What Paddy Shot At

I guess I have been running around a lot because I went to bed around 11pm last night and I got out of bed around noon today. I didn’t feel tired but as I am learning to listen to my body – I guess my body said, just lay here and relax. I had turned on the Today show around 8:00am but kept falling back to sleep.

I came over to the office around 1pm and tried to straighten up the desk. I really think that my papers reproduce over night, so it’s time for more piles.

Today is the feast of the first male saint of the US. He wasn’t born here  but spent most of his adult life as a priest here. He was a Redemptorist and worked in parishes in Baltimore and went as a missionary to western Pennsylvania. He was the 4th bishop of Philadelphia.  I love that he tried to get the Pope to change his mind because St. John thought that he wouldn’t make a good bishop because he was short. The pope told him not to worrry. He knew that John was short but he understood that he was also a man of big faith, that would be enough! And it was.

I have the 9:00am school Mass tomorrow and so I have to work on my homily. The theme is Peace. Students chose “peace” as an appropriate theme for the first Mass of the new semester. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Today is a day I enjoy every year because it is the day I remember all the wonderful teachers I had in the Catholic School System. On the train home today, I recalled each of them by name and offered prayers for them. but I am ahead of myself.

Yesterday I had the most wonderful car ride up to Philly with Fr. Terry Odien, who is the director of priests personel for the diocese of Camden, NJ. He had brought someone down to a meeting nearby and we worked it out to pick me up at St. Camillus parking lot. We got to Collingswood, which is near the parish where Fr. John Bohrer is stationed and he met us for a light lunch. Then we headed over to the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel in North Philly.

Katherine was a wealthy young women who used her inheritance to found and support the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. They worked primarily among native Americans and African – American communities. Her order founded Xavier University in New Orleans and she use to send money to help Father Horace McKenna, SJ when he was pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Inigoes, the neighboring parish to St. Michael’s in Ridge. Md.

I have been wanting to visit for a long time and so we went into the gift shop and I asked a lady, Betty if the retired sisters lived near by. She introduce me to Sister Mary Carmel, who was also at the counter. I told sister who I was and that it just occured to me that a member of my parish in Ridge was a retired sister there. She asked her name and I said, “oh I do not know her religious name but she is a Ridgell”. She said, “Oh Sister Lorraine. She upstairs”. She took the three of us by back doors and long corridors to the infirmiry. Sister Lorraine was sitting up in a chair. I went and introduced myself. As soon as I said, “St. Michael’s” she smiled and nodded. Then I mentioned “Buzzy”, which was the nickname of her brother who ran “Buzzy’s Store” in Scotland. She didn’t seem to know that but when I said, “Clarence” again she smiled in recognition. I spoke to her a little more and gave her a blessing – and she signed herself with the sign of the cross. I forgot to ask anyone how old she is but I think she is in her 90’s.

Sister Mary Carmel took us again by back ways to the Shrine and I prayed at Mother Katherine’s tomb for the people of St. Michael’s and especially the school. As I am walking to the outside, my phone rings and who is it but Lila Hofmeister, the principal of St. Michael’s and sister Lorraine’s niece. I said, ” You’ll never believe where I am!!” She guessed Atlantic City! but was thrilled when I told her I had just spent time with her aunt and praying for the school. I just love that God loves to give me these lovely little treats!!! (and no calories!)

I recommend the Shrine for a visit and this order to your prayers.

Then we met Joe Stoutzenberger at his home and went to a very nice little restaurant called the “The Wine Thief” near Chestnut Hill. We had a very nice meal and many laughs. Joe took me to his house and he was ready for bed but I watched an “on demand” flick called “Grey Gardens”. I had seen it once before but kept falling asleep through it. This time I was awake till the end. Then I went to Joe’s guest bedroom, which is filled with books and I found a hopeful vision of the Church written by Fr. Bernard Harring and I read for awhile.

Joe lives on this quiet side street and there is no noise and I slept like a log. I was very surprised to wake up to find it was already past 9am. So Joe drove me down to the train station and I took the next available train south to New Carrollton, Md. That’s when I prayed for all my teachers and for all the teachers I’ve known.

When I got there, Sharon Beall and Joan were there to pick me up and drive me to St. Camillus. I would have loved to added lunch to the schedule but as I said earlier, I had to get back to Blessed Sacrament by 3pm.

I just finished the 5:30pm Mass and I talked about Elizabeth Seton, who really was a pioneer woman of faith.

I just saw a email that things are not going well financially at St. Michael’s, so I gave that over in prayer to St. Elizabeth. It’s all God’s work.

I think I might try to keep on writing daily, if I can.

