Scarred by war, homeless and dying of cancer, veteran looks forward to ‘meeting Jesus’

Bob McGovern has liver cancer and the prognosis is not good.

He and his cat, Queen Gwendolyn the Great, are often seen at the Mother Teresa Day Shelter these days. McGovern utilizes the services offered and enjoys visits with the staff and clients.

No stranger to the shelter, McGovern had been homeless before and had frequented the Mother Teresa Shelter years back. However, he was able to get back on his feet and go back to work. In February he lost his home to a fire. He suffered severe burns and spent several months recovering in San Antonio at the Brooke Army Medical Center only to come back to Corpus Christi and the Mother Teresa Shelter once again.

At the age of 58, McGovern has the look of a survivor. His weathered face is like a road map telling all the places he has been. He is dressed very practically for one whose shelter is outdoors: white socks, tennis shoes, camouflaged t-shirt, green shorts, small pins of the American flag and an angel are attached to a well-shaped straw hat.

He and his cat wear matching necklaces, both made of white beads and turquoise with a sharks tooth attached. His hair is gray and pulled back in a ponytail and he wears another sharks tooth in his left ear.

“Queen Gwendolyn the Great is my best friend, I provide food, shelter and love and she sleeps with me…we adore each other. She is my anger management service,” he said of the rescued gray cat.

About two weeks ago, McGovern spoke to a priest. He wanted to receive the sacraments before his life comes to an end. The priest spoke with Vicar General Msgr. Louis Kihneman III, who put McGovern in touch with the seminarians temporarily assigned to the Mother Teresa Shelter.

Seminarians Richard Gutierrez, Abran Leal and Charles Silvas are providing an RCIA class specifically designed for McGovern.

An Irish Catholic, McGovern is the eldest of eight. His father, a strong disciplinarian and a career marine moved the family from one duty station to the next. As a result, McGovern was never baptized.

McGovern exudes hope and gives spiritual advice wherever he goes. He tells the seminarians the short version of his life. How he followed in his father’s footsteps, joined the Marines and went to Vietnam. He served as a gunner for choppers during the Vietnam War. During the war he saved many American lives and killed the enemy. When he got out of the military he tried to drink away his guilt.

“About eight years after I came back from the war I realized that if God could forgive me, I could forgive myself. So I quit drinking the hard stuff, like whiskey and vodka,” he said.
Having been completely sober now for about three years, he was told if he ate right and quit drinking he could avoid the kind of death—cirrhosis of the liver—that had taken his father. That was before he received his latest diagnosis.

“I’m prepared. Dying is not something to be afraid of. I had a great life and God has always been with me. I was shot down in Vietnam and I should have died seven times over. I have always had Jesus to lean on or hold my hand. I’m looking forward to meeting my Savior face to face,” McGovern said.

On the day they met McGovern, the seminarians were given another assignment: to spruce up the little chapel at Catholic Charities. McGovern, who has 30 years expersence in construction, agreed to help the seminarians with the chapel.

“God has a message, Catholic Charities has a chapel, we have a chance to fix it up and we have Robert who has all this experience in construction,” Gutierrez said.

“We’re going to be teaching you, but you’re the one teaching us,” Silvas said to McGovern.

“As a person who is aspiring to be a priest, it’s very encouraging, it gives me hope. He has this insight of what God would want for everybody. His looking forward to Heaven and that intimacy with Christ is what we should all be aspiring to at every age and he has it. When his time comes he will have left his mark on the world,” Leal said.

“He told me that attitude is the only thing he can control. I can’t imagine going to the shelter, getting a house, having it burned down, only to go back to the shelter again. He definitely has taught me so much. He has such a positive attitude,” Gutierrez said.

“When I look into his face,” Gutierrez said, “I see the face of Jesus.”

McGovern chose St. Francis of Assisi as his patron saint for his confirmation. He received the sacraments on June 20 at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles.