What Paddy Shot At

I just wrote to Dwight to wish him a happy birthday and to tell him I offered Mass at 5:30pm for his Mom and Dad. They were great people and I am glad that I got to meet them. Both are deceased now. His Dad died after he was ordained and his Mom just died last year. I have great memories of when John Bohrer and I went out for his ordination and stayed with his parents. I also thanked God for letting me know and love Dwight. We met 48 years ago this week.

I had a great time at the cookout – and I ate correctly! I had a chance to speak to Cardinal Baum, who came in a wheelchair but is so alert and charming. I saw a lot of the guys from Southern Maryland and sat with Jerry Trancone, Roberto, and Bill Hines. It was cold and I left after dinner because I wanted to get in bed and under the quilt!

This morning I got early and drove over to St. Bernard’s for Ruby Makle’s wake. I had a chance to talk to Jim and he understood about the other funeral but I was glad I went by. She was dressed in her wedding dress, which she got for her 50th anniversary because they couldn’t afford a big wedding at the time they got married. She looked beautiful and Jim said she told them she’d be buried in it because she didn’t want anyone else to wear it. She looked liked a queen! I saw a number of the old parishioners and had a chance to talk.

Then I headed over to Riderwood for Mrs. Courtois’s wake and funeral Mass. She too looked beautiful – as she always did! She was a third degree Carmelite and wore her scapular over her clothes. Bernie, her husband wasn’t able to come to the funeral but I saw him later. They were married for 68 years. It was great to see Renee, Steve, and the boys (whom I last saw when they were teenagers). Darren sang Panis Angelicus and it was excellent. Travis gave a wonderful and moving eulogy. There was a very nice luncheon and I had a chance to speak to Gary, his wife, and his daughter, Alana; as well as Mrs. Ellen Dougherty, from St. Bernard’s and Margie, who has travelled on cruise with us. At the funeral, I saw, Don Werden’s sister and Marguerite Moore from St. Camillus. So many people from Camillus and St. Bernard’s have moved out to Riderwood.
After the luncheon, once my sisters helped me to find my car (I felt like Msgr. Eckert because I came out a different door then I had gone in to the chapel and couldn’t find (in the rain) my car or where I parked it), I drove out to the cemetery for the internment. Again, it was a driving rain, and I assured them all that Lilyan would not want us to catch colds, so our prayers were complete but not dragged out.

When I got back to the center, I dried out and then got ready for Mass. After Mass, I came home and heated up in the micro, a very nice supper of steak, wild rice and asparagus. Then I finished it off with fruit and was heading to bed, when the beeper rang. I am duty tonight. It was the family of Jack Holloway, whom I visited at his home last week. I knew he was terminal but we spoke and had two great visits. He went downhill over the weekend and so he is now at the Washington Hospital Hospice care. It is about 10 blocks away, so I went over and anoited him and visited with his wife and daughter. He is on methedone so I think he shall go peacefully tonight. Keep his family in your prayers.

I called my sisters to say good-bye because they are flying out tomorrow to Wichita for a “Red Hat Ladies'” Convention. But there was no answer at Maggie’s so I guess they went out to Bingo. I guess they weren’t as tired as they thought earlier today. Talk to you tomorrow.

I am just relaxing today. I did have the 11:00am Mass but I’ve spent the day over here in the rectory rather than in the office at the center. It closed and no one is there, so I’ve just worked here on the computer. I am going over to Little Flower around 6pm for the annual priests’ cookout. I always enjoy the chance to see the guys. I don’t think Fr. Ron or Fr. Percy is going but I hope to see Fr. Jim, Jerry Trancone, Fr. Beattie, and maybe some of my classmates. I’ll report on that tomorrow.

For today, I want to share with you the retreat that I participated in at the Dominican Retreat House in McLean. I had given a day of recollection for the Sodality at Our Lady of Grace, at Leisure World and one of the ladies asked if I would mind her giving my name to the sister at Dominican Retreat House as they are always looking for priests to help with retreats. I said, “Sure”. Sister Agnes called me last March and since we have a priest who helps on weekends, I thought Septemeber would be easy. As it turned out, with Fr. John and Fr. Jim leaving and a new pastor and a retired priest coming and me retiring; a required a little moving around to be able to go. However, I am happy I did because it was a pleasant retreat for me as well. I felt like a real priest. I was available for private conversations and heard confessions for three hours and that’s something I love. I gave three conferences – The Exodus, Jesus, The Spirit and Lectio Devina; and celebrated three Masses and preached. The sisters do the prayer services, which I attended and they were very good and very thoughtful. It was scheduled that only two of the meals would have talking but I was “forced” to be the first in line for supper on Friday. As people came to the table I welcomed them and started conversation, then all the other tables joined in and there were three meals with talking. The others had music or a talk by tape, and although I’m use to “quiet” meals, it was nice.
The ladies came from everywhere; one from Florida and one from North Carolina – they had gone “on line” and found the retreat. Many have been on this particular retreat for 4 or 5 years. Some heard about from those ladies and came for the first time. I think I will do something like this again – not right away as I was tired when I got home- but it was a good tired.

Today was a very easy but quick day for me. I was over at the office by 9am and trying to get more paperwork done. Patrick Mullen came and helped me with my computer. Last year, when we working on the reunion for Riverdale, he helped me to get a copy of each email that Marie got. It worked very well because it helped us to get information and plans organized for the reunion. I’ve been wanting to get that process changed but couldn’t remember how we did. In just a few moments, he was able to get us into Marie’s mail and change the forward command. When I got into her mail, I realized that Marie hadn’t been “on line” for a long time. She had over 700 emails. So I started deleting those I knew she couldn’t care about. There are now 48 so she can go in and look at those herself. She’ll be a Maggie’s next week and we’ll try to re-educate her on how to go on line.

Kind of around my deleting things, I had the 11am Mass, I met with a couple whom I am marrying next week, I took Communion to the very nice man I met the other day, and then I met Marie in Queenstown for lunch and explained about the computer. She was busy herself all morning going to Trinity college and getting names of Sisters of Notre Dame who taught at St. Martin’s. She also went down to the rectory at St. Martin’s. She has been working on a reunion at St. Matin’s for September 18th. She is very good at callling people and getting new addresses and connecting with people. God love her.
So after lunch, I came home and worked again on the computer. Went to supper with Frs. Ron & Percy. And have been playing here on my computer in my room on genealogy.
I am giving a retreat this weekend over in Virginia at the Dominican retreat house. It is for women and my first experience of giving a weekend retreat to women. So please keep me and the ladies in your prayers. I won’t have my computer and on Friday I will concelebrate the opening Mass for school and then go to hear confessions at Knollwood and then head out to Virginia. So you probably won’t hear from me till Sunday or Monday. Have a great weekend.

Today went by very quickly. I had the 8:00am Mass and then I called my friend Gerry Hudder in Arkansas. His daughter called me last night and he is in a VA hospital and very seriously ill. We had a great talk and I ask you all to keep him and his two daughters and their families in your prayer.
Then I went and got my hair trimmed – only wanted the sides and the back. I went to White Flint Mall and it wasn’t the same as going to the barber!
I went to see Marie Wallace again. I got there before her therapy and so we had time for a nice visit. She is improving but I think she thinks she should be farther along. It takes time.
We have a custom of having lunch together with the staff on Wednesday, so I got a chance to catch up with people and what they did over the summer.
I went back to the center rather than take a nap as I had benediction at 3pm. So I talked with Renee and I will be preaching at her mom’s funeral on Tuesday at Riderwood.

I also learned that Ruby Makle, a wonderful parishioner from St. Bernard’s died this morning. Please keep her, Jim, and all their family in your prayers. She was from southern Maryland and made the most delicious and moist Red Velvet cake I have ever had. She use to send it down to the rectory and I often had to tell her when I saw her at church on the weekend, that Monsignor Dade and I had finished it off.
At the 5:30 Mass I mentioned to a parishioner that I was thinking of going to see “The Debt” at the Avalon, our local theatre. He said he and wife were planning to go also. So we met there and sat together. Afterward, we and an couple from the parish had a short discussion about the film outside on the pavement. I enjoyed both the movie and the discussion.
And now I’m going to bed.

Today I slept in because I stayed up late last night working on genealogy. I came over for the 11:00am Mass and then came down to the office and continued to file papers and throw away stuff. I also decided to clean up my emails. I had 1300 in my personal account (mauryfr@yahoo.com) and 450 in my parish account (moconnell@blessedsacramentdc.org). Now I have 49 in the parish and 600 in Yahoo. I feel much better.
I had a late lunch as I knew that I had a 5:45 appointment and have been working at my desk since. I also brought a lot of my dvds and cds over to the office so that I could decide which ones to give (with books) to the Library Fair in October. I also put together a photo collage that Marie gave me of all the family at the Thanksgiving celebration. I will have it hung (I’m not good at that myself) in my office here.

I think I’ll head back to the rectory as Wednesday I have the 8:00am Mass and the 5:30pm. Wednesday is the pastor’s day off and so I have two Masses that day. I don’t mind that at all as it will keep me busy all day and I’ll do some visiting during the day.

To bring you up to date:
Yesterday, I did get to Pat Lee’s memorial service. I was about 10 minutes late because I had the 10:30 Mass and although I preached briefly, the church was packed because we haven’t begun our other 10:30 Mass in the gym. Communion took a long time and I didn’t get out of the drive way till 11:25. Although I missed the beginning, the cantor was a wonderful speaker and spoke so knowingly of Pat. Then two of his sons, who were about 4 or 5 years old when last I saw them, gave excellent and very personal talks about their dad and their mom. I saw Doug, Eileen and Jay, and Mary Ellen and got a chance to visit with them afterwards. I also spoke with Diane, Pat’s wife. She was so pleased that I got there. I said, “Miss Uncle Pat’s service, never”. She looks great and hasn’t changed at all. There must have been over a hundred people there. There was food, but I drank water.
When I got home, I had lunch and then worked on genealogy. At 6:30, I drove over to DeVol’s funeral home for prayers for Col. Donald Eirich, the family I met with the other day. I think the service went well and I met J.J. McGarrigy, the widow’s brother. He was a young priest when I was in high school and was a cousin of one of my classmates, Loretta Jansen. He was a great guy – and still is – He left during the Humane Vitae controversy. Msgr. Dad liked him very much. We had a nice talk about people we knew. His uncle was Judge McGarrigy, for whom my Dad served as his baliff at the time of my Dad’s death. I remember the judge coming to Dad’s wake.

This morning I was up by 5am and went over to the center to work on some papers for a retreat I was giving to the faculty of Our Lady of Victory school. It was being held in Virginia and I needed to rearrange the schedule because we were starting at 8:30am and I had the funeral at 11:00am. They were very accomodating and from 10:10 to 11:10 spent an hour before the Blessed Sacrament saying (oh they decided to sing) a litany and then reflect on some questions I gave them and then they discussed their responses. Then they had lunch and I was back by 1:00pm. We had a third session and then celebrated Mass. I closed by giving them copies of Archbishop Oscar Romeo’s prayer. It seemed perfect and they and I (and the family and friends at the funeral) all were happy. I planned to relax but a very nice man from the parish stopped in and asked if I would be able to go and see a neighbor who is in hospice at his home. He even offered to drive me, so of course, I went. Please keep Jack in your prayers. We celebrated the Anointing of the sick and had a nice long talk. I’ll take him Communion on Thursday.
I had a message on my phone from Renee Courtois Brodeur to let me know about the arrangement for her Mom’s funeral. It is next Tuesday at Riderwood Chapel and I called her and left a message that I would be there to concelebrate. The Courtois’s lived across the street from us on 62nd Ave. Renee and I were classmates at St. Bernard’s and have stayed friends all these years. She and her busband, Steve, live in New Mexico.
Since I have the 11am Mass tomorrow, I think I’ll go to bed early and not set the alarm. I love what Mort use to call “natural rising”. Good night.

It is actually Saturday night but I just finished presiding at the Vigil Mass, so I thought I’d write also I don’t know if I’ll have electricity later.

I had two lovely baptisms at noon today. Dylan Anthony and Lorenzo James. I just enjoy doing baptisms. After I came down stairs, a person had called and wondered if I could give “last rites” to a friend. He wanted me to come tomorrow between 8 and 9am, I suggested that it might be bad weather tomorrow, so how about my coming then. I did, she was semi- consciencious but we talked and I gave her the Sacrament of the Sick. She is almost bronze because of kidney faillure. Her name is Nancy. Please keep her in your prayers. I also know of a man named Gary, who is also seriously ill, please keep him and his family in your prayers.

When I got home, there was a man who wanted to go to confession and was not sure he should come back in the evening. So I did that – and told him, he should go home and stay there.

Then I spent all afternoon, throwing out magazines and straightening up my bookcase. I also cleaned off the window sills and the room really looks good. Can’t wait to have JoEddie, who cleans here, see it!
There weren’t too many people at the evening Mass and it is beginning to rain harder, so I am off to the rectory (to find some candles) and I hope I don’t lose power.
Tomorrow, I have the 10:30am Mass and then hope to get to Pat Lee’s memorial service. We’ll see how the weather is. Good night. Stay safe and dry.

