(A surfer shows Father Christian Mondor and Father Matt Munoz where they’re going to paddle out at the “Blessing of the Waves” event Sunday at the Huntington Beach pier.)

When I was a kid attending Catholic grade school there was a poem of St. Francis’ that was set to music that really moved me:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, the truth;

Where there is doubt, the faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

I think it was this prayer that got me interested in St. Francis. Well, that and this amazing movie I saw on TV about his life. He loved animals, as I did. And the suffering he went through to show his devotion to God greatly inspired me.

So when it came time to pick a confirmation name in the seventh grade I knew I wanted it to be Francis. That was easy. Then came the hard part. The nuns wanted me to take my first name again. I’d be Paul Matthew Paul Anderson. I didn’t understand. They wanted all of us to take our first names again. It sounded stupid to me. Now, looking back on it, I can see they wanted us to take an extra step to reaffirm our baptism. That’s a nice notion. And I understood that to some degree when I was a kid, but I didn’t appreciate it at all. It just sounded like a goofy name — Paul Matthew Paul Anderson. So I told them I wanted my new name to be Paul Matthew Francis Anderson. Please, they cajoled — read this book about St. Paul and see if you don’t change your mind. I told them I had already read a book about St. Paul and he didn’t particularly inspire me. What a cheeky thing to say for a kid — but, hey, I could get in those moods, you know? I have some issues with some of the things Paul said, but that’s a story for another time. I agreed to read the book and reported back to them that I hadn’t changed my mind.

“Well, if you’re serious about this then you’ll have to write an essay why you want to take Francis’ name,” the nun said.

“OK.”

She looked surprised. Bet she didn’t see that coming. But I was determined. I wrote the essay and they capitulated. A deal’s a deal.

Meanwhile, my classmates mocked me for “taking a girl’s name.” I didn’t care — besides, they were only embarrassing themselves in my view since the girl’s spelling of the name is with an “e,” not the “i.” Yes, I was an editor even then. Anyway, for me, this wasn’t just some thing the teachers made me do and I went along with. Confirmation was really important to me. I well understood what it meant to reaffirm my faith and had a proper respect for the sacraments. And I really wanted to follow Francis’ lead.

Many years later, when my father died, I chose the Mass card for his funeral that bore the prayer of St. Francis and an image of the saint. I knew Dad would approve. He knew how much I loved Francis.

Anyway, I tell you all this because today was the Feast of St. Francis and I celebrated it in a special way at the “Blessing of the Waves” at Huntington Beach Pier. It was a pleasure to meet Father Christian Mondor, a Franciscan priest I had interviewed a few days before the event. And then I saw Father Matt Munoz, the grandson of John Wayne, surf some waves. Mona encouraged me to talk to him before he hit the water, but I was a bit awed. I mean, he looks like Jesus and his grandfather was the Duke. And he looked busy. Mona says his rock-star following called out to him from the pier as he paddled out.

Francis was the inspiration for Sunday’s ecumenical “Blessing of the Waves.” He’s the Patron Saint of the Environment mainly because of his Canticle of the Creatures prayer. And it’s only fitting it was an ecumenical event — as Father Christian told me, George Bernard Shaw once joked Francis was the first Patron Saint of the Protestants, too, because he’s so loved by people of all faiths.

(Fathers Mondor and Munoz embrace before Father Munoz hit the waves.)

(I didn’t plan on getting wet, but I wanted the best pictures I could get. Meanwhile, Mona got this great shot of me with her iPhone.)

(There’s a good reason for calling her my Monager – didn’t you know holding my shoes while I barefoot it in the ocean is part of the job?)

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