MY 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION HAS TO BE DELAYED............

......BUT IT'S CERTAINLY NOT CANCELLED!
After surviving fifty years of this, I really need to celebrate!



May 17, 1970

It looks like I am going to have to delay the celebration of my 50th anniversary of priesthood ordination originally planned for May 17 in Louisville and May 24 in Rhodelia. 

THE NEW TENTATIVE DATES

Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville

 September 20, 2020, at 9:30 am

Saint Theresa Church in Rhodelia

 September 27, 2020, at 10:30 am

In the meantime, I have an amazing  little story for you that came about as I was planning that celebration. 

At my First Mass, there was a very large banner that my mother and my Aunt Eula sewed hanging on the right side of the church. It pictured the gospel of the day, Jesus at the table at Emmaus with two disciples he had met on the road the evening of that first Easter Sunday. The gospel says that "they recognized him in the breaking of the bread." That banner is pictured below at the top right of the photograph. 

Saint Theresa Church - May 17, 1970

As I was thinking about celebrating my 50th priesthood ordination. I thought it would be a good idea to use that banner again. However, I had no idea whether it still existed, much less where it might be. The last time I saw it was fifty years ago. 

I knew that we made some big banners when I was at St. Mildred in Somerset during my first assignment there beginning in 1970. I could not remember if I had brought it with me to Somerset or not! I thought to myself that even if I took it down there, I was pretty sure that after 50 years, it would not still be around, but I decided to ask.  

I contacted Tammy Cranfill, a friend and parishioner at Saint Mildred, to see if by any chance she remembered seeing it. I sent my First Mass picture (above) to show her what it looked like.  I was almost sure it was a futile request. She told me she would look, but she thought that they had gotten rid of all the old banners years ago.  

In a day or two, I got an e-mail saying that she had found it! She boxed it up and sent it to me. When I opened the box, I realized that I had not seen it for almost 50 years! The fact that my mother and aunt had sewed it, made it even more important to me. Here is what it looks like today unfurled on the floor! 

By the way, I also found the red vestment (see it at the top of this page) my mother made for my First Mass on Pentecost Sunday 1970. It was in a box in my garage!  I haven't worn it since my First Mass so I hope I can still fit into it!