Guyanese Catholics in the New York metropolitan area and on October 15th we celebrated the 15th anniversary Mass with Guyana’s new bishop, Francis Alleyne OSB as celebrant.
Over the years of being in New York I have thought of the many Jesuit priests in Guyana who have had a great influence on my life, including Stanley Maxwell SJ. For the two and a half years I was a student at the minor Seminary in Guyana in preparation for the diocesan priesthood, Fr Maxwell taught English and many other things besides. Rarely was he found empty-handed, for he always had an electronic appliance of some sort in his hands - trying to make it workable or improving on the technology of the apparatus. In doing that he attracted the curiosity of his students, plus the young men from the nearby village of Better Hope, who learned the skill of repairing and building electronic gadgets from him. For those who had an appreciation for music, they were taught to play a variety of musical instruments by Fr Maxwell. I was introduced to playing the piano by him, but my poor instrumental performance is no reflection on his teaching ability. He is not only multi-talented and innovative, but his teaching methods are also unorthodox. Nevertheless the results were very fruitful - both for his students and certainly for myself. Fellow alumni cherish the happy memories of our time with ‘Maxi’ as he preferred to be called.
It was a sunless, grey day when I met him on the road near the entrance to St John’s Beaumont. The thirty years of our separation suddenly vanished as we were transplanted back to old times at St Paul’s Seminary. There was so much to share. Despite the calamitous, political events in Guyana in 1974 which brought him home to the UK, he continued, at St John’s Beaumont, to do what he did best - teaching boys his old trades. He continued teaching until 1987 and is still there as Chaplain
Fr Stanley Maxwell is now 82yrs old - still sound in mind and meekness of spirit. I was touched when he went down on his knees and begged my blessing - of course it was he who had blessed my life in countless ways. I presented him with a plaque in appreciation of what he did for me but he protested that he did not deserve it. It was only for the Greater Glory of God that he did so much good for me and for many others in Guyana in the true Ignatian spirit.