My mother had ten children by the time she was thirty-five, with a new baby every two years. I was the second child, born when she was twenty-one. I had one elder brother, seven younger sisters and one younger brother. The family size inevitably led us into financial difficulty. My parents were the first casualties of the church mind that I would soon come to oppose. The most memorable events as a child were our weekend visits to my grandparent’s farm (on my mother’s side), which was still in the old world and almost European. They had a huge house, as well as a big farm with barns, cows and a wide pasture. They had large dinners, holiday gatherings and a sense of family togetherness extending through several generations.

Though our lives gradually moved away from this traditional Catholic religious background, it was there at the beginning and foundation of my life. It lingers here and there in my dreams, like a shadow out of which I gradually emerged.