by Carole Anne Scott

On Monday, May 16, Sacred Heart Parish’s Our Lady’s Sodality held its Mass and banquet closing this year’s season. The pastor and spiritual director for the Sodalists, Rev. Msgr. Francis H. Kelley, celebrated a Mass for them at 5:45 p.m. in the Lower Church.

Appropriately, the Liturgy featured Marian hymns, including the sentimental favorite, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest,” in response to which, Sodality co-president and lifelong Sacred Heart resident and parishioner, Josephine (“Jo”) Nazzaro, placed a lovely bouquet before the statue of the Blessed Mother. Mary E. Sullivan, another lifelong Rossie resident and Sacred Heart parishioner, was the lector at the Mass.

Immediately following the Liturgy, the Sodalists raced over to Dedham for the banquet held in the Fineran private function room at the Picadilly Pub. Her fellow Sodalists were delighted to see co-president Mary Ahearn in attendance after her unaccustomed absence due to illness. Jo Nazzaro warmly welcomed everyone to the event, and Msgr. Kelley said the blessing over the meals.

The highlight of the dinner was not the delicious food, but rather the guest speaker, Brian McGrory, feature columnist in “The Boston Globe” (the “Globe”). As a youngster, Mr. McGrory had begun his education at Sacred Heart School where he remained until his family moved from Roslindale to Weymouth. In his remarks, he stated that he was “privileged” to have Sr. St. Rose in first grade and Mrs. Doris Foley as his second-grade teacher. Mrs. Foley was on hand that evening to talk with Brian and to present him with a copy of his report card from that now long-ago classroom.

Another former Sacred Heart School teacher, Joan Matulis, introduced Mr. McGrory to the group, saying, “It is a privilege to have Brian here tonight. It’s obvious that he has a real Fan Club because he drew so many people.” By way of background information, she explained that Brian had been born in Roslindale, moved to Weymouth, attended Weymouth North High School, and Bates College in Maine, traveled abroad, and was the Globe’s Washington DC correspondent before working his way up the ranks to where he now writes a twice-weekly column, along with finding time to have authored three novels, with a fourth in progress.

Charming and well-spoken, Mr. McGrory began by stating that he was honored to have been invited to speak to the Sodality, and went on to joke that he “didn’t mind that the invitation had come with Mike Barnicle’s name crossed out.” Speaking about his “beloved cousin” longtime “Washington Post” columnist Mary McGrory, Brian confessed, “I am the only person more uncomfortable than she when speaking to an audience,” quipping, “I inherited all of her speaking ability and none of her writing ability.”

Taking his audience for a trip down Roslindale’s own Memory Lane, Mr. McGrory reminisced about his years growing up on Stellman Road, going to the Rialto in Roslindale Village to see “Mary Poppins” and “101 Dalmations,” visiting his grandmother who worked at the Village’s Parke Snow Department Store, and having pizza at the Pleasant (something which he says he still does). Referring to the rapid and still escalating rise in the value of city property, he quipped, “A lot of you people are probably sitting on gold mines where you live.”

Becoming serious, Mr. McGrory mentioned what “an honor” it was for him to have “Mrs. Foley” in the audience, stating, “She was my most memorable teacher in all my years of school.” Relating a touching story, he explained that when his grandfather passed away and was waked at Higgins Funeral Home, the young Brian was astonished to see Mrs. Foley paying a visit. He said, “It was like having Ben Afleck there.” When he asked his Mom what Mrs. Foley was doing there, she replied, “Why, Brian, she is here for you.” Touchingly, he exclaimed, “That was something I never forgot in my life.”

Pointing out that his own interest in journalism goes way back beyond his current sixteen years at the Globe, all the way back, in fact, to his school days, Brian mentioned, “Some kids ran for president or senate. I opened my own newspaper and criticized all of them.”

In grown-up life, as the Globe’s national reporter assigned to the government beat, in 1996, he covered the Clinton v. Dole race. Referring to Clinton’s presidential sex scandals, Mr. McGrory stated, “A year later, I felt like I was the correspondent for the Playboy channel.”

In his years as a DC reporter, Brian actually managed to accomplish the major feat of snagging three one-on-one interviews with President Clinton. The first took place during a twenty-minute limousine ride with the President who had just made a locally painful decision to close the Fore River Shipyard. Warned by Clinton’s aide that he was not allowed to raise that issue because the President had not yet been fully briefed on it, Brian stated that intrepidly it was the first thing he asked!

