What Paddy Shot At

It’s hard to believe that it’s only a week since I wrote. It’s been a full one. It’s just as well that I didn’t go to Baltimore.

On Friday, the 17th, I spent the day in the office and a number of people came by to talk. Also I had the 5:30 Mass and went to bed early.

On Saturday, the 18th, I had the 8AM Mass and then gave some scouts a tour of the sacristy and then they came to my office to interview me. They are working on the Ad Altare badge. We had a great time. Then I had an 1o AM baptism. Please keep Carolina Grace and her family in your prayers. I had baptized her older sister, who is now 4 and lovely.  I took a nap and then I had the 5:30PM Mass but I didn’t preach. The deacon did and again, I was glad to go to bed early.

On Sunday, the 19th, I had the 10:30AM Mass in the church and I preached. I also gave out Communion, which was a treat to myself. Around 2pm, I drove to Wheaton and had lunch with Ceil Mattingly, a childhood friend. We  caught up on her family and mine. We had seen each other at Marie’s wake and it took us this long to arrange for lunch. We went to Christina’s, a nice family Italian place.

The office was closed on Monday, the 20th for Presidents’ day. I was picked up at the rectory by Liz Cahill and we drove to Clyde’s where we met Sissy Gladding. Both were teachers at G.C. when I was there. We laughed and talked from 12:30 to 5:30. I think we caught up on all the people we knew. I left a little something extra for the waiter, who was very good to us. I felt like we “rented” the table as he didn’t have other customers to wait on while we just went on and on. Old friends are such a joy. I was ready for bed early as I didn’t have a nap.

On Tuesday, the 21st, I had the 11AM Mass and spent the rest of the day on the newsletter.

On Wednesday, the 22nd, I had the 11 and the 5:30pm Masses and went to bed early.

Thursday, I had the 8AM Mass and around 12:30, Joan W drove me down to the hotel in Southwest where Pat Berry had checked in after a flight from Chicago. We talked and visited all afternoon and then Rick and Peg picked us up and we went to North Old Town in Alexandria for a delicious family run Italian dinner. They drove me home and then took Pat to the hotel. Of course, we had a great  time.

On Friday, I had the 8AM Mass and then, Colleen W picked me up and we drove to St. Rose of Lima for a funeral. It was Peg Caffery, whom I met on a retreat I did thirty years ago. I’ve kept in touch. She was 93 and the mother of 10, grandmother of 23, and great grand mother of 4. Fr. Val Keveny was the celebrant and homilist. He was as good as he always is and that brogue is like he arrived yesterday from Ireland – and he came 44 years ago. Also the deacon was John Locke, who with his wife, Marge were in my TEAM thirty years ago. I haven’t seen them for years. Since the internment was at St. Rose, we stayed for the luncheon and talked with lots of people. I took a nap and had the 5:30pm Mass. Again, early to bed.

On Saturday, the 25, I was on for the beginning of our Confirmation; but had to leave. I’m glad I went out and sat in the altar area because Matt and Kathy Minahan came up and spoke to me. Old friends from Camillus and retreats. Their nieces were being confirmed. It was great to see them and talk. Then I picked up Patrick at the Metro. We drove to Frederick and met  Bill and Kate Berry for lunch. Then I left them and drove to St. Mary’s in Barnesville for Confessions. They came to the 5pm Mass and then went back to West Virginia and I drove Pat to the Metro and he went back to the hotel.

Today, I have the 10:30AM Mass, which Maggie and Mike will come to. Then we’ll pick up Patrick again at the Metro (He is a real traveler and can find his way around), the we’ll pick up Joan B and go to Outback, where we’ll meet Barbara Ostrye for lunch. We’ll return and I know I’ll be in bed. I don’t care about the Oscars.

As tomorrow, Monday is my DAY OFF, and Patrick flies back to Chicago;  I’ll just stay in bed till I want to get up and I’ll join Regis, Mike, John, and Jim for supper at 6pm in Silver Spring. I am going to use Uber for the first time. I’ll report on it later!

I think that brings you up to date. The newsletter is almost ready for print.

I was supposed to go to a conference in Baltimore today and tomorrow; but it has been so frustrating the last few days, I “wimped out”.

