Pleasant conversation with the Archbishop

Nobody gets three hours with the Archbishop though there are plenty of people who want them. From the elderly lady who wants to convince him that her parish of a hundred people shouldn't close down to the priest that thinks the only important thing in the world and church today is pro-life activities, everybody wants to sit and have a “moment” of a bishop's time. And, in the midst of these folks, the Archbishop needs to do the more "mundane" tasks of answering emails about the permissions priests seek, doing research for various projects the bishops are working on, and planning for the future needs of the diocese. I feel fortunate because I got FIVE hours with the Archbishop yesterday. He had a gathering of all the priests that are five years ordained and less. I felt especially fortunate because I spent about an hour of conversation with the Archbishop and two other priests over supper. In the midst of this, Fr. Bob Davies asked about the Archbishop's recent trip to visit the Holy Father in Rome. He said that he got fifteen minutes with the Pope, a man whose time is even more coveted than his own. The Pope's health is not good and he only spoke four words in the midst of this conversation. But, when he relayed that story to others, one person commented that they thought the Pope should just retire. Archbishop succinctly answered the person in the words that I had been struggling to find for three years. He said that this is a man that has emphasized for the entire time he has been pope that life is precious regardless of the state it is in. Now, he is living that message. I realized then and there what a blessing our Archbishop is to recognize that message in the leader of the universal church on earth and what a blessing it is to be with him.

Wow! Did that just happen?

This morning, I had the funeral of a woman named Delilah Kutsch. Delilah wasn't all that old but she had been battling lung cancer for a few years. Her children were sad but they also were glad that their mom wasn't suffering any more. I arrived about forty-five minutes before mass was to begin and discovered that there were no servers. So, we found a couple of adults to be servers for us, which turned out to have a bit of irony involved. The irony was the Fr. Paul Odekirk had written a letter to the diocese asking that they accept me as a priest. His brother, Fran, was one of the adults we found to be a server. The mass was nice. I've found that these are excellent opportunities to help begin a process of dealing with the loss of their loved one. We took Delilah to the cemetery, had the prayers there, and drove back to the parish school for the dinner. While people were milling around getting ready for the dinner, I noticed one older man walking down the stairs of the school. I smiled as I walked by and then walked over to talk to the older ladies who were serving. I looked back to the door and noticed that someone was on the floor with a bunch of people around. So, I walked over and saw the same man lying on the floor with people kneeling over him. They moved all the people back and started CPR. It was so difficult to go from celebrating a life to being concerned for the life of Delilah's brother-in-law. They took him away in the ambulance and he died at the hospital.

Giving Blood

Almost monthly, I head to the Red Cross to give blood. A little over a year ago, I started giving via a new procedure using a machine they call a TRIMA. I don't know what is stands for but the idea is that they take out blood, send it through a centrifuge, take out what they want, and put back what they don't. I arrived at the Red Cross at 2:00 and went through the usual selection process. They ask all kinds of questions. I usually eliminate a lot of them which begin "Have you ever had sex..." and "Are you a female...". It takes about an hour for all that processing to finish and they finally hooked me up. The cool thing about the TRIMA machine is that you can watch movies while it is happening. It takes a little longer than old-fashioned giving of whole blood. I got hooked up at 3:00 and finally was able to stand up and stretch at 5:00. But, it feels good to know that, in these two hours, they are taking from my body everything that they need to help people live longer.

Called By Name

With the memories of a very difficult funeral still fresh in my mind, I had to do a somewhat quick turn around to do a "Called By Name" project. This project is a way of getting the names of people that Catholics believe would make good priests, brothers, and sisters. I didn't have my usual energy at first. I kept forgetting to include details like, "It's possible to be happy as a priest" and "It's okay to be thinking about marriage while you are thinking about becoming a priest." But, by the end, I had attained my pep and I think, in looking at the names given to us, it was successful. I returned home after my last mass and was ready for a nap. While throwing some ingredients for ham soup in a crock-pot, the phone rang. It was a family that asked that I come to pray with them. Their mother died. I drove out and spent some time with them before returning home and getting my nap. I think the hardest part of being a priest is the public nature in which everyone expects you to respond in a certain way. The newly engaged couple wants me to be joyful and celebratory. The sick person, on the other hand, wants me to listen and by sympathetic. Sometimes I encounter these two scenarios within a five-minute period. It's at these times that I wonder if Christ went through the same quick turn around in his ministry. I realize that, above the happiness and sadness, the reality is that this is a good job. I'm doing good work by spreading the good news.