Farewell Celebration for Sr. Rita – The thanksgiving celebration last Sunday for Sr. Rita’s retirement was very nice. In attendance were not only parishioners of St. Brendan and her family members, but also parishioners from Holy Name and St. Cecilia Churches where she had ministered before. At both the 9:30 and 11:30am masses, she shared about how much she enjoyed ministering here among us. Even though she had been a principal in a prestigious Catholic school in Hong Kong of 1,300 students, she said, it could not compare with what she found here. She said, teaching the faith to adult inquirers “re-evangelized” her and gave her a deeper appreciation for the gift of faith. For those of you who were away and could not be there, she too wanted you to know of her gratitude and privilege for the opportunity to serve here. On Thursday, June 28, she will return to Hong Kong. Already, several families who will be travelling there this Summer said they‘d be going to visit her. Together as a community, we prayed for her and wished her God’s blessing as she continues the next chapter of her life of service to the Lord.
Missionary Speaker, Fr. Lee Havey – After preaching at all our Sunday masses last week, Fr. Lee stayed an extra day and got to see more of our fair city in perfect weather. As I showed him around, I learned that prior to becoming a Passionist Order priest, he had worked in an interesting business sector. His office was the liaison between foreign governments, US corporations and interacted with State Department, White House, Think Tanks, Defense Department, Humanitarian organizations to promote trade and cooperation with Southeast Asian Nations. After High School, he thought about becoming an attorney. However, in College, he discovered that that was the last thing he wanted to be. So he graduated with a degree in English. Not sure what he wanted to do still, he took a year off to travel around the world. He began in New York, and after a year, returned back to New York. The Australian Aborigines, he said, had a term called the walkabout, in order to discover yourself. And this “little” walkabout he did around the world, landed him in the perfect position as the liaison between foreign governments, US corporations and our own government. He describes that it is like diplomatic work. He also could not see himself doing this for the rest of his life, as it was high stress work. In his travels, however, he had met a priest in Rome, Msgr. Charles Elmer, who saw something in him and asked him to consider the priesthood. Nothing happened until 8 years later. Then, when he shared his decision to become a priest with his family and friends, they all said they saw it coming. He shared that the journey towards priesthood was not a sudden decision he had made, but one that was gradual and that was a part of his life for many years. He was surprised himself, as he thought he would marry one day and settle and live somewhere with his wife in Asia. However, the Lord had other plans. He became a Passionist priest in 2004. He has done 2 years of retreat work, 3 years as a parish priest, and the last couple of years, he has been an itinerant preacher, offering missions to different parishes around the U.S. I inquired about his availability to do a parish mission for us during Lent, and he said that he is booked until 2015. So he is a much sought after speaker. We certainly wish him well and thank him for saying “Yes” to God. Hopefully we will still be able to have him come out and do a parish mission for us someday soon.
Fr. Dan
