MANILA, Philippines--He radiates an aura pf serenity. But, it was his charm, wit and charisma that led to the launching of a ministry devoted to counseling troubled souls, most of them drug dependents. Those of us who have been around long enough to remember him as ?Fr. Bob? in 1970s have come to know him as Bob Garon?and, at 73, he?s still active.

Garon is fondly remembered as the young and idealistic La Salette priest who came to the Philippines in 1965. Very much into the trimedia to pursue his priestly ministry, he ran the Drug Abuse Research Foundation Inc. (DARE) in the ?70s.

He was a celebrity in his own right?until it dawned on him that he was already a spent bullet: He recalls how the level of stress had taken a toll on his health. ?Prominent psychiatrists and the powers that be (read: health authorities) ?crucified? me for my pioneering work at DARE, alleging that I was anything but a psychiatrist and had no business treating drug dependents.?

Punishing schedule

It was exhaustion and rejection that made him leave the priesthood. ?My life had become a blur. My prayer life suffered as a result of my punishing schedule. I was miserable,? he shares. ?I experienced my ?dark night of the soul? and was depressed for some time. I didn?t leave the priesthood for a woman, but the voice inside me was getting louder.

?I told Emmy (then a staffer at DARE and now his wife of 33 years) that I was leaving, because I wasn?t living up to the standards expected of me as a priest. It was a great lesson in humility. God kicked me off my pedestal, probably because I had become arrogant and proud.?

Emmy was at the ?right? time and place when Bob needed somebody. He found a sympathetic ear. Soon, fondness blossomed into love. But, it was to be a difficult time for both of them. When news spread that he had gotten his dispensation from Rome in 1978, they flew to the US to escape the ?noise? in Manila, got married, and stayed there for a year.

Advocacy

Feeling that they couldn?t turn their back on the advocacy work they had started, they decided to return to the Philippines. Shortly after their arrival, his friends from the Prieto and Roces families helped him set up a consultancy group that turned him into a sought-after management consultant, trainer and resource speaker. He went back to television and began writing again.

In 1979, the couple founded the Golden Values School (GVS). With their experience working with troubled youths, it wasn?t hard for them to spot ?problematic? children and get them the professional help they needed.

Three years after tying the knot, they had Vanessa, followed by Alexandra. Garon speaks in glowing terms about his lovely daughters. And, why not? They?re into their parents? advocacy work. They were the only certified female search-and-rescue volunteer divers of the Philippine Coast Guard in the recovery efforts when the MV Princess of the Stars sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon in 2008.

At the Nazareth Formation House in San Jose, Batangas, they work with people struggling with addiction and behavioral problems. Asked if he finds it emotionally draining to listen to people?s woes, Bob says it can indeed be exhausting. But, he has likewise found fulfillment in it.

Inability to listen

When asked what causes families to fall apart, Garon points to the inability of parents to listen to their children. Bob, now a Eucharistic minister for the St. James the Great parish at Ayala Alabang, says it doesn?t offend him when people recognize him and call him ?Father Bob.?

He believes in the dictum, ?Thou art a priest forever,? and admits that he misses being one. Bob is happy, not so much for what he has accomplished in the academe and corporate world, but more importantly, for bringing about ?miracles of the soul? for the ?residents? of the Nazareth community center.