TO ALL MY KENTUCKY FRIENDS
Fr Ron and friends,
What a pleasure it was to renew acquaintances once again with so many wonderful people acquainted with our mission here on St Vincent and the Grenadines. To have met them at such a memorable event as the celebration of your 75th birthday party was truly special. I felt privileged to have been numbered among such august company and to have received a personal invitation from Mrs Brown - what a delightful and charming lady. Tim Tomes’ organizational ability certainly made it all go smoothly.
From start to finish, my visit was unforgettable from my aspects. Although only my second visit to Louisville, I was conscious as we drove to the Cathedral on Sunday that I would likely meet many familiar faces encountered in my previous trip. I was not disappointed. Sharing brunch afterwards with the Owings family, along with Dr Kelty and yourself, was the perfect start to my mini-break. Meeting the Burch family that evening was an outstanding delight. Not only did it embrace the hospitality and the cuisine extended by Greg and Teri, but it also included the captivating canine reception offered by two lovably pets.
To have shared time with Fr Gray and Pat Patterson was a bonus. To be in their company and to be regaled with stories and reminiscences was a pleasure indeed. I look forward to the next encounter knowing it will be a genuine delight to share in further laughter.
To know that an afternoon at Churchill Downs has already been scheduled for the next visit is indeed appealing after the experience there last Friday. Bishop Gerard is thrilled to know that he is included to accompany Fr. Clark, Dr Kelty, yourself and myself next year. Perhaps on our next attendance there, we can pool our ‘talents’, down a few mint juleps and enjoy the experience irrespective of whether we win, place or show!
Without doubt, and as inferred above, the highlight of the visit was to have attended your party. To have listened to so many in attendance relate incidents and anecdotes about you was revealing. It is obvious that you have earned the heartfelt respect and warm appreciation of so many of your community and supporters. I have no doubt that their shared narrations were a wholesome and unambiguous response to what they have both witnessed as well as experienced from their encounters with you over the years as both a priest and a friend. It is easy for me to identify with all of this as I have run into similar sentiments about you and your magnanimous involvement here on St Vincent.
After another whirlwind visit to Louisville, I was quickly thrown into the thick of things on my arrival back in St Vincent. I drove straight to the old orphanage to discuss with the builder, the quotation for its renovation as a home for the upcoming arrival of the Redemptorist missionary priests. He is reviewing some of the costs and will revert shortly. With the Papal Nuncio visit finishing on Thursday, I hope to have some indication later in the week of our requirements net of possible international grant aid assistance. Aware that we joked about our ages having exceeded the three quarter century mark and its possible knock-on debilitating consequences, I have every confidence that with your involvement in part of this significant renovation project, it can be achieved long before we are classified as two old timers heading over the hill !
Let me conclude by thanking you again for opening your apartment to me during my stay - I have been made so welcome to the extent that it’s like I am coming to visit family. In the name of Bishop County and the people of the Diocese of Kingstown, SVG, let me thank you for the generous donations to our struggling island church that were given so generously on the occasion of your 75th birthday.
With much gratitude,
Fergal
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