Refreshingly honest in his reminiscences, Mr. McGrory also told the group that while riding with Clinton, he was amazed at all the people lining the route and waving. “Your mind starts to drift,” he stated, admitting, “I began to think that they were there to see me and completely tuned Clinton out!”

During his second interview, he managed to anger the President by asking questions about fundraising improprieties that had been raised. He explained to the audience that making a president angry is actually a good thing for a reporter to do. Evidently, Clinton became so enraged that he actually turned beet red and started pointing his finger at Mr. McGrory’s chest. All the while, the official White House photographer was snapping photos. When he sent the roll to Brian, he had the one showing that scene framed, and still has it hanging in his home.

Developing a quick rapport with the President by playing on his love of history and the Oval Office, Brian quickly won his confidence by telling him the little white lie that he was in the process of writing about the White House, rather than letting him know that he was in fact writing his first novel. “If you can’t lie to Bill Clinton, who can you lie to?” he quipped.

Impressed, Clinton was soon taking him on an elaborate tour of the Presidential headquarters, including the Rose Garden. He then asked him to come to see his “favorite place.” It was a small study, furnished with a desk, a CD player, golf putters and golf balls, a wall of political buttons, and a rocking chair. “This is the place where I come when I need to get away from people,” the President confided. Imagine Brian McGrory’s shock when about a month later, the Monica Lewinski story broke and it turned out that the little study, which he had seen, had been the exact scene of Clinton’s assignations with her!

Moving on to his stories about our next president, none other than George W., Brian told his delighted audience that his repeated requests for an interview made to then Governor Bush’s press secretary had fallen on deaf ears, so taking matters into his own hands, he got a copy of the Governor’s schedule and flew down to Texas. Following him from a Chamber of Commerce meeting to a visit at a homeless shelter, Brian was standing by his car as Bush exited his speaking engagement. “Who the hell are you?” Bush demanded, adding, “You’ve been following me around all day.”

When he explained that he was writing a profile on him for the Globe, Bush bellowed, “How can you do a profile on me if you don’t talk to me?” Learning that Brian had tried, but failed to get a return call from the press secretary who was standing right there (obviously great revenge), Bush apologized and invited Brian to join him in his state-trooper-guarded and driven limo on a ride to the airport. He then asked him to join him on the ride back to Austin in his private plane.

They toured Bush’s state house office together. “W.” talked about Dad, George Sr., and about how he liked being governor. He then invited Brian to join him for lunch at the Governor’s Mansion where they played ball with Spot the springer spaniel. Finally, George W. even invited him to dinner, but having spent enough time with him to write a book, let alone an article, he politely declined the offer.

Of the experience, Brian said it was amazing “how open he was before he got into that White House bubble.” Running into the President six months later, Mr. McGrory was astonished to hear him yell, ‘Hey, Boston, what the hell are you doing here?”

Continuing to regale his appreciative audience with stories too numerous to mention here, (including ones about Al Gore and Hillary Clinton), Brian eventually reached the point in his autobiography where he was asked in 1999 to take over the Globe column from Mike Barnicle who had been accused of plagiarizing and fabricating facts. Referring to his work “one of the greatest jobs of all time,” he said that during his five and a half years as the Metro columnist, he has been honored to be invited into people’s houses to interview them. Amazed at how seriously people take his writing, he said that he once received 5,000 e-mails in response to a story he had written about having to put his dog down.

Stating that as a columnist he must “be informative, entertaining, and a voice of common sense,” Mr. McGrory confessed that the big goal in journalism is “to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” He also admitted that he is still amazed that politicians return his calls!

Following his talk, there was an opportunity to ask questions. Pauline Freeley of “Heart Beats” inquired as to how Brian finds so many human-interest stories. He answered that he receives e-mails and calls with suggestions all the time. “For every tip that works out, there are ten that don’t work out,” he explained, adding, but “I am in the paper two times a week whether I have something to say or not.”

Stating that he had just heard about a couple in Roslindale who had seventeen kids, he quipped, “There has to be a story somewhere in that.”

Also in attendance that evening was Sacred Heart parishioner, Adriana Cillo, who as head of Roslindale’s litter posse, obviously shares Brian’s passion for not being a litterbug. Adriana had also made an unsuccessful run for City Council in the last election. Nodding at her and addressing her directly, Mr. McGrory comforted her by saying, “The best thing to happen in your life is not to be on the City Council.”

As you may have surmised from this article, his beliefs to the contrary, Brian McGrory is just as good a speaker as he is a writer. It was a joy to listen to Mrs. Foley’s former pupil turned feature columnist.