First Holy Communion group photo, 2 nd Grade, Ascension School, Portland OR, spring, 1959.   Fr. Bennett (Franciscan) at left.   Sr. Clement, our teacher, not pictured.   Having just made our First Confession, our souls were spotless, all. The girl I liked (best) is sitting front and center, radiating Innocence, Beauty, Purity, Grace, Intelligence and Faith, (virtues achievable, at such an early age, only by means of proper Catholic indoctrination and the Blessed Sacraments.)   She was a perfect little human being.    As for me, I already knew I was flawed, thinking bad thoughts 30 minutes (or even sooner) after confession, likely doomed to Perdition. She was smart as a whip! I remember we were in the “high” reading group, 1 st grade.   I recall she taught me “the,” a mysterious monosyllable that flouted the simple phonetic rules we had learned up to then.   She showed me I could recognize whole words at a glance without having to sound them out.   During this brief