I know I missed yesterday but I did kind of, take the day off. I had the 10:30 Mass in the church and also the 5:30pm Mass. Between that I was going to go over to the Shrine for a 2:00pm Mass that  Cardinal Wuerl was doing. He also was presenting awards (I think they were called ‘sharing the vision’), and my friend and the present principal of St. Michael’s, Lila was to receive one.

However, after Mass, I ran into Fr. Jim and he wasn’t going to the Shrine and I decided that a nice nap would be a good alternative.

I went back to bed after the Mass last night and – one thing – I can always sleep. Got up this morning very early (5:50am) because I had the 6:30am Mass. Haven’t had that Mass since last Summer. It was hard to get out of this warm bed.

I got up early because Fr. Terry Odien, who is the  director of priests personel in Camden, is coming down for a meeting. He is going to meet me at St. Camillus parking lot and we’ll ride up to Philly together. Tonight, we’ll meet Joe Stoutzenberger and Fr. John Bohrer for supper. I’ll spend the night and take the train back tomorrow. It will be good to see them.

Also, last night when I was already in bed and realized that I hadn’t written on the blog, it occured to me that I had promised to write each day during Advent and Advent was over.

When I get home tomorrow and can think more clearly, I shall set another goal for myself. I have enjoyed these daily reflections – and so have a couple of friends and my sister, Maureen and her husband down in Georgia; that I would like to continue but I am not good at long term projects. We’ll see.

I ended up staying up and watching the ball come down at Midnight.  I didn’t go to bed when I came over from the parish center; instead I called a number of people like Dan & Stephanie Poje, the Cavallaro’s, Pat Berry, Joan Beall, Sister Natalie, Fr. Dan Morales, my nephew, and my sister, Marie  to wish them Happy New Year. It was a nice way to close out the year.

I also went on Facebook and welcomed a whole bunch of people who wanted to be my friend. I hope they still feel that way when they discover I really don’t know how to use Facebook!

Today I had the 11am Mass and as today is Mary, Mother of God, I spoke about her title of Theotokas. It seemed to go over well. I also mentioned that it is the feast of St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianz – which was the seminary that I went to in Wisconsin 47 years ago. I heard a few confessions and then went back to bed.

At 3:45, Fr. Jim and I went to Anne and Richard Sheridan’s house for a “southern New Year’s Day meal”. It seems that you must have black eyed peas on this day in order to have good luck in the new year. I will let you know how I did on my Virginia Lottery tomorrow.

My cousin, Lauren Werner was there and lots of interesting people. Anne is like “Auntie Mame” in that she loves to give parties and introduce people. I met a fascinating episcopal priest names Alistair from Frederick; a mother of nine who is now a grandmother of 23, assorted military and CIA or NSA people and other people some of whom, I had to take out a small notebook in which to write some of the words I didn’t understand.

It was delightful except that Fr. Jim had the 5:30 Mass and deserted me. I was able to bum a ride from a couple who live near Blessed Sacrament. I was disappointed because my mama aways said, “Go home with the fella, what brought ya!”

All day long I have been thinking it was Sunday and so tonight I must work on my homily for tomorrow. So I’ll close for now.

I had the 11am Mass today and I asked people to sit for the Gospel and I preached first about this wonderful hymn that is the beginning of the Gospel of St. John. I reminded them that we use to say it as “the last Gospel” at every Mass before Vatican II. I think we learned in the seminary that it contains the whole message of Salvation History and that we were reminded of it just before we left Church to return to “the world” and bring it the message of hope that the Gospel brings.  Even though, I had read it over again this morning before Mass; it really is a powerful and beautiful bit of history and poetry and I was moved by it as I proclaimed it at Mass.

I offered the Mass for all those in our families and parishes and communities who have died during 2010. I think tomorrow, I might include them in “In Memorian” as I use to do in my Christmas letter. There have been many relatives and good friends who have “crossed over” this year.

Remembering them at Mass, led me to do some more “phone ministry”. Some of those I called were not home but others were. For the ones who I were not home, I left a message for, “I just wanted them to know they were in my thoughts and prayers as the year comes to an end.”

I also had a very nice long talk with Judy Fox, the sister of Brother Norval “Mort” Byrd and Jim Kehoe, the father of Ann Kehoe. Also spoke with my cousins, Ray and Linda Jensen in North Carolina, and Frances Sampogna, whose husband, Nick, died this year.

I spent the afternoon and early evening just relaxing and ‘escaping” into TV. I will probably go to bed soon and may wake up to see the Ball fall in Times Square but from a horizonal view. I have the 11am Mass tomorrow and I shall offer it for all of you, my blessings in 2010 and many other past years as well as asking God to bless you in 2011. Happy New Year.

Once again, I am just getting under the midnight curfew.

