Happy Birthday, Fr. B

He's been a part of the Xavier community for the past 14 years, is known to greet Xavier students as "saints" and is a beloved member of the Xavier community. If you're wondering who this man is and guessed Father Albert Bischoff, more commonly known as Fr. B, you are correct. Fr. B has been a predominate face at Xavier for the past 24 nonconsecutive years.

Since he is such a well-known and active member in the Xavier community, the Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice decided to surprise Fr. B with a birthday celebration on Tuesday. The celebration included students, faculty, ice cream and yellow cake with coconut on the edges.  When asked about the coconut on the side of the cake, Father B stated that he "loved coconut and wanted a little on the cake for himself."

Not only was the cake delicious, but it was decorated with two blue blobs with halos on top of their heads. This birthday party was similar to those he had when growing up. "We always had ice cream and cake and sang happy  birthday," Fr. B said. However, what was different about this party was there was no pin the tail on the donkey or darts like past celebrations. Although those pieces of celebration may have not been there, there was the tradition of his favorite cake and ice cream. "I don't get to eat sweets any other time. I used to love chocolate chip ice cream, but now enjoy coconut chip," Fr. B said. "As for cake, I'll take any that has a lot of icing, just no chocolate, I'm not a chocolate eater." This was not the Xavier community's first birthday party for Fr. B. "When I turned 75 some grad students threw me a party," Fr. B said. Not only did these students throw him a party, they also set up a scholarship in his name. Rather than have the students who were experiencing monetary problems transfer, the scholarship is meant to help pay for the tuition so they can stay at Xavier. Giving advice and words of wisdom comes easy for Fr. B.  As a face of Xavier, it seems only natural to listen and take his words to heart. When addressing the students at  Xavier he gives these words to remember and live by, "In life there are always moments when you will have pain,  but do good things and give meaning to others and you'll enjoy your life."