What Paddy Shot At

Yesterday, I anticipated this feast by taking off the afternoon and evening and spent that time reading, watching TV, and sleeping. It was a very needed “desert” experience. I am very rested and ready to face the day.

It is now 10:00am and I have my “Tuesdays with Fr. Maury” to prepare for and go to at 11:45am. At 1:45pm, I have to be at the Pastoral Center ready to have my photo taken for the new Priest Directory. Pictures were taken at the convocation in November but I was on the cruise, so now I am going to attend one of the “make up” sessions. Then I have exposition at 3pm and the 5:30pm Mass. Afterwards, I will join Frs. Beattie, Sileo, and Duffy at DiCarlo’s for supper.

I just realized that I didn’t tell you about Sunday and Monday.

Sunday, I had the 7:30am Mass and I preached about how nice Ordinary Time is. Then I helped with Communion at the 9 and presided at the 10:30 in the gym. I haven’t had it for a few months. I couldn’t find the prayers in the book, so I made them up. When it came time for the children to be around the altar, I discovered that the new sacramentary doesn’t have Masses for children, so again I had to “wing it”. I think I’ll have to cut and paste up my own sacramentary. I wonder if that is allowed????

Then I headed out to Southern Maryland. I had the 2pm baptism of Kyle Joseph at Our Lady’s Church at Medley’s Neck. His mom is the kindergarten teacher at St. Michael’s. It was so nice to see all the family and many friends from St. Michael’s. Kyle’s grandmother is the receptionist at Fr. Andrew White School in Leonardtown and so the principal, Linda Maloney was there also. She and I use to ride “up the road” to educational meetings. It was great to see her.

As you would expect there was a big meal at her house with lots of food. I tried to limit myself as after that , I went to meet my TEAM. It was nice to see them and catch up on all they and their families have been doing. I drove home the Connoleys to Lusby and then stopped in to visit my sisters. Marie is staying with Maggie while she has this heart monitor on her. I got home around 11pm and was ready for bed.

On Monday, Dr. King’s birthday, the office was closed. I came over around 10 because I had the 11:00am Mass and then at noon, a funeral in the chapel. The funeral was for Alice Rose, whose brother I buried a little over a month ago. It’s a big Irish family and I like them a lot. Alice had suffered with schizophrenia since age 30 and had been in institutions much of her life. Her brother in law spoke beautifully about that “cross”. It really is important that we say words that encourage not discourage people. There was a nice funerial luncheon across from the chapel and I stopped in but didn’t eat anything. Then I went home, had lunch and “entered the desert”.

So now you’re up to date.

I am sitting here at 5:45pm in the office waiting to go up and help with Communion at the 5:30pm Mass.
Yesterday afternoon, I did go to Collins and visited with the Kennedy family. I saw a lot of the St. Bernard’s crowd. Then I headed out to Gaithersburg. I got there early so I decided to stop in and visit Kathleen and Doug Hanratty. It was a nice surprise for them and me. Then I went to Sandy’s wake at St. Rose. I talked with Jim and their children. They had great photos all around. I came home and went to bed early.

Today, I had the 8:00am Mass and then we had our first session of First Penance. What can I say, the kids were adorable. We had five priests and were done by 9:55. I headed out immediately for Resurrection parish and arrived at 10:27 – just in time to concelebrate. Jerry Trancone was the main celebrant, Hank Slevin was the preacher and I gave a eulogy after Communion. the burial in tomorrow in Virginia, so there was a luncheon but I couldn’t stay. I did get a chance to talk to Sally Curley, a St. Camillus friend and Carol Kennedy, who is Mike’s wife and is from St. Michael’s in Southern Md.

I got back in time for the 12:30 confessions and again they were just delightful. At 2:00pm I met with a senior in high school who wants to be confirmed. We’ll meet a few times and get him ready for confirmation, which is March 10th, I think.

