What Paddy Shot At

I just took a nap and I have time before I say the 5:30pm Mass, so I thought I would begin a message.

On Monday, the 21st, I had a very relaxing day. Because Fr. Justin is away on the last week of his vacation, I had both the 11am and the 5:30pm Masses. I also had exposition at 3pm but the rest of the day, I actually cleaned up part of my office. It was so nice to finally see the desktop again. I just get so much paper. I waited in the rectory for an appointment (who put the wrong date down – something I understand) but since she didn’t show, I ate and watched TV and went to bed early. Nice day!

On Tuesday, I slept in and had the 11am Mass. Afterwards, I picked up Fr. Beattie and he and I went to Sergio’s for lunch. Then we drove to Little Sisters and had a delightful visit with Fr. Duffy. We met in his suite and had a great talk. He recently had a pace – maker put in and what a difference it makes. I guess it moves his blood and oxygen more easily around and to his brain. He never repeated a question and according to questions Fr. Beattie put to him, he remembered priests long gone. It was so good to see him back to his old self.
I met with a couple who want to have their children baptized. We met around 5pm in the rectory. It is so much easier to meet over there once the office is closed at the parish center. We had a great time and I think we’ll be able to do the baptisms in the Fall.

On Wednesday, the 23rd, I met with Ann about the Baptismal program and it keeps getting better and more organized (not due to me but the rest of the team). Then I had the 11am Mass and then I met a friend for lunch at Chadwick’s. I had exposition and then the 5:30pm Mass.
As soon as Mass ended, I headed up by car to Philly. Terrible rainstorm almost all the way and I didn’t get to Joe’s till almost 10pm. We visited and I went to bed.

On Thursday, Joe drove me over to Christ Our Light parish in New Jersey to participate in the funeral Mass of Fr. Pat Lavin. He is a priest of Camden diocese but we went to school together at St. Vincent’s. He has been ill for awhile but I’ve seen him over the years and was glad that my plans, which were made weeks ago, gave me the opportunity to concelebrate his funeral. Fathers John Bohrer and Terry Odien were there but we didn’t visit as we were getting together for supper. After lunch, Joe and I returned to Philly and I took a nap. We all went to a nice Italian restaurant for supper. It is always great to be with them.

Today, I got up around 5:30am and drove down to Baltimore to pick up Maggie and her grandchildren, who were returning from the cruise, which I dropped them off for, last Friday. They had a great time (although how 4 women could need so much luggage is confusing!!). I drove down to Maggie’s and dropped them off, then I went and got my hair cut and my beard trimmed. I came back to the parish center and caught up on email, exposed the Blessed Sacrament, took a nap and now am ready for Mass. I am meeting a couple for baptism after Mass, then home for supper and early to bed.

Tomorrow, Saturday is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Ann, grandparents of Jesus. I have the 8am Mass and then at 11:30 will baptize twins, whose brother I baptized in 2011. Keep them and their parents in your prayers.
Then I’m driving to Baltimore for Adele Meyers’ 90th birthday luncheon. It will be nice to see old St. Bernard’s people. On the way back, I’ll stop in St. Mary’s, Barnesville for their chicken dinner and then I’m saying the 5pm Mass at Our Lady of the Visitation for Ray Fecteau, who is with the Scouts in Arizona. Again, I’ll be glad to get in bed early.

On Sunday, I have the 7:30am and the 10:30am Masses and then I will head out to West Virginia and see the Cavallaro’s. Frank fell and hurt his ribs and shoulder; so keep him in your prayers. Marilyn too, as I don’t think he’s a good patient!! I’m stopping there on the way to Latrobe for Priests Day, which is next Tuesday, so I probably won’t write until next Thursday or Friday. Know that all of you are in my prayers.

Now, it is two weeks later, although you wouldn’t know it because I misidentified the last Paddy as the 15th Sunday when it really was the 14th. I was off in my breviary also. I am back on track now.

On Monday, the 7th, I had the 11am Mass. I had the 8am Mass on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the 9th I had exposition at 3pm and then the 5:30pm Mass. So, it was three days in which I really relaxed and did little. On Monday, I wasn’t feeling so good but overcame it.

On Thursday, I had an appointment at 10am and then drove to National Airport and picked up Dan and Stephanie Poje and took them to their hotel in Bethesda. They are dear friends from Memphis, whose wedding I was privileged to witness 16 years ago. They’ve been on cruises and know lots of people in the area. They are on vacation. I picked up Joan Beall and we picked up Dan and Stephanie and joined Rick and Peg Jensen at Clyde’s. We had so many laughs and a great evening together.

On Friday, I had the 11am and the 5:30pm Masses. The rest of the day I just relaxed.

