Tomorrow (Tuesday, March 27th) morning I will be flying to Pittsburgh and then join a number of priests and Bishops traveling to Youngstown, Ohio, to be with a very close friend, Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, who will be installed as the 5th Bishop of Youngstown. Bishop Murry often stays at the residence with us when he is in DC on business or just to get away for a few days. Some who studied at Gonzaga may remember the then Mr. Murry, SJ who taught at that noble institution! Others may remember he was the President of John Carroll High School just prior to being called to the Episcopacy as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He served there for some three or four years before being appointed to the Diocese of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Many would say "What an assignment!" The good bishop does not like beaches!!! So the almost eight years on the island were surely a challenge to his likes!!! He will be moving from a diocese with 17 priests and several islands to one with 173 diocesan priests and a number of religious order priests. While he may not like beaches, I surely hope he likes snow which is not an unknown winter gift in that part of Ohio. Let us pray for him as he begins his new assignment. I return to the parish on Thursday morning. Monsignor Duffy will be "in charge" while I am away ... as if he had little else to do now that he is the sole Catholic chaplain at Sibley with the return of Jesuit Fr. Henry Heffernan to NIH as the Catholic chaplain there. You might pray that the Archdiocese finds another priest willing to assist at Sibley, to be a noble colleague with Monsignor who day is filled with many ministries. I think he seems to have forgotten his primary assignment: retirement!!!!Monday, March 26, 2007
Short Absence from the Parish
Tomorrow (Tuesday, March 27th) morning I will be flying to Pittsburgh and then join a number of priests and Bishops traveling to Youngstown, Ohio, to be with a very close friend, Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, who will be installed as the 5th Bishop of Youngstown. Bishop Murry often stays at the residence with us when he is in DC on business or just to get away for a few days. Some who studied at Gonzaga may remember the then Mr. Murry, SJ who taught at that noble institution! Others may remember he was the President of John Carroll High School just prior to being called to the Episcopacy as an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He served there for some three or four years before being appointed to the Diocese of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Many would say "What an assignment!" The good bishop does not like beaches!!! So the almost eight years on the island were surely a challenge to his likes!!! He will be moving from a diocese with 17 priests and several islands to one with 173 diocesan priests and a number of religious order priests. While he may not like beaches, I surely hope he likes snow which is not an unknown winter gift in that part of Ohio. Let us pray for him as he begins his new assignment. I return to the parish on Thursday morning. Monsignor Duffy will be "in charge" while I am away ... as if he had little else to do now that he is the sole Catholic chaplain at Sibley with the return of Jesuit Fr. Henry Heffernan to NIH as the Catholic chaplain there. You might pray that the Archdiocese finds another priest willing to assist at Sibley, to be a noble colleague with Monsignor who day is filled with many ministries. I think he seems to have forgotten his primary assignment: retirement!!!!