Then I had the 4:00pm Confessions and then went to get some prescriptions and now am waiting for Communion time. I think I’ll go to bed early tonight because again, I have a full day tomorrow. I enjoyed this day!!

Hi, I thought I’d check in early as my day looks full and I’ll report how things went later. I had the 6:30am Mass and the 8 and I preached on Samuel and how the people wanted a king so “they’d be like the others”. It is still a temptation that we deal with often – wanting to be like others – rather than wanting to be “God’s people”. I think it went well. I also have the 11:00am Mass and will do a repeat. The pastor has the two nursing homes (you have to park aways and walk with the Mass kit) so he took them rather than make me do it. I am very grateful.

I will do exposition at 3pm and then go to Collin’s funeral home for the afternoon visitation at Ralph Kennedy’s. Then I’ll drive out to Gaithersburg for the evening wake for Sandy Vidas at St. Rose’s. I can’t make her funeral on Saturday since we have First Penance sessions at 9am and 12:30pm. I am hoping that the first session will finish by 10am and I can drive over to Ralph’s funeral at Resurrection in Burtonsville. We’ll see.

I think I may be really tired when I get home tonight, so I will probably write tomorrow.

Don’t know what happened to yesterday. I got up early because I had the 8:00am Mass. It was offered for Captain Macauley Howard by his friends at Knollwood. I had his funeral about a month ago. Because of the back log at Arlington Military Cemetery, we had his burial at 10:00am and so I drove over as soon as Mass was done. I saw Bill Vogelson, who was married to Ceil Mattingly. He helps with the interments and the logistics of military funerals.

After the ceremony, which was full honors and very impressive, I went over to Washington Hospital Center to check on Marie. She was already down at surgery and I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes but never saw Maggie or Mary Ann. (There were in another waiting area). So I came home. I called a lady who wanted me to come and give her mother the Anointing of the Sick. It turned out she had been taken to the hospital, so I drove over to Sibley and saw them. Her mom is 89 and from Costa Rica. I was able to use some of my Spanish and her mom was thrilled (her hearing may not be so good!!). Then I came home and Maggie called me to see why I didn’t come to the hospital. She said everything went well and Marie might go home that afternoon. She will wear a monitor and see if the procedure has helped her to get the electric part of her heart on a good routine.

Then I had expostition and the 5:30pm Mass and went home. I relaxed and checked in on Marie (she was fine but annoyed that she couldn’t get to BINGO!) and I went to bed early.

Today, I came over and worked at my desk. I had the 11:00am Mass and then went to lunch with Patrick and a friend, Peter, a student at CU. Then we went to see “Tinker, Spy, Soldier..Somthing”. I had read it in the 70’s but forgot it. It was interesting but a bit confusing – I may have to read it again.

The pastor is just finishing the 5:30pm Mass and then we’ll have supper and both retire to our rooms to do some cleaning and organizing. I have three Masses tomorrow, so I will go to bed early.

I have been looking forward to Ordinary Time since Christmas and the New Year have been very busy BUT so might be ordinary time. First let me bring you up to date:

On Wednesday, January 4th, I had the 6:30am and the 8:00am Masses. A nice crowd was at each of them. I preached about Elizabeth Ann Seton. As soon as the second Mass ended, I headed out for Philly. On the way, I stopped at St. Patrick’s in Norbeck to drop off some marriage papers. Since I was near it, I decided to try the new Inter County Connector Highway. It took me all the way to I95 and was better than the beltway. I may try to use it more often. It is a toll but it takes Ezpass. I got up to Joe’s around 1pm and we went to the movies, we saw, “The girl with the dragon tattoo” It was very violent and I think it would help if you read the books. I can’t say I enjoyed it but it is “gripping”. Afterwards, we went shopping for gloves and a hat for me as I couldn’t find mine when I was packing. I need them later that night as it was very cold when we met John and Terry for supper. We went to a restaurant near University of Penn and the food and atmosphere were great. Because I was nervous about being on time for class the next morning, I didn’t stay at Joe’s. I went to a motel in Malvern, near the school. Slept well.

