Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 67

PAGE G12 Lawyer willingly gives up corporate life for priesthood By JEFFREY HEIM PRESS CORRESPONDENT Shell WW For 12 ithout trepidation, Charles J. O'Byrne gave up a six-figure We'll Provuz Exczrt Advice to Help You Choose The Perfect Gift on Gentiexzn's FW. Dec UA 5-10 PM REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED. MODELS WILL BE WEARING THE LATEST FASHIONS. Fin Women's Oftlhln.

Dresses For All Occasions. Holiday Dresses. Exclusive Clothing from NYC Great Gift Giving Idea: Purchase a $100.00 Gift Certificate For $80.00. Custom Made Leather Suede Outfits Fitting All Sizes It I California. Catering to all sixes, Junior thru Missy.

4 4 lfTSTX UPrnttfi man. lBounque 1606 Route 37 East Vaughn Ave. (next to Jerry's Men Shop) Toms River NJ 08753 Hours: Mon. Tucs. Thurs 10-6 Wed.

Fri. Sat 10-5 (903)505-6155 ii'n. J- -1L- -nix -srjjr PAT FMRBANKS, S.J. Charles J. O'Byrne, a West Long Branch native who is a candidate to become a Jesuit priest, runs as a break from his studies in Chicago.

salary to take a vow of perpetual poverty. A native of West Long Branch, O'Byrne, 32, took his first religious vows in August on the way to becoming a Jesuit priest. But before becoming involved in religion full time he was a civil litigator with the Manhattan law firm of Rosenman and Colin. O'Byrne says he did not become disillusioned with the big-time, big-money, corporate world of the '80s. Nor did he have a blinding religious conversion that convinced him to change careers.

He sees his decision as a natural progression in his life and in no way difficult nor agonizing. "It honestly wasn't (agonizing)," the religious novice said during a telephone interview from Chicago where he is studying for a master's degree in philosophy and legal ethics at Loyola University. "I was very comfortable, and I enjoyed all of that very much," O'Byrne said of his former life in corporate law from 1984 to 1988 where he was one of the firm's 200 lawyers. "The money was very enjoyable. It was very generous, and I didn't have any problems with it." By his last year with the law firm, O'Byrne said his salary had climbed into the "low six figures," but he lived relatively modestly so it was not difficult to "let go." "Corporate law has its pluses and minuses," O'Byrne said.

"It's easy to criticize that lifestyle. We tend to overlook the amount of positive work that is done." He was a member of the firm's pro bono committee (which represents clients for free) and did such public service work as representing poor people who had their Social Security benefits revoked. Becoming a priest was a career O'Byrne had considered since high school. He was influenced by two older cousins who joined the Jesuits, officially known as the Society of Jesus. And while he-was attending St.

James Grammar School, Red Bank, and Red Bank Catholic High School, he was impressed by the work of the Sisters of Mercy who administer those schools. "I was very taken by their work. No matter how talented or gifted they were, they were never out for credit for themselves," he said. O'Byrne said it is a growing trend for professionals to enter the priesthood, especially the Jesuits, who are considered more involved in the secular world than other orders. There are an accountant, an astrophysicist, several teachers, a former bank executive and a prosecutor among his fellow candidates for priesthood in Chicago.

Working as a nurse's aide with terminal cancer patients and a two-month FOR YOUR HOLIDAY DINNER TURKEYS: Fresh Killed Smoked Bar-B-Que Roasted HAMS Virginia Baked Honey Cured Spiral Sliced (glazed) Sliced on a Platter or on a Frame GEESE. CAPONS a-. nip 'sr stint working with AIDS patients in New York strengthened O'Byrne's sense of mission. He described those at St. Clare's Hospital who had AIDS as mostly minority drug abusers with no family nor religious knowledge.

Bringing some comfort to these dying people, he said, "I felt a sense of ministry and God's presence through me. And that was very powerful." In 1988, O'Byrne left the law to teach religion at St. Pius High School in the South Bronx. It is a girl's school, which he described as being the poorest parochial school in the Archdiocese of New York. Despite multiple disadvantages, its students have a remarkable record of college admissions and academic achievement, and he was impressed by their courage and enthusiasm.

During breaks from law school he worked with missionaries from Central America and especially remembers his experiences in Nicaragua as strengthening his faith. "There was a lot of pain, conflict, hope and faith," there, he said. A 1977 graduate of Red Bank Catholic, O'Byrne has a bachelor's degree summa cum laude in history from Co-. lumbia College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has a Jaw degree from Columbia University Law School.

He rowed on the Columbia crew and ran the New York Marathon in 1983 and 1985. And as a staff attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York, he worked on the case arising from the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador in November 1989. O'Byrne entered the Jesuit Novitiate for the New York Province, St. Andrew Hall, Syracuse, in 1989, and has spent the past two years in studies and various apostolic works in New York state and the Dominican Republic. Among them was acting as legal counsel for reguees in criminal actions and preparing applications for asylum in Canada.

The son of John P. and Margaret M. O'Byrne West Long Branch, Charles says he has fond childhood memories of his Catholic school education and still visits the area regularly. As a high school student he was active in local Democratic politics. He wrote press releases for former Oceanport Mayor Edward Baxter and worked for Monmouth County Democratic party Chairman John Fiorino.

Working for the Monmouth County Public Information Office in 1976, he edited a book on the county for the nation's bicentenial. As a priest in the Jesuit order, which is charged with going into the secular world to do the Pope's work, O'Byrne expects to use his experience either to teach law, go into administration or do legal work for his order. "There's no shortage of work to do," he said. DUCKS Planning a Party? Let Hinck's do all the work. We have: MEATCHEESE SALADSANDWICH PLATTERS BREADROLLS BAKED GOODS Call Your Order In Today! mm TURKEY FARM Country Deli Pleasant Plaza Rt.

571 Toms River 505-3134 10-7 Sat. 10-6 Sun. 10-4.