I was scheduled to have a MRI on Tuesday, February 7th, which was the last day I wrote but they couldn’t let me take my oxygen in the room because it would interfere with the MRI machine, so I came home. We had a dinner for the school board that evening and I joined them for a while. Went to bed early as I had the 6:30am Mass on Wednesday as we’re down to two priests for a couple of days.

On Wednesday, the 8th, I had the 11am as well as the 6:30 and spent the whole day working on my Christmas newsletter. It is for 2007 thru 2017 and is taking a lot of work.

On Thursday, the 9th, I had the 8am and the evening Mass and had supper with Fr. Alec. More work on the newsletter.

On Friday, the 10th, I had the 8am and the evening Mass and worked most of the day on the newsletter. I fear that it will be 16 pages but I am determined to get one out this year. My family and friends will be stunned and I must put in a statement that I am not dying. When I sent one out while I was in South America that came out before Christmas, Danny called his mom to find out if I was ill.

On Saturday, the 11th, The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, I called Fr. Mark Smith to  wish him a happy birthday. Also it is the Day of the Infirmed and I offered Mass for Mark and all the sick I know. Then I met with a young girl who has been diagnosed with celiac and will have to receive a special host. You know how hard it is to be different when you’re a teenager. Keep her in your prayers. I also met with a couple from SDC. At 4pm, I had confessions and then I cooked some supper for myself – ham and eggs!

On Sunday, the 12th, Fr. Ron was preaching at all the Masses about the Cardinal’s appeal and so I just presided at the 12:30pm Mass. Rick and Peg surprised me by coming and we went to dinner at LaFerme, a nice French restaurant nearby. We had a great time and very good food. Went to bed early.

As Monday, the 13th was my DAY OFF, my doctor asked me to go to Sibley Hospital as they would allow me to have the oxygen during my MRI. Joan drove me but it was a closed one and I just couldn’t go into that tube. when I got home, I just went to bed and escaped.

Tuesday, was St. Valentine’s Day and so Joan and I picked up JoEddie, who use to work her and we went to Parkside Deli for lunch. It was her birthday and we had a nice visit and good food – I brought most of mine home to have for supper. I had the Exposition and 5:30pm Mass.

Wednesday, the 15th was very interesting. I had a very rough night and woke up almost every 20 minutes. I ached all over and couldn’t get to sleep. When I finally got out of bed, I saw that I had not turned my oxygen on. I had the cord but was getting no oxygen. A couple of time, I leaned over to the bed stand to check the oxygen but my oximeter was on my desk in the other room and I just didn’t want to get out of bed. If I had, I would have seen that the green light was not on. I really do need to have oxygen 24 hours a day now. So I learned something. I had the 8am Mass and after lunch, Joan drove me to Shady Grove Hospital for an open MRI that would allow me to have my oxygen as well. It was very easy and I was seated between two huge machines making a lot of noise. I was able to say the Rosary and it was over in less than a half hour. They gave me a disc to give my doctor. I’m glad to have all that over. I had the evening Mass and a dear friend did Exposition for me; but I was back in time for Mass. I’m in only one home tonight, so I ate some spaghetti that Humberto had left me and I went to bed early.

Today is February 16th – the 26th anniversary of Mom’s death. It seems like only yesterday that I stopped in to see her on St. Valentine’s Day, 1991. RIP. I had the 6:30 and 8am Masses, as I planed to get away early to attend the conference. I decided not to go until I had some explanation about the problem with my right foot. I’ll know something when the doctor sees the MRI disc. Since I thought I’d be away, I have no appointments. I may go to the rectory and work on the newsletter. I have a lot to do on Saturday and Sunday; so I should take advantage of the unscheduled “free day”. And now Paddy is up to date.

Today is normally my day off but Fr. Alec is ill and I am taking the Exposition and 5:30PM Mass. I had a doctor’s appointment at 11:45 and since I’m in the office, I decided to try to get something out to Paddy.

I last wrote on Jan 24th, I was going to Bethlehem House that evening. I went and really enjoyed myself. There are three women who reside there, Angela, Kimberly and Mary. Mary is the younger sister of Pat Horan Granados and is a classmate of mine from St. Bernard’s. Two ladies live there as house mothers. They are Jeannie and Mama. My driver was Kathy Healy, a parishioner who works with the special needs ministry of the Archdiocese. We all had a great time.