On Thursday, the 5th (the feast of St. John Neumann), I was at Villa Maria Academy. A young lady whom I baptized and whose parents I married is a junior there. Although I was stunned when she came into class – she must be at least 5ft 11 – and a very attractive young lady. Where does the time go??!!. Her class is using the book that Joe and I wrote and her teacher, Mrs. Paolantonio, invited me to come and speak to the classes. I think it was six sections over a 7 hours time frame. They were delightful and with each session, had more questions. I was most impressed that every class knew that John Neumann was the 4th bishop of Philadelphia and that it was his feast day. At lunch, I met a teacher who had hired Jim Stoutzenberger as a math teacher at Lancaster Catholic years ago. It really is a small world in Catholic circles!!

I left there around 3:15pm and got on the turnpike. I got to the hotel in Pittsburgh around 9pm. I went right to bed and slept through till about 8am on Friday. As I didn’t have anything to do until the rehearsal at 4pm; I decided to open all my Christmas mail (Something I usually do in March). I checked all the return addresses against my mailing list and made corrections. Then I took out all the pictures and put them in a folder to put on my “Wall of memories” in my office. I put into another folder all the letters. (I am someone who loves those letters people right about the family and its activities during the year) I spent about 4 hours doing these things.

Rehearsal went very well and ran about an hour. It was at Sacred Heart church in Shadyside. The bride to be was my Godchild, Kathleen Morris and the groom to be was David Havern. We had a great dinner at the Pittsburgh Athletic Club and the high point was a wonderful slide of photos of the couple as they grew up done by Gavin Rapp, one of the brothers-in-law (whom I also married). Dave’s mother is one of 11 and so there were Fitzgeralds everywhere. I’m checking them out to see if they’re relatives!! I was home and in bed by 11pm.

On Saturday, January 7th, I used the pool at the hotel. I had it all to myself and I did the exercises from Structure House. It was very relaxing. I took the time to read all the Christmas letters and made note to respond. I even took a nap as the wedding was at 4pm and a bus was taking us from the hotel to church to reception back to hotel.

The wedding went off beautifully. She was a picture of beauty and charm and he was smiling the whole time. Even having to have the ring put on his right hand because his left hand is still swollen from being broken (at least the cast was off) was done without my notice. There were trumpets and members of both families were involved in the ceremony. The bride’s parents (married 46 years) looked like newly weds and both were beaming. The reception was a wonderful Irish party with just the right number of toasts. The best man is just back from a tour in Afghanistan and the groom had him and all the veterans stand to a huge ovation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place when the bride’s father spoke. In addition to the family, I had a chance to talk with lots of old friends from days gone by – as well as some new friends. Lots of young people dancing and I hear it went to all hours but I went back on the 10:15pm bus.

On Sunday, January 8th, I headed back to DC early. It was a beautiful day and I was home by 3pm. I had the 5:30pm Mass, which was packed but I don’t know why. Afterwards, I went to the Bowe’s home for a session of Pre-Cana. There were two presenting couples and 4 couples planning to get married. It was very enjoyable and I think everyone had a good time. I came home around 10pm. was nice to sleep in my own bed.

On Monday, January 9th, I had the 11:00am Mass. It was the Baptism of the Lord, (and the end of the Christmas season) so I preached on that. I spent most of the day catching up on email and voice mail. Bishop Martin Holley, our auxiliary bishop came for supper. We had a very nice time and afterwards, he, Frs. Ron and Tesfaye and I sat by a roaring fire and just talked. It was very relaxing for us all. We had RCIA and when that was over, I saw that I had a message from the Kennedy’s. They had called to let me know that Ralph (Mr, whom I had anointed last week) had died. I hope to be able to concelebrate his funeral, when that is settled.

