Warren Christopher
A BRIEF BIO: Warren Christopher
-- 1930 Born, Baltimore, MD. Loving parents: Fred and Irene Christopher
-- 1945 Entered seminary to begin 14 year preparation for Catholic priesthood. Dunkirk, NY
-- 1952 Professed vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience in a monastic religious order, the
Passionists, St. Paul’s Monastery, Pittsburgh, PA
-- 1959 Ordained to the Catholic priesthood, St. Michael’s Monastery , Union City, NJ
-- 1959 Assigned by superiors to preach Catholic retreats in Eastern USA
-- 1968 Requested from Vatican: laicization, dispensation from monastic vows, and additional
dispensation from priestly celibacy along with permission to contract a
sacramental marriage. In other words, the “whole ecclesiastical works�!
-- 1968 December 5th, met future wife, Patricia Stephens
-- 1969 August 13th. Married Patricia S. in private ceremony: Civil Court, Manhattan. Subsequently
(1970), Church validation of our marriage: Diocese of Brooklyn
-- 1970, 1973, 1974 Births of our three children: Kelly, Kimberly and Michael. Seaford, Long Island
-- 1970 Vice President, Holmes Medical Supply, Brooklyn, NY
-- 1990 – 1996 Purchasing dept., IDE (Interstate Drug Exchange) a medical supply company, Amityville, NY
-- 1996 to present. Happily retired. Living in Pike Creek Valley, DE
The above is a seventy seven year skeletal sketch of the life of a guy named Warren Christopher. “Skeletal� is the apt expression. What puts flesh on these bare biographical bones, what breathes life into this body of facts is not the facts themselves. Rather, it is our loves, our spirituality that breathe life and meaning into our lives. First, my forty year love affair with my dear wife, Patricia. Then, the love and tenderness I (we) feel for our three beautiful children, Kelly, Kimberly, Michael and their spouses, now “suddenly� all in their thirties. These loves truly define who I am!
There is an old Latin expression the monks often used back in my monastic days: AD MULTOS ANNOS! Literally, “for many years�! It was most often used in the context of celebration. In that context it means: CELEBRATE! UPWARD AND ONWARD! Yes, I can truly celebrate my life. And for that, I am deeply grateful!
Postscript: I was never Secretary of State under Bill Clinton! However, I am a Democrat!