I got up at 6:30am at Maggie’s and headed out to St. Mary’s county. I arrived around 8:00am at St. Michael’s. Fr. Lee was in the church praying and he let me interrupt him so I could drop off some of the White House ornaments.  I also had a chance to speak to Anne Bishop. While I was at St. Michael’s, she made me the nicest alb and every time I put it on, I say a little prayer of thanks for her. Today, I finally had a chance to say thanks.

Then I went to the Hofmeister’s but it was only 8:20am and so I got no response.  Jean, Lila’s mom lives next door, so I left a bunch of the ornaments for the faculty at school.

Then I went by Cathy and Jerry’s to pick up Pat Delaney and drive her uptown. I was scheduled for the 11am Mass but at 10:40 I had just gotten on to Rt. 50 and I knew I couldn’t make the Mass. God love him, Fr. Jim took it for me and no longer rushing; I took Pat to the diner and then to her daughter, Mary.  I came home and took a nap.

My cousin, Ann was going to go to the Jensen’s with me but she is getting a cold and had to beg off. I went – and let me only say that I could never face the daily commute in DC. I thought I would lose my mind as I kept coming up to cars parked or stopped in the curb lane of the only two lanes going into the city!

I had a great time at Peg and Rick’s. Their daughter, Kate, who is working in real estate, and their son, Christopher, who is a student at Syracuse, New York and his friend, Halley Dodge, who is a student at the University of Arkansas joined us for a lovely dinner. Both the students had spent a semester in London and had great stories and pictures.

Rick got an I pod for Christmas and Kate, who seems to know everything about the electronic age I am being dragged into, demonstrated so many wonderful things that it can do. There were also great pictures of the family’s trip over to meet Chris when his semester ended and also some great pictures of the cruise Rick, Peg, and I went on with some friends a year ago last October.  After that great meal and some very good deserts that Rick made, we just sat at the table and had a good old fashion visit.

Rick gave me a box and a bag of photos and treasure that had belonged to our cousins, Peg and Doris Lohmeyer, both of whom died in the last couple of years. I will look through and try to add some more information to our family tree on Ancestry.com.

The trip home was nothing as many of the streets were bare as I suppose people are resting up for tomorrow night.

I have the 11am Mass on New Year’s Eve day and then I’ll say Mass at one of our senior residences and I probably will see the ball come down in Times Square from a horizontal view in bed. I wish all of you a very blessed and peaceful New Year.

I am down at my sister, Maggie but I wanted to get a message out. Today I had the 11:00am Mass. Thomas a Becket is one of my favorite saints from church history. If you have not seen the movie, “Becket” with Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole, you should. It is not the usual Hollywood adaptation of a real person and is mostly historically accurate. He was the last bishop struck down at the altar in 1170 A.D. until Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was killed saying Mass on the feast of the Annunciation in 1985. I love the history of our church filled with courageous martyrs.

I spent much of the morning at my desk and preparing packages to send to relatives in the South for Christmas. This would seem strange unless you know that I send Christmas cards in late February or early July.

I arranged to meet the Bostons and their two grandchildren, Brian, age 7 and Ashley, age 4. The are the children of Christopher, the older Boston boy and his wife, Sara. Patrick, the younger and my Godson and his wife Danielle live in the Pittsburgh area; while Chris and his family live in Ohio. Grandma and Grandpa took the children during Christmas vacation and toured the museums in Washington. I joined them for dinner tonight and we had a delightful time.  All the family will spend New Year’s at 7 Springs, a ski resort that we seminarians use to go and visit when I was at St. Vincent’s.

I also spoke today with Keith, Sheila, and their grandson, Kieran in Pittsburgh. Keith had some serious heart surgery and the recovery has been slow. I hope to get up and see them early in January.

I also spoke with my cousin, Ann Brown O’Connell. She and I are going over to my cousins, the Jensen’s in Alexandria for dinner on Thursday, the 30th.

I’m spending the night here so that tomorrow morning, I can drive over early to St. Mary’s to drop off some Christmas ornaments and pick up Pat Delaney, who is visiting from Florida with her daughter in Ridge and I am driving her up to Olney to visit another daughter. I think she is heading back to Florida by train on New Year’s.

I have been running around a lot but I shall spend New Year’s Eve in seclusion.  Now off to bed.

Today I had the 8:00am, which was a nice change. It is the feast of the Holy Innocents and I preached about the many people who suffer for their faith in Jesus. I was thinking of that little Italian nun who was murdered by Islamic fanatics because they were mad about a cartoon about Mohamed and of those people in Bagdad who were murdered by the fanatics who came into the Cathedral and killed 58 worshipers. Every year Rome publishes the names of so many Catholics who have died during the last year as martyrs – I imagine the list will be a lot longer for 2010.

