What Paddy Shot At

I had a very pleasant but busy week.
On Monday, May 23rd, I presided at the funeral of Mrs. Raney at St. Patrick’s in Norbeck. Fr. Martino Choi concelebrated and (really) led me around the altar. There was a very nice seminarian, Michael Russo who also helped me around. Among the Arimethians was the father of two boys whom I knew at Good Counsel, Mr. Beiter. We went to Gate of Heaven cemetery and as I rode around I offered prayers for all my family and friends resting there for the Day of the Trumpet.

On Tuesday, the 24th, I had the 8am Mass and then met with the Tuesdays with Fr. Maury group. Our topic was the blessed Virgin. He talked about our family customs and our parish customs as we grew up. We ended by doing the Litany of Our Lady. So beautiful and full of great titles for her. We also joined in a CD by singing Marian Hymns. Bring Flowers of the Fairest was the big hit!

On Wednesday, I drove out early and said Mass at our Lady of the Visitation at 9:15am. My classmate had an appointment and asked me to cover. I was happy to do that and enjoyed the company of the daily Mass attendees. I got back in time to do the 11am Mass here. Then I took a nap. At 6pm, Marie picked me up and drove me to a restaurant nearby. We met Jim and Cleo and had a great time. All of them are friends of the lovely lady that I went to anoint a few months ago and whose funeral we held here later. In honor of Ruth, we got together to celebrate her and her bringing us together.

On Thursday, the 26th, I picked up Fr. Jim Beattie and we drove to St. Peter’s parish in Olney for the funeral Mass of Mr. Raymond Bocabella, the father of Fr. Jim, who is pastor of St. Francis Xavier and was the assistant here when I came. It was a beautiful Mass and Fr. Jim gave a great homily. He is one of 13 children and his brother, Paul wrote and read a moving letter to his Dad. I haven’t been to the church in many years and the present pastor, Fr. Tom Kalita did a great job and it is very beautiful and functionable.
Fr. Beattie and I drove out and met Frs. Duffy and Hill for lunch. I drove Fr. Duffy back to Little Sisters and then Fr. Beattie to Our Lady of Lourdes. The traffic was terrible (I guess lots of people were trying to get out of town before the holiday) and I couldn’t get back in time for Benediction at 5:15. I called and Fr. Ron took that and I was back in time for the 5:30 Mass. I went to bed early and tired!

On Friday, I had the 8am Mass and a doctor’s appointment at 1:40. I am as well as I can be for being as well as I am. I am using the oxygen most of the time. I went to bed early again.

On Saturday, I had two baptisms – one at Noon and one at 2pm. I did well at both because Jerry (our summer seminarian) helped me. He is from the Eastern shore and is going to be in the third year at Catholic U. I tease him that the fine print in his contract says, “take care of the old priest”. He is very good at it. I had the 5:30pm Mass and at it, I noticed Maggie was in the front pew. I went to talk with her after Mass and found out that she wanted to go to the casino on Sunday, so Mike and Sue drove her up to the vigil Mass. We all had a nice visit.

On Sunday, the 29th, I had the 7:30am Mass and Jerry helped me around. We took up a collection of bags that we had handed out last weekend for the pantries in Southeast. As always the parish was generous.
Then I drove up to St. Ignatius parish near Fredrick and did the 12Noon Mass. A little girl, Gabriella (whom I baptized 7 years ago) and two other girls, Fiana and Ayla were making their First Communions. It was delightful and that parish has a great pastor, Fr. Mike, and a vibrant community.
After Mass, a man named James who I knew as a child at St. Bernard’s came up to speak to me. He said, “as soon as I heard your voice, I knew it was you”. I just saw his Mom, Mary at Marie’s funeral. A small world. Then I went to Gabriella’s house for a party. She is the granddaughter of Fran Werden. I had married her Mom and Dad and baptized many of her cousins. It was a great time to “catch up”.
On the way home, I stopped at the nursing home and visited Loretta Favret. Her husband, Andy was also visiting and while there, one of the sons, Thomas came in. Again, it was so great to be in the company of old friends and talk and laugh. I was in bed by 9pm.