On Saturday, I had a baptism at 1pm, so please keep Helen Mabel and her family in your prayers. Then I picked up Dan and Stephanie from their sightseeing and took them to spend time with Mary Mudd and her family; while Joan and I went to help celebrate the 90th birthday of Frances Sampogna. She and her late husband, Nick and their family were great friends in St. Camillus. It was so good to see all her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their spouses. We laughed and took pictures and told stories. I was so much fun.
When Joan and I got back, I had a chance to visit with the Mudd’s (always a delight!) and then Dan, Stephanie, and I went to a nice Italian restaurant and relaxed and talked.

On Sunday, the 13th, I had the 9:30am Mass, which Dan and Stephanie attended and then we headed out to Latrobe, Pa. It was an easy trip and only breaks for food. We checked into the Wyndham hotel, where I usually stay when I go to priests’ day. We had a leisurely dinner at Denny’s and early to bed.

On Monday, I slept in, while Dan and Stephanie took the car and went to visit Falling Waters, a Frank Lloyd Wright house. I was picked up by Tish Rossi to go to Joanne, her sister’s house. However, during the night, Mike, her husband had a heart attack and was in the hospital with Joanne and their daughter. Tish and I still went to the house and had lunch and talked. I came back to the hotel and took a nap. We met up with Fr. Bob Norton and Keith and Sheila Morris and went to dinner at the airport, which has a great restaurant. I really appreciated the Morris driving out from Pittsburgh and getting a chance to meet Dan and Stephanie. Bob stayed overnight with me.

On Tuesday, we had breakfast together and then Bob left and I took Dan and Stephanie to show them St. Vincent’s. They loved it, especially the Abbey church. Then we headed east and we stopped to visit Betty Neary in Shrewsbury. She showed us her new apartment and we had lunch together. We had a great visit.

On Wednesday, the 16th, I slept in while Dan and Stephanie went sightseeing and I picked them up at the Metro and we headed for Southern Maryland and picked up Maggie. We went to Stoney’s in Prince Frederick where we had delicious crabs – and some soup and other stuff! Rick and Peg joined us as did Sister Kass, JoAnn, Ann Marie and her four children, and Marie. Except for a little problem with my wallet, it was a great evening.

Thursday, July 17th was quite a day. It’ too long a story but two cousins of mine died and we had a memorial Mass for them at 8:30am at Holy Cross parish. Marie and Maggie, Rick and Peg joined some of my cousins’ neighbors and afterwards, they had us to their home for a little refreshment. Then I went to hear confessions and went to bed early.
A dear friend, Brian took Dan and Stephanie to the airport, so that I could do the morning Mass. I was so grateful and so were they.

On Friday, the 18th, I had the 8am Mass; then went to my doctor, had some blood drawn, and found out that I’m doing great. Then I drove to Maggie’s and took her, Kerri, two grand-daughters (Amanda and Darcy) to the port of Baltimore, where they got on a ship for a week cruise to Bermuda. Then I came home and met with a young lady who wants to get married. Then I had the 5:30Mass. I had received an invitation by email that morning to join Pat and Janet Kennedy. They are friends from St. Bernard’s (in both my teen years and when I was pastor) and I was glad to go and we sat and talked from 6:30 till past 10pm. I had a great time.

On Saturday, the 19th, I had the 8am Mass then relaxed. At 11:30, I was picked up by Barbara and Peter Dove and we drove down to Beth McCoy’s farm in St. Mary’s county. The McCoy family has a family reunion around the 19th, because its her birthday. She and Fred had 12 children and many of them and/or the children and grandchildren were there. The weather was perfect and we sat outside and ate crabs, oysters, and other great foods. There were games and one of the sons gave a great talk (not long) showing the history of St. Gabriel’s Manor from the days of the Calverts in 1649 to the McCoys coming there and building the house. It was very interesting. Barbara is the daughter of one of Beth’s sisters and is a special cousin. She lives in Blessed Sacrament. It was a wonderful time!

I slept in on Sunday, the 20th and watched the morning shows on TV. I came and had a great baptism at 2pm. Please keep John Blake and his family in your prayers. His grandparents are from Philly and Cherry Hill, NJ and we had lots to talk about. I have been here at my desk to get this Paddy report done. I have the 5:30pm Mass and then back to the rectory to relax.

I have done a lot lately but it didn’t exhaust me. I guess being with friends is what I need! It certainly worked this week. I shall try to be more responsible this coming week about Paddy.

Again, a week has gone by and I hardly notice it. Sorry for the delay in writing.

On Saturday, June 28th, I did go to Leonardtown and met with my TEAM. It was so good to see them and “catch up”. Please keep all of them and their families in your prayers. Also, please remember Kay Wach who died this week. She and her husband, Ray, were members of our TEAM, when we formed in Southern Maryland. He died a number of years ago and as her health declined, she moved back up to DC to live with children. She was a lovely lady. RIP.

