I am using the holiday to “catch up”.
My health is better. I think that the pain and bruising around my sciatic nerve has lessened greatly and I am able to drive. I have been accepting rides from others but this Saturday; I will drive to Annapolis to cover a parish. I will stay overnight and return to BS for the Sunday night Mass. We’ll see how that goes!
I Had Joe Hickson’s funeral on Thursday at St. Catherine Laboure. Joan Ward drove me and I road to the cemetery with the funeral director. He dropped me off at the club house at Leisure World for the luncheon. I had the chance to see lots of old friends from GC. Danny and Maureen drove me home. I’m glad I went but all I really did was to preach and consecrate. I went to bed as soon as I got home. I had the 8am Mass today and did a little work at my desk and now I’m going to spend the rest of the day here in the rectory. The office is closed today and Saturday for the 4th.
Have three funerals this week that I will participate in: Monday is Frances Higgins, who taught Latin at Good Counsel and has been a parishioner here at BS. Tuesday is the funeral of Marguerite Foley, a 90 year old parishioner, whom I loved. She is the mother of Fr. Bill Foley, whom I also love. On Thursday is the funeral of Fr. John Clark, who was a parishioner of St. Bernard’s and lived at the rectory before he was ordained in 1996. He had lots of illness throughout his priesthood and finally had to retire. He was only 54 years old. Please keep all of these dear souls and their families and friends in your prayers.
I must tell you that the cruise from Memphis to New Orleans on the Mississippi River was great. I learned a lot about the river’s important during the Civil War. I use to think all the battles and activities of the war were on the East coast but, for example the Battle of Vicksburg was a major turning point in the war. There are lots of lovely plantations and interesting cities on the river. There was a great guide on the ship that gave very interesting talks. I didn’t go outside much (we had a balcony but I only went on it once), the heat and humidity were tough. It was always in the 90’s. They brought interesting entertainment at night from the neighborhood. There were fiddle and banjo players, a gospel choir, and a singer/storyteller. The ship holds 105 passengers and the walk from your cabin to the meeting rooms and dining room was easy. Meals were “sitting where you want” and we met a lot of interesting fellow travelers from all over the states and from foreign countries. I would recommend the river trip!
Now, there were problems! I drove too long (1000miles) to get to Memphis and my right leg gave me a lot of trouble. We arrived in Memphis on Wednesday and Dan and Stephanie Poje were great hosts to us. As I wasn’t up to it, Dan took the women around and showed them Memphis. Stephanie and I went to Mass and said the rosary with some nice ladies. We had a lovely dinner at their house and met a great friend of theirs (and a classmate of Dan’s from grade school) Brother Joel. He is a Christian Brother, celebrating his 50th anniversary year. He was great company. We also went out one night to have real Memphis bar-B-Que. They left to go on a cruise to Bermuda and we went to hotel near the dock.
We left our car at the dock. We were supposed to rent a car in New Orleans and drive to Memphis and pick up my niece’s car, in which we had driven down. On the cruise, I realized I could not drive. I called one of Marie’s sons, Jimmy. He talked with his brother, Rick, who is retired Army and lives in Colombia, SC. They took over and Rick flew to NO and drove the rental (and us) to Memphis. We got our car, spent the night, and headed home. On Sunday night, we stayed near Virginia and on Monday night we were back at Maggie’s. I drove (very gingerly and slowly) back to my rectory and went to bed. It was re-assuring to have my large oxygen tank.
I slept much of Tuesday and went, on Wednesdays to see my doctor. She told me about the sciatica and gave me muscle relaxants and I went to bed again. I did say Mass on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but when not at church, I was in bed.
On Saturday, I did drive (gingerly) to the Shrine to participate in the ordination of 11 permanent deacons. I “vested” one of them, Paul, a great friend from Sothern Maryland and TEAMS. It is a nice ceremony. His wife, Ellen brought up his stole and dalmatic and I helped him vest. A lot of people helped me get around but I was very glad that I got there. I was there for 4 hours and went to bed when I got home.
On Sunday, I had a baptism at 2pm. Please keep Kolman Max and his family in your prayers. Then I had the 5:30pm. I had a lot of trouble and sat for everything – even the Gospel and my preaching. I didn’t have a deacon but the people were so good to me. I sat on a stool at the altar. After Mass, my cousins, Rick and Peg Jensen took me and Peg’s sister, Kathy, who was visiting them, out to supper at Clyde’s. Kate, their daughter and her friend, James met us and we had a great time.
I went to bed exhausted but happy. I slept in till almost noon. Again, I spent most of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday relaxing before and after Masses.
Now you really are up to date. I’ll try not to take so long between writing.