After Mass, I phoned Carol and Bob Boston, who had left a message on my phone in the rectory – which I don’t check very often. They are here with their family visiting DC. Today they are going to the Smithsonian but I hope that we’ll get a chance to visit tomorrow. They were in St. Camillus and now live in Pittsburgh. We’ve stayed friends and “family” for all these years.

Today, I also spoke with my sisters, Maggie and Marie. They are at some new Harbour place hotel near the Wilson Bridge with some of their “red hat ladies”. I’m sure they’ll have a ball!

I also talked with Joe Stoutzenber up in Philly. He has lots of snow! On Monday, January 3rd, he, John Bohrer, and Terry Odien are coming down for the day. We had such a great time the last visit; so I asked Fr. Jim to give me the 6:30am Mass that day, so I’d be free all day!

Also got an email from Mary Alice McGreevy that Marilyn Cavallaro was in the hospital with pneumonia and so I called Marilyn and Frank’s home and left a message that if she has a phone, I’d like the number to call her. Early this afternoon, Marilyn called and left a message for me. She is home and has a broken arm. I’ll call her tomorrow and maybe we can talk.

A lady called who had heard me say, “I’m kind of unemployed, so I am often in my office in the parish center, just come by if you want to talk”. So she did and we had a nice long visit. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Mostly, I spent the day doing “phone ministry” and I caught up with a number of friends. I talked to Joan Beall, Sharon Beall, and Betty Neary as well. Actually I called Joan and Betty back this evening to be sure they were watching TV because the Kennedy Center Honors were on tonight and the show was great.

I came over this evening and had soup, which I love, and just lounged around and listen to TV. I might go to bed early as I hope to do some running around tomorrow.

I had taken all my mail and other work over to the rectory last night in anticipation of being “snowed in” for days. Well, there was nary a drop in our area. Athough I hear St. Mary’s and Calvert got a lot and of course, north to Philly, New York, and New England. But for us only wind! and a lot of wind! So I kept going back down into my blankets and stayed in bed till 10:30am.

I had the 11:30 and talked about St. John and then since the office was closed, I sat at my desk and tried to straighten it up. Then I saw Fr. Jim and asked what his plans for the evening were and he said, “None”. So I suggested we take in a movie and dinner.

We planned to leave at 5pm but some people came for a special Mass and we helped them set up and then we left. We went to the Majestic in Silver Spring, which is very nice and part of the redevelopment of downtown. We saw, The King’s Speech, which I recommend if you want an interesting story and great acting. Then we ate at the Austin Grill, nearby and I just got home and thought before I head over to the rectory, I’d drop a line.  The Wind is still blowing strongly, can’t wait to get under the covers.

Had the 7:30am Mass. There was no snow! In my homily, I “borrowed” some words that Pope Paul VI used in a talk he gave on this feast in 1965. He said there were three special things we could learn from the family at Nazareth. First to love the silence. there were no TVs, or radios, or noise except the occasional humming of Mary or Joseph at their work, and the “chatter” that a small child makes as he or she entertains themselves.

Being one of those who turns the TV or computer on as soon as I’m in the room, I need to seek that quiet – much of which I lived in during Advent.

The second lesson was community. How the holy family loved and shared with one another and that such sensitivity to each other’s needs is the hallmark of the family with love in its center

The last was the appreciation of work. That in the home at Nazareth, which was probably also a workshop, one seens each member of the holy family contributing by their work.

I said that often in hearing children’s confessions, (which I love to do) they might tell me they don’t do what their parents ask them to do until they nag them. As a penance, I say, “between now and next week, as you go to bed and look over your day, you might be able to say ‘today, I did what my parents asked of me, the first time’. You can say ‘today was my penance day’ but if you have to say’ oh, no, they had to ask me twice to feed the dog’  then you start over tomorrow until you have a night that you can say ‘ that was my penance day and I did a good job of obeying’.”

Teaching the young that they have a contribution to make to the harmony of the family is one of the privledges and duties of parents.  I think the Pope was right on and I pray every day for my own family and all the families of the world that they will be happy, cared for, and holy.

After the 12:30 Mass, I looked up and my cousins, Rick and Peg Jensen were at Mass. They live in Alexandria and looked up on the parish web site and saw that I had those two Masses. Since it was already 1am in the morning, Rick said, “I think we can make the 12:30”. We had a great visit and went out to lunch together.

There is still no snow to speak of but since I cancelled out on a visit to the Rosenberger’s family party thinking the snow would be a hindrance, I think I’ll go over to the rectory, watch some TV and go to bed early. 

I think tomorrow is a holiday here but am not sure. I know I have the 11:00am Mass but I’ll have to check and see if it is the feast of St. Stephan or the feast of St. John.