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I thought if I got close to O鈥橲ullivan, maybe he would blunt the Old Chief鈥檚 barbs aimed at Stanfield who replaced him as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. That plan didn鈥檛 work. Dief wasn鈥檛 about to change his ways.

As time passed, however, O鈥橲ullivan and I became such good friends that he freely shared with me聽鈥� mimicking Dief鈥檚 voice聽鈥� some of Dief鈥檚 foibles.

For example, Dief would greet O鈥橲ullivan every morning by saying, 鈥淣ews, views, interviews,鈥� indicating he sought the sort of gossipy bits that don鈥檛 appear in newspapers. If he were pleasantly surprised by something O鈥橲ullivan related, he鈥檇 say, 鈥淚 gollies.鈥� If the news was bad, it was, 鈥淲hat the hell.鈥�

In 1972 O鈥橲ullivan became MP for Hamilton-Wentworth, at twenty the youngest ever elected to Parliament at the time. His seat was in the back row where it was difficult to catch the speaker鈥檚 eye in order to pose a question to the government. O鈥橲ullivan took it all in stride.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as a bad seat in the House of Commons,鈥� he once told me.

Diefenbaker annually celebrated two anniversaries when supplicants filled his office for a reception. One was his birthday, Sept. 18; the second was March 26, the anniversary of his first election to Parliament.

One year, O鈥橲ullivan was travelling with a delegation and missed the March gathering. Knowing Diefenbaker would wonder why he wasn鈥檛 there, he sent a telegram, saying: CONGRATULATIONS UPON ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR FIRST ELECTION.

As Sean told the tale, he visited Diefenbaker upon his return, and was surprised to find him irate. 鈥淲ere you drunk?鈥� asked Diefenbaker. 鈥淭hat is the only possible explanation. This is the most damnable thing I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥� He flung the telegram at O鈥橲ullivan. It read, 鈥淐ONGRATULATIONS UPON ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR FIRST ERECTION.鈥�

In 1977, O鈥橲ullivan surprised everyone by resigning as MP to study for the priesthood. His explanation to me was straightforward.

鈥淭he call to politics makes you open to the pursuit of power. You ask, 鈥楬ow can I gain?鈥� The call to priesthood is to service. You ask, 鈥楬ow can I give?鈥欌�� Father Sean began his new calling as a parish priest then was promoted to publisher of The Catholic Register where he enjoyed dinners plus a car and driver. 鈥淚 never took an oath of poverty,鈥� he said.

Appointed director of vocations in 1982, he ran a memorable billboard campaign. The large, dramatic, black-and-white rectangular signage showed the head and upper torso of Christ on the cross, looking beseechingly at the viewer. The slogan was: 鈥淒are to be a priest like me.鈥�

The campaign won a prize for outdoor advertising in Canada and thirty possibilities for the priesthood.

Anna Porter, of Key Porter Books Ltd. in Toronto, phoned him to say he should do his memoirs.

鈥淚 will,鈥� he said, 鈥渋f Rod McQueen will write them.鈥� I had written speeches as well as two books, The Moneyspinners and Risky Business, but this was my first time as a ghostwriter, or in this case, the Holy Ghostwriter.

I needed some guidance so called Ron Graham who had ghosted Jean Chr茅tien鈥檚 1984 autobiography entitled Straight from the Heart. Graham鈥檚 recipe was straightforward: thirty-five hours of interviews with the subject will yield a 1,000-page transcript which provides enough meat for a 300-page manuscript.

I followed the formula and recorded Father Sean鈥檚 recollections, including the distressing description of his newly-arrived leukemia聽鈥� cancer of the bone marrow聽鈥� at thirty-one.

Once the interviews were done, I worked eighteen-hour days for a month to produce a 100,000-word first draft. I鈥檝e written many books since, but that was the most fun I鈥檝e ever had writing.

Father Sean contributed, too, including the book鈥檚 evocative ending which says, in part, 鈥淪oon, I may be summoned home. But sing no sad songs for me; for I am a Christian. Without merit of my own and trusting only in His abundant mercy, I go gently toward that glorious goal.鈥�

After publication in September 1986, Father Sean鈥檚 leukemia grew steadily worse.

There was a Canadian boxer at the time named Shawn O鈥橲ullivan. Father Sean would say, 鈥淚鈥檓 the fighter, not the boxer.鈥� Father Sean suffered through four chemotherapy programs and visited Lourdes twice. He was preparing for a bone-marrow transplant when he died in 1989 at thirty-seven.

But sing no sad songs for him. For he was a Christian.