MCGAHAY: We all had BC in common. Period.

GROOME: We're everybody and anything. We span the age spectrum, we're administrators and we're staff and faculty. We're diverse religiously and I would say politically.

O'NEILL: Yet it's very easy to pick up after several months of not having any direct contact and immediately begin to share very interesting conversation on topics that we've had no previous discussion about. Everyone speaks from a different perspective--that's the thing that makes the meals so interesting.

The conversation is often on a fairly high intellectual plane. We talk about issues of the institution and the institution in society and in the Church. There's a lot of conversation about BC's Catholic identity and about Catholic-Jewish relations, because it's a shared interest among a number of members of the group.

And we trade a certain amount of gossip. There's a lot of good joking and irony that flavors the conversation on just about any subject. We spend a lot of time laughing, actually.

O'HARE: There's a general proposition, which of course is part of the original Biblical Jewish genius, that God made us to be happy. We have fun in one another's company--that's absolutely the reason we get together. We make one another laugh, without necessarily escaping the seriousness of life. And I think there's an unspoken level where we all admire each other. I mean, we all have our faults and failings, but we do things that are worthy of the children of God. We make a contribution.

The bachelor party was all Catholics. Without intending to be, we are now a fully integrated Jewish-Christian phenomenon.

GROOME: We talk about typical things at dinner. You know, catching up. How're you doing? How're the kids? How's the wife? What's happening? There's a certain kind of male company that men need, just as there's a kind of women's night out that women need. I wouldn't want too much of it; usually I prefer to go out with my wife or with other couples. But once in a while you need to go out with a bunch of boys and bellyache and gripe and talk about stuff that you wouldn't talk about if women were around.

MCGAHAY: Some serious things are discussed, but sort of with a nod to the absurdity of life. Conversation is pretty far ranging, which is what keeps bringing us back. Over the years it's been fun to watch the arrival and growth of children. Many of us got married during these years, and there have been job changes.

KAFKA: It's not just a social thing--I learn from these folks, every one of them. There's a certain kind of generosity of spirit. You want to kind of cheer for each other.

I've noticed these last few times, we're start- ing to get older. People are talking about retirement, things like that. But the spirit never seems to get older.

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