On Wednesday, the 25th, I had the 11AM and the 5:30PM Masses and exposition at 3PM. Then I did Confirmation interviews. They are always so interesting and I enjoy hearing the students tell me about their saint and who they chose as a sponsor and what service they have done. Their choices makes for good discussion.

On Thursday, I did the same.

On Friday, I had the 8 and 11am Masses and then my cousin, Jean picked me up and we rode to Ocean City, Maryland. Jean’s husband, Tom was my Great Aunt Mamie’s grandson. Tom and two of his brothers are deceased but he brother, Jim and his wife Eileen, his sister, Sue and Jean have been congregating in OC in January with their children and grandchildren for a “family weekend”.  They invited me to join them What a great time we all had. It was cold and windy outside but there is an ice skating rink, a pool, and a bar. Covered all our needs. We went out to eat at Lombardi’s, the Crab Bag, and the Green Turtle. We also had Mass on Saturday evening and another cousin, Ellie Gibbons, who live nearby and is Great Uncle Frank’s daughter, joined us. I think we were 35 in a large suite. It was a wonderful reunion.

Jean dropped me off at the rectory around 3pm on Sunday and I since my new bed had arrived and Joan W had made it up; I went to bed to test it out.

On Monday, the 30th (my day off) I slept in to about 11:30 and joined the guys for lunch. That evening, a former student from GC came and picked me up and he, his son, and I had a lovely dinner at Clyde’s.

On Tuesday, the 31st, I had the 8am Mass and then confirmation interviews. Fr. Regis, the Deacon Harry joined Frs. Ron and Alec and me to celebrate a special dinner for Fr. Alec’s 30th birthday, which is actually February 4th. We had a great time and even went into the parlor for a roaring fire in the fireplace and stayed laughing and talking.

I took the 6:30am and the 8am Masses so I could get moving on Wednesday, the 1st. Sister Kass picked me up and we rode to Pittsburgh. She says she loves to drive and so we just talked and suddenly we were at Waterfront. Keith Morris stopped by and we went to a Chinese restaurant and relaxed.

On Thursday, the 2nd, Keith, Kass and I went to a Cosko (sp?). I had never been and I had a great time and bought a lot of stuff. That evening, Sheila joined us at Mitchell’s Seafood restaurant where Fathers Kredel, Feeney, Norton, and Wesolowski joined us for a number of hours and laughter and good food.

On Friday, the 3rd, Kass and I stayed after breakfast and she gave me a tutorial on my new smart phone. It is not easy and I almost regret giving up my “flip – phone”. But I learned some things and then I stayed in my room relaxing and trying it out. Kass went to the casino. That evening, Keith drove us to Ed and Kerrie’s new house. We were joined by her sisters, their husbands and their children and a good friend, Helena for pizza, drinks, laughter, and a house blessing. It was so much fun – and to see how much the newest generation has grown was a blessing.

On Saturday, the 4th, we had breakfast at 7am and were on the road by 8. Kass is a great driver and I was at my rectory by 12:15. I took a nap and then went to say the 5:30pm Mass. We are beginning the Cardinal’s Appeal and Fr. Ron preached at all the Masses on the weekend. So I was back in my new bed very quickly.

On Sunday, the 5th, I had the 10:30am and again no preaching. Saw a lady in my office and then went to the rectory, where the spend the rest of the day defrosting my refrigerator (a college room size; but it gets a lot ice build up). I sort of watched the game but mostly I read a stack of magazines and newspaper that I had put aside to look at when I had time.

And that brings us to today. My doctor’s visit went well but I am having a MRI tomorrow because it might explain the leg problem I’m having. We’ll see. I have the 11am Mass tomorrow and in the evening the parish council will come to the house for supper. So tomorrow is fly by.

I actually wrote to seven people today (by snail mail) and Susan and I have been talking by phone (she’s in Minnesota) about my Christmas newsletter, so don’t give up hope.

Please keep in your prayer, Bob Scanlon, and my friend, Carol. Also Robert, who was a special needs person here in the parish died in his sleep. Please keep and his family in your prayers. Till next week….