Memorial Day. I slept in and then made myself a big breakfast of ham and eggs. I took it to my room and just relaxed and watch TV. I always enjoy the Memorial presentation on the Mall and get emotional as I watch all the events around the country. It is a great country we live in and we must never forget those who paid the price for our freedom.

Today, Tuesday, the 31st. I had the 8am Mass and afterwards (I watched as) many of the parishioners carried the bags from the altar area out to the van Brian had parked near the side doors. The altar area was full of the goods that people had brought over the weekend and the van was filled. People are so good!
I have three appointments today and I have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow, so I think it’s early to bed again for me.

I am having a relatively quiet weekend. I had the 5:30pm Mass on Saturday night and the 7:30am Mass on Sunday. The deacon is preaching at both and so I am using Saturday to clean my desk up, get some mail done, and just relax.

I really have not written a decent message since April as I have been busy with funerals and the pollen has kept me low when I didn’t have to be up and around.

As I mentioned earlier I had participated in the funerals of Mr. Vincent O’Reilly; Mrs. Dot Witte, Mrs. Mary Goldbeck, My sister, Marie, Mrs. Margaret Bleistine in New Jersey and a few parishioners whom I knew here at Blessed Sacrament. While each was sad because of a leave taking, each had it’s on type of joy because of the faith that each had.
This coming week, I will have the 11am funeral on Monday at St. Patrick’s in Norbeck of Mrs. Vivian Rainey. Her parents (the Sullivan’s) were my Communion calls 44 years ago at St. Camillus. I buried them but kept in touch with Vivian and her daughters. It turned out that Vivian and her family were great friends of my Great Aunt and Uncle, Josie and Will O’Connell and my cousin, Catherine O’Connell Jensen. Their families have stayed close. She and the girls have been living in Leisure World; I have visited them since Christmas. Vivian was 94 and the last time I visited, we looked through old photo albums and laughed – and remembered!

Later this coming week, I will concelebrate the funeral of Raymond Bocabella, he is the father of Fr. Jim Bocabella, who is pastor of St. Francis Xavier and was here as a newly ordained when I came to Blessed sacrament in 2010.

After the 7:30am Mass, Brian came and took me to the rectory where he made breakfast for me and Fr. Andy. We had a great time. Both of them are good friends to me.

This afternoon, I will have two baptisms. They are the great grandchildren of Mrs. Beth McCoy, who was a parishioner of St. Michael’s in Ridge and a dear friend.
I just came from the baptisms. It was beautiful and delightful. Please keep Evan Lucas and Gracyn Elizabeth as well as their parents and Godparents in your prayers. We had a family celebration in our community room and I think there were about 60 people. The food was great – one of the dads is a chef! I caught up with some of the goings on of the McCoy clan. Hard to believe that a little girl I met when she was 4, has now graduated from college and is working on her Master’s degree. Where does the time go???

I’m going to copy in here now, a message I put on Facebook on May 14th because I couldn’t get on to Paddy.
I just want all of you to know what a great time I had on Friday, the 13th!

I want to share with you about last night. I was with 23 of my family and we ate crabs. We met at the firehouse as we were too many for Maggie’s house. We got there at 5:30pm and left at 11pm. We had such a great time and laughed and told stories and laughed some more It was the 44th anniversary of my ordination; but we were just celebrating family and Marie was so “present”. People brought corn, salad, and even hot dogs and chicken for those who don’t eat crab – Can you imagine that – not eating crabs???? We had a nice cake – as nothing tops off crabs like cake. If I knew how to add a photo, I would but I hope this message will convey how much fun I had being with my family.

I got lots of comments and affirmations that “Family is where it is!!”

I’m off to the rectory and maybe an early to bed because of Vivian’s funeral on Monday. Do keep her daughters in your prayers.

I am so sorry for the long delay in writing. I tried to do this from the rectory but was unable to get Paddy on that computer; so I had to wait till I was here in the parish center to write.
I am just getting on to say I am OK and not to worry about me. Everything went very well with Marie’s funeral and – although we will miss her – we are content that she is in a good place.
I will write on the 11th.