Also, while I was away, Mr. Carroll, who cleaned the school at St. Michael’s had died. I am waiting to hear about that funeral. Ron Cunningham, who was in Maggie’s wedding also died as did Mrs. Kirk, Patty & Peggy’s mom. I had to miss Mary Douglas’s funeral while I was away. She is Gail’s mom. Please keep all these friends and their families in your prayers.

Also keep in your prayers:

Fr. Carmen, who is recovering from open heart surgery up in New Jersey
Nicholas Gallagher, the 17th year old who is gravely ill at Children’s and also
My sister, Marie, who had an incident at Church, where she fainted and is now at
Washington Hospital Center for a procedure on her heart.

I’ll keep you all informed.
That brings us to today, as I said at the beginning, I like ordinary time. Today has been quiet, I had the 8:00am Mass. Went to the CVS and picked up my prescriptions. Answered phone calls and emails and have had the time to write all this. Soon I will go over to the hospital center and check in on Marie.

At 4pm, I will go and visit the 2nd graders in CCD who are preparing for First Penance on Saturday. Then I will have one of my RCIA make up classes and then a quiet night at home. Ah!!! An Ordinary day.

On Saturday, the 31st, almost immediately after I wrote, I recieved a phone call that a young boy (17 years of age) who has been bedridden most of his life had had a heart attack and was in Childrens’ hospital. His name is Nicholas Gallagher. Please keep him and his parents in your prayers.

Then I went to the Dominican Retreat House in Virginia. We had dinner and there were about 35 people there. I gave a conference (on the theme Be Calm, Be Still, Wait, and Trust). I think it went well. I was available for three hours for confession or to talk. At 11pm, a holy hour started (I joined in late) and I closed it with Benediction at Midnight. Then we had some refreshments. I met lots of people who knew people I knew and we had lots of laughs and stories. I went to bed around 1am.

We had Mass at 8:00am and then breakfast. I came home and had the 12:30pm Mass here at Blessed Sacrament. Peg and Rick surprised me and were at Mass and they took me to lunch. I came home around 3:30 planning to have the 5:30pm Mass. But as I wrote very quickly on Sunday, Fr. Percy offered to take that Mass and so I headed out to New Jersey and got there around 8pm rather than at midnight. I had a reservation at a Clarion Hotel and was asleep by 11pm.

On Monday, January 2nd, I got up, had breakfast and headed over to Fr. Carmen Carlone’s house. He is retired (well not really – three days a week he is at a hospital in Trenton and is the chaplain there). We have known each other since 1963 and have remained great friends since. He was to have open heart surgery on Wednesday, January 4th. As he was preparing by decorating the chapel the week before Christmas, he had a spell and they decided that he needed this surgery. It couldn’t be done robotically. They will need to break her sternum and replace a major valve. The recovery may take awhile. I just decided that I needed to drive up and see him. We visited for about three hours and recounted some of the funnier moments of our priesthood. We prayed and I left. I didn’t want to tire him out. He was going to the hospital on Tuesday and so I ask that you remember him and the medical team in your prayers on Wednesday.

I was home by dark and tried again to straighten up my rooms. I also talked by phone to Gail Douglas. Her mom, Mary died that morning. Please keep Gail and her family in your prayers as well.

This morning, January 3rd, I came and cleaned up my desk. I am going to leave in the morning and I wanted to leave my office looking presentable.
I had the 11:00am Mass. Went and got my suit from the cleaners and started packing. This evening I had dinner with Frs. Duffy and Beattie and then returned to join the play reading group. They had started last month to read the play, “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot”. It was very unusual but we had a great discussion afterwards.

And that brings us up to date.