I got up early this morning because I wanted to find the Hebrew Home and Rehabilitation Center that Marie Wallace is in. I had some diffiulties because it is on Montrose Road and that street has had a lot of constuction and change. Twice before I thought I was on it and I ended up in a parking lot. So it took me longer than I planned. I had a nice visit with Marie and brought her the Eucharist. She had to go to therapy and so I told her I’d be back after the weekend.

When I got back to the center, I was three minutes late for the 11am Mass. Fr. Ron took it for me and I took the 5:30 for him. Renee Courtois called me to tell me that her Mom, had died this morning. Please keep her, her Dad, and all her family in your prayers.

I then met with a lady from the parish who is undergoing treatment for cancer. She is doing very well and keeps on going. When she left a family came to see me whose husband and father died last night. We will have the funeral on Monday. Also I got an email from Eileen Lee Baughan that “uncle Pat” Lee, Mickey brother died and there will be a service on Sunday. I hope to make it.

Evrything seems to depend on Irene, our hurrican who is travelling up the coast and should bring us lots of wind and rain over the weekend. We’ll see!!

I have a baptism tomorrow at noon and then the 5:30pm Mass. On Sunday, I have the 10:30am Mass and will go to the funeral home at 7pm to say prayers. Otherwise and around these things, I plan to “hunker down” and stay in the rectory. I think I won’t write till Monday. Stay dry and safe!!

It is hard to believe but today is the 48th anniversary of my Dad’s death. He was on vacation with Mom, Maggie, and Maureen and died in a restaurant in Passagoula, Mississippi. He was 48 years old. RIP

I had the 8:00am Mass this morning and prayed for my family. The first reading was Paul to the Thessalonians and he spoke of how their faith and love sustained him. I relected on how family (blood and/or faith) do sustain us and I asked the parishioners to pray for all those who have done that for us in our lives.

I then went over to Sibley hospital to see how Theresa came through her surgery. She was much more aware of things and said now I had to pray that they would let her go home. I tried to call Nancy, another of my Communion calls but there was no answer so I left a message. When I got back to the center, I tried to contact Gerry Hudder and see how he is doing with his cancer treatment. Again, no answer. I called his daughter, Jennifer, who lives in Manassas but is a teacher, so I left her a message also. It rained on and off all day, so I made a number of phone calls and sent a lot of emails. I just learned that Marie Wallace, a St. Camillus friend is in a rehab nearby so I’ll stop to see her tomorrow. I have the 11am Mass tomorrow and again, I’ll try to get some visits in between the rain storms from the West and the start of the hurrican from the East.

I’ll spend the evening here at the rectory – do some reading, work on genealogy, and watch some TV and go to bed early. Until the ‘morrow

I went to bed early last night and so I woke up around 7am. I had a structered meal and then went over to the office. I worked on “desk stuff” till the 11:00am Mass. I prayed for all the people associated with St. Bartholomew (Jim Beattie, Joe Sileo, John Enzler, and Mike Roach). The Gospel was about his call and so I talked about what a dirty, backwater place, Nazareth was and so he was right to say “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” However, after Pentecost, he went to a distant land and shared the Good News and was tortured and put to death for the one who came from Nazareth.

It is a custom to have lunch over in the rectory with some of the staff from the offices. I joined them today and ate correctly. Then I went back to the office and spent a lot of time on phone conversations. I got some more papers filed and then I had Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 3pm. I spent some time just meditating up in the church. I did some more paper work and sent out a list of the 27 people who are going on our cruise out of Baltimore in November. I went upstairs a little early to once again pray before I reposed the Blessed Sacrament and had the 5:30pm Mass. I used the same homily and the new group didn’t seem to mind. I spoke with a number of people whom I haven’t seen for the last few weeks. Then I went to DeCarlo’s and met Jim Beattie for dinner. I had gone on lline and looked up the menu there and had settled on salmon and spinach and it was a good structured meal. A good friend, who had sent me a birthday greeting yesterday, Madeline Ortman, was there and came over to check that I was staying structured. She admitted that she didn’t know what that meant but she had read my blog! It was great to see her and she is looking forward to my 2008-2010 Christmas missive!

Since dinner finished before 7:40pm, I decided to try to stop in to The Improve on Connetticut Ave downtown. My great nephew, Ryan Walburn was joining other amateurs and some of the family was going. I didn’t think I’d be able to but I did and it was entertaining. It was like the show that Drew does on TV, where the audience suggest some event or idea and they have to “go with it”. It was wild and sometimes very funny. Marie and Maggie made it, so I was glad I could stop by. I only spent an hour because Senior priest go to bed around 10pm when they have the 8:00am Mass the next day – like I do. So good night.