That evening, I met Tim Stoutzenberger and his friend, Alyson, his dad, Joe and a friend of ours from Philly, Mary Black for supper at a restaurant called Lebanese Taverna. It was very good and a great atmosphere for talking and visiting.

On Sunday, I concelebrated the 10:30am Mass because it was Fr Ron’s 25th anniversary. The liturgy was great and his homily was wonderful. It was well attended and there was a reception afterwards. I wasn’t able to go to it because I had a baptism at 1pm. Please keep Zoe and her family in your prayers.
I had the 5:30pm Mass and my cousins, Rick and Peg –and Peg’s sister, Kathy and I went out to supper afterwards. As always it was fun to be with them.

I rested up most of Monday, June 30th as I had the 5:30pm Mass and then drove up to Pittsburgh. I should have gotten there around 10pm but I made a reservation in what I thought was Monroeville, East of Pittsburgh; actually my hotel was near the airport, West of Pittsburgh. I got to bed around 1:45am. It’s good I’d had that nap!!

On Tuesday, July 1st, I visited St. Paul Seminary, which I’d heard about for years. I went there as a good place to meet up with Frs. Bill Feeney and Rich Wesolowski. The staff could not have been nicer and showed me around as I waited for my classmates. Then we went to lunch nearby and had a great visit.
I changed to a hotel nearer downtown Pittsburgh. The young man who helped me grew up in Southeast DC and graduated from Carroll High school. Fr. Bill Montgomery, who lived with me at Queen of Peace and is a longtime friend, taught him. Small world!
Keith Morris picked me up and drove me to his and Sheila’s house, where I spent almost 6 delightful hours visiting their family. 5 grandchildren, whom I baptized, three couples I married and a daughter who lives in Ireland made the time fly by!!! I was caught up on all their activities and met a man and a young boy who spoke with definite Irish accents. Erin go braugh!! I slept very well.

On Wednesday morning, Kelly and Brendan picked me up and took me to breakfast. We had such a great time and a good discussions. Kelly is a photo journalist and gave me a lovely picture of two children running through street puddles in Belfast. It will hang in my office near my poster “99 encouraging things to say to children”.
On the way home to DC, I stopped at Loretta and Rick Meade’s home for a welcome home dinner for her brother Tom Favret and his wife Sylvia and their children, Alex, Natalie, and Patrick. They are returning from living in Belgium, Burma, and Bosnia as Tom is in the Foreign Service. I was last with them all, 10 years ago when I baptized Patrick. Andy and La Favret were there, as was Doug Lee, and Rick’s sister and brother-in-law. It was a delightful evening. I was have some stomach problems so I left early and went to bed.

As Thursday is my DAY OFF, I slept in and only got up to go to hear confessions at 2pm. Then I met Paul and Ellen, from my TEAM, who were trading cars and trucks to help their daughter move; and we went to Panera and had a leisurely dinner. Big rain storm and I went to bed early.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: I had the 8am Mass. A lot of people came. There are new prayers for it and they are good. At the end, I said, “I’m sure someone with a good voice, could lead us in an appropriate song” We sang the first verse of America, the beautiful. It was stirring!!
I spent the rest of the day in my suite and watched TV. The Capitol 4th was great as always and the fireworks were spectacular. I went to bed around 3am.

On Saturday, the 5th, the weather was beautiful and low, low humidity; so I decided to take the car to Jiffy Lube. There were 5 cars lined up at each bay and I ended up being there over 2 hours. I’d brought a book, so I didn’t care. I didn’t want to come on Monday, when they tell us the humidity will be terrible. I came home and took a nap and then had the 5:30pm Vigil Mass. My homily was our being “child-like” not childish about our faith and our relationship to the Father. It went well. I heard confessions and went home to relax.

Now, it is Sunday and I just finished the 10:30am Mass. It was lovely because so many people with little children were there (the gym Mass is cancelled for the summer). I stood at the back door and it was just so nice to see and greet them. I am using the oxygen more because when I don’t, the reading is 91 or 90. It is a slow progression and I can breathe fine at those numbers if I am sitting but any movement and I feel the difference. My homily was about wearing the yoke of Jesus because it is easy and His burden is light. I believe that and need to demonstrate it more.
A couple who cannot make the clergy-led meeting on August 1st, came by to see me and have a Readers Digest version. They will attend the parent-led on July 13rd. Delightful couple (graduates of CUA) with a three week old, John Blake. Keep them all in your prayers.
Now I have a 2pm Baptism. Keep Nicolas Michael and his family in your prayers. Then home, a little food and relaxation. And that brings you up to date.