Tomorrow I will have the 6:30am and the 8:00am Masses and then head out to Philly. I will meet John, Joe, and Terry for dinner and then go out to a hotel near Malvern. On Thursday, I will “teach” five sections of high school religion who have been using Joe and my Religion text book. One of the students is Courtney Clarke, the daughter of Michelle and Wayne Clarke and the grand daughter of Joan Clarke, Maggie’s matron of honor and a good friend. I am nervous but looking forward to it.
Then I will drive out to Pittsburgh and spend the night in a hotel. The family has arranged for me to stay Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at the hotel and I am taking all my Christmas cards and letters to read them as I relax. Friday is the rehearsal for Kathleen Morris and Dave Havern’s wedding. Kathleen is my God child and the youngest of the four daughters of Keith and Sheila Morris, great friends for many years.

Saturday is the wedding at Sacred Heart church and the reception. Sunday, I will head back because I have the 5:30pm Mass at Blessed Sacrament and at 7:30pm I am going to the Pre-Cana class. And then I will go to bed.

I will write again on Monday to let you know how everything went.

It is Sunday, January 01, 2012 and I have just returned from lunch with my cousins.
( I just got a phone call from Fr. D’Silva. He is leaving this week for India and asked if he could take the 5:30pm from me. That’s works out greatly as I was going to drive up to New Jersey after Mass and now I’ll get there before 10pm.)
I’ll write when I get home on Monday night and bring you up to date on the retreat and this trip. Happy and Blessed 2012!!

Yesterday, Thursday, I didn’t get to do Part 2.
I got up early and did the 6:30am Mass. Then worked at my desk and tried to leave it relatively clear.
Then I had the 11:00am Mass. It was the feast of the Holy Innocents, so I preached about those who died for Christ. I mentioned again, those people who were going to Mass on Christmas Eve in Nigeria and five churches were bombed and many died. They died just because they were Catholics. I can’t get them out of my mind and heart.

Then I went to Joan’s and she rode with me up to take Betty back to Shrewsbury. Betty had spent the night at Joan’s and they talked till late at night. Joan, of course, as usual got up at 3:30am but Betty slept till 10. We had a very nice ride up, although it was snowing when we got to Betty’s. She was able to show Joan her new diggs but then we had to head home. The snow was just showers and didn’t stick.

I dropped Joan off at home – where she presented me with my stocking, filled with goodies!! It is the same stocking that hung up at Christmas in my home. Joan did say that it “burst” from the toe when she put stuff in it She had to sew it!! I did explain that it is 67 years old and I think we got good use of it!!!

I got home around 3:30 and at 4pm, one of my RCIA people came and we covered 5 topics that she had to make up. Fortunately, I’ve been around the church a long time and I was able to cover them all in 2 and a half hours. Now she’s back on track for the Monday night classes.

Then I had supper with the pastor and we “caught up”. Then TV and off to bed.

This morning I had the 8:00am Mass and preached on Family and what a blessing it is. I’ve been at my desk since. Had a great phone conversation with Steve Bleistine, whom I went to St. Nazianz’s with and whom I had the privledge of witnessing his marriage to Carol on December 28, 1974. I got their Christmas card and there was a great picture of their 9 year old son, Steve. He is adorable and is a “miracle baby” as they almost lost him at birth. I can hardly wait to meet him.

I have the 11:00am Mass and then I have to go out and get my hair cut.

The afternoon and evening are free – I may take in a movie or just relax in my room and prepare for the retreat that I am giving at the Dominican Retreat House in Virginia on New Year’s Eve. I probably won’t write again till January 1st. Have a very Happy and Blessed New Year.

I didn’t get home last night till almost 1am, so here is yesterday’s message.

I worked at my desk, trying to catch up on voice and e mail and left around 9am for Baltimore. I stopped in to see Sister Natalie (Ann Christine), my kindergarten and 1st grade teacher. She lives at Villa Julie, with about 25 other Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She is the sacristan and works in the office on Medicare information. She is 83 and is still the “little ball of fire” she was when she taught me. We have been friends since 1949, when we met at St. Martin’s. She prayed me (and others) through the seminary and has been my “rock” over the years. Two weeks ago, she and another sister were taking the dog to his cage for the night and a cat ran by. The dog ran after the cat, pulling the one nun by the leash and falling into Sister Natalie, who fell into the wall and cracked her elbow and shattered it. She is wrapped up like a mummy and can’t really use her right arm. It’s funny to hear her tell it; but she is “most annoyed” at the cat and at her being forced to have people cut her food, which she can “still feed myself” with the left hand. It was great to see her and Sister Bernadette Glodeck (another SND friend of mine) who is one of the “drivers to the doctors”.

