On April 25, 1974—Bert's eighteenth birthday—the Carnation Revolution overthrew Portugal's authoritarian Estado Novo regime.
Soldiers put carnations in their rifle barrels. The dictatorship fell without significant bloodshed.
But what came after was chaos. Communists, socialists, and democrats competed for power. The future was uncertain. In his academic papers years later, Bert would write about Marx, Lenin, and class consciousness with the perspective of someone who had witnessed ideology clash with reality.
After leaving the seminary and graduating from secondary school, Bert found limited prospects on his island. Education was one thing; jobs were another. His brother João had already emigrated to America, becoming a priest at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. João found Bert a job listing in a church bulletin.
By 1978, Bert had decided to leave.
In January 1978, he followed his brother to America. He was twenty-one years old. He had an eighth-year seminary education, limited English, and a willingness to work.