Clive Stanley Morgan wasn't quite sure where or when he was born. He grew up in the Belvedere Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland. The nuns at the orphanage told him he was anonymously dropped off there when he was less than a year old, which would make him approximately sixty years old. You often hear terrible stories of children growing up in orphanages, especially those run by nuns, but Clive didn't mind it. Even as a very young child, he liked the routine of it. He enjoyed the scheduled chores and having to wake up and go to bed at the same time every day. And he always had a good time playing with the other children at the orphanage.
As he grew into his teens, he wasn't the only lifelong resident of the orphanage, and so many of the kids there were like brothers and sisters to Clive. When Clive was old enough he had started helping out around the orphanage, doing extra odd jobs and taking on more chores than the other kids. He quickly became a favourite of the nuns, and in his teens, he became close friends with a priest who worked out of the orphanage.
Father Anthony was in his sixties, kind and very easy to talk to. He had quite the acerbic sense of humour for a priest, and he often harassed the nuns with his teasing. He even managed to make some of them blush on occasion, which was no easy feat. Clive got to know Father Anthony better when one of the duties he took on was the regular maintenance of the chapel. When Clive turned 13, Father Anthony asked if he would like to be an altar boy, and Clive humbly accepted. He felt strange in the role at first, as he wasn't sure where his beliefs lay about God and heaven and such things. Father Anthony had many long discussions with Clive after masses, talking to him as an equal and with respect. He did as best he could to answer Clive's questions and educate him on the bible and on Father Anthony's own beliefs.
As the years went on, Clive came to understand many of the things he had been taught, and he started to open his heart and believe that, despite the circumstances in his life, there was a higher power looking out for him. He found solace and redemption in the bible and a faith he never knew he had. He came to believe in God with all his heart. He believed so wholeheartedly that when he turned 18, and was free to leave the orphanage, he joined the same seminary school that Father Anthony had attended. Clive wanted to spread the knowledge that he had gained. The knowledge that, despite your situation in life or the horrors that our world contains, there was always hope. To Clive, that was God.
Once out of seminary school, Clive was assigned to the Church of St. Agatha in Scarborough. He presided over that parish for many years, and became a leader in the community. He was very outspoken about matters affecting his parishioners, including anything from neighbourhood gang violence to the city's upkeep of the roads and infrastructure. He provided much-needed consolation to the people of his parish, taking a particular interest in helping the neighbourhood kids. He started an afterschool program at the church for kids who couldn't go home right away because of working parents, and he gave guidance and tutelage to kids with difficulties, both educational and social. Father Clive was loved by his parishioners and treasured by his community.
On a warm October day a few years back, someone had intentionally set the church ablaze one night. It was one of many cultural or religious based hate crimes that took place in the area. Father Clive was not in the church at the time, but the groundskeeper, an older man by the name of Wilson Tettinger was in the basement of the church and he died in the fire. The fire department managed to save the basic structure of the century old church, but it was essentially gutted from the fire. It took two long years for the church to be rebuilt. The church offered to move Father Clive to another parish, but he refused to leave, at one point holding Sunday mass in the church with no roof on it at all--weather permitting. With the support of the community, and of the city of Scarborough as a whole, the church was renovated to its former splendor, and the incident only strengthened the bond of the congregation and the community.
Much of the help that Father Clive had personally received was from some of the families that lived in the Bramford Towers, which was only a block or so away from the church. From their balconies, the families could see the black smoke rising in the sky the day the fire happened. Frank Callaghan had been the first person to call the fire department, and one of the first people to check on Father Clive at the parochial house next to the church. Father Clive had been crushed that day, his spirits dampened and his faith in man tested. But through the support of people like the Callaghan's and the Cohen's, his faith grew stronger in the end, as did his belief in the goodness of mankind.
He frequently dined with the two families, and when he couldn't, they often brought him food as he worked on restoring the church. The day they officially reopened the church to the public was one of the proudest days in Father Clive's life. His congregation was his family. He swore to protect and lead them with all the strength God had given him. He just had no idea how much of that strength he would eventually need.