Then I drove up to Shrewsbury, Pa to pick up Betty Neary. She has moved – about three blocks – and she gave me a great tour of her new digs. It is about three times the size of the apartment she has lived in for the last 8 years. It is actually the first floor of a house and she is very happy about the move. We went to lunch and then drove back to Silver Spring and stopped by Joan Beall’s house for a visit. (I took a nap).

Then we came to Blessed Sacrament. I had the 5:30pm Mass. It was the feast of the Holy Innocents and I preached about those 27 people who were killed in bombs in Nigeria on Christmas as they were going to Mass. It seems that people are still dying because the Messiah has come!

Then, with the addition of one of the parishioners, who was at Mass and whom I invited to join us, we headed out for the Kennedy Center. Carolyn is a very active member of the liturgy group. She was born in Missouri but has lived her for about 50 years. She works at a law firm and we have just hit it off well.

Just before Mass, I got a phone message that Kate Berry was not well and wouldn’t be able to join us at the Center; so I invited Carolyn to sub. At first she demurred but I wouldn’t take No for an answer. So, she, Joan, Betty, and I headed to the Center. We met Rick and Peg Jensen, my cousins from Virginia and Bill and Pat Berry, who had driven in from West Virginia. We saw a one woman show about Anne Richards, the governor of Texas. Holland Taylor, who wrote it was the star and she was just fabulous. She plays the mother in Two and a Half Men on TV but has many other credits in her career. This will be one for which she is long remembered.

After the show, Rick and Peg invited us to their home for refreshments. Their daughter, Kate and their son, Christopher and his friend, Halley were there as well. We had a very nice time and good food!! (Again, we missed Kate Berry!!!). Finally around 11:15, we decided that the Berrys needed to head out to West Virginia and we needed to head home. I took all the ladies home and, as I said, fell into bed around 1am. So now I am up to date.

God is trying to teach me something by letting the computer freeze up – but I don’t know what it is yet.
As Kass said, “I thought you were typing it in Word, and then transferring it”. Yes, that would be a sensible thing to do but it required two steps and I thought I’d just do one!

As Fr. Tom use to say, “All sin is Pride”. So here I am in Word trying to remember what I wrote.

On Monday, I drove out to Charlestown and had a very nice visit with Bill, Kate, and Patrick. They gave me a great tour of their new church, St. James. It stands in a huge piece of property and looks like Chartres Cathedral. It is red brink – like most of Charlestown – and it could be a medieval complex when it is done. The windows – some of which are not done yet – will be a teaching tool like the old stain glass of Europe. There are classrooms and a very large multi purpose room below. I was most impressed.

We had shepherds’ pie for supper and then the Pros, who live across the street came for a visit. I had met them when I was at St. Michael’s in Ridge. They have a nephew who lived there. During the conversation, I learned that John had gone to St. Vincent’s as an adult and took courses from Fr. Demetrius – small world!

I must recommend the Berry’s Bed and Breakfast. My bed was so comfortable and I slept very well. Kate made French toast early on Tuesday because I had to get away by 9:00am. Their home and hospitality was exceptional. I hated to leave.

It rained all the way home but I got here for the 11:00am Mass with time to spare.

Then I went to RIP’s to meet Sr. Kass for lunch and to catch up on all the news.

Then Jim Beattie called and asked me to meet him and Tom Duffy at Sergio’s for supper. Maybe all the eating out is the reason I am stuck at only losing 38 lbs!! You think???

I had a great day and it was only spoiled by the freezing up of the computer last night.

I’ll write today’s message later tonight.