Sunday, Dec 7th was Fr. Percy D’Silva’s 50th anniversary of ordination celebration. I concelebrated the 12:30pm with ten other priests and then they had a dinner at the rectory. I didn’t go to that as I had the baptismal prep session, then I had a baptism. Please keep Barbara Rose and her family in your prayers. Then I had the 5:30pm Mass and went to bed early.
Monday, the 8th. I had the 8:40am Mass at the Wood’s Academy for the holyday. It was very nice and the children had gathered donations for the mothers and children at St. Ann’s Home. I had a driver over and back (to the door), which was very nice for me. I did go to Alice Johnson’s wake because I wouldn’t be able to go to the funeral the next day. I saw a lot of St. Bernard’s people and some of the Irish club.
I then went out to Rip’s to join Maggie, her son and daughter-in-law and her mother, who was visiting from Wichita. We joined Marie and two of her sons and their wives and her daughter Mary. We wanted to prepare Marie for her doctor appointment of Wednesday. The doctor was going to explain that while her surgery went very well, he did see two spots that he thought were cancer on her liver. We wanted her to have time to formulate some questions for her meeting. I think it went OK.
On the 9th, Joan drove me to the eye doctor. He examined my eyes and gave me a prescription for a bi-focal. I am really having a hard time reading the prayers at the altar. Then I had the 11AM Mass. Then we had Tuesdays with Fr. Maury and our topic was Our Lady of Guadalupe. I took my vestment over and they loved it. That night, Fr. Jim picked me up and we drove to Ruth Chris’ and met Fr. Regis, Fr. Mike, and Fr. Enzler for supper. We had a great time, good food, and lots of laughs.
On the 10th, I took the 6:30AM Mass, so I could get on the road early. I met Marie and some of her children when she met with the surgeon. He was excellent and although she had a little infection and he couldn’t take out her staples; he explained things very well to her and us. She will have to see on Oncologist to decide if she wants to take treatments. Keep her and her family in your prayers. I stopped by the John Vianney house and had lunch with the retired priests’ group. Then I went to Jerry Trancone’s and took a nap. Then he and I went to the Petrone’s for a nice Italian dinner. Then we decorated cookies. It’s a Christmas tradition and always lifts my spirits and fills me with good food.
Thursday, the 11th, I had a quick but pleasant visit with Patrick Mullan and then said the 11am Mass. Then I joined Ann for lunch. Then I took the rest of the DAY OFF.
On Friday, the 12th, I had the 11am Mass and went to On Our Own in Prince Frederick where I gave a talk on Southern Maryland and Our Lady of Guadalupe. It seemed to go well. Maggie and I went home and some of her grandkids went and got pizza for us and we had a relaxing evening. I stayed the night.
On Saturday, the 13th, we drove to Jesus the Good Shepherd and left my car and went on a bus trip with 35 of her fellow parishioners to NYC. The trip was delightful and it was a sunny day. We got there and went to Radio City Music Hall and saw the show. It was great and put us in a Christmas mood. When we came out, we had a hard time getting a cab and with Maggie in a wheelchair, it took a while. But we got home, I took a hot shower and went to bed.
Fr. Paul said Mass for us at 8am in the hotel on Sunday, the 14th. We had a nice breakfast buffet and lounged around all day. It 5pm, we took a cab up to our cousins, Sharon, Amy, and Alexander in their home up on 175 street. We had a delicious supper and just visited and talked. In the past, we met at restaurants but it was nice to see their home and just talk. Sharon is a real New Yorker and hailed us a taxi and we were at our hotel in 2o minutes.
On Monday, the 15th, we once again had the buffet and got on the bus at noon. Great ride and sunny day. We were back in Dunkirk around 5pm. I took Maggie home and then came back to the parish. It was nice to sleep in my own room!
I had been wondering what adventures you were up to. Thanks for sharing!