There are instances in which people ask me how I can handle the challenges of so many funerals here at Sacred Heart Church. Obviously, I handle them with the guidance and presence of the Lord with me and with the bereaved families. It is a blessing for me to meet with family members and have a chance to hear their perspective on their deceased loved one and help me to know them better. In doing this, I discover just how blessed we are to have such faith-filled, quality people in our midst. I encourage more of you to participate in funeral Masses whether you knew the people or not, as an act of mercy, and a way to put into action one of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (to bury the dead and pray for the dead) and support the deceased person's family who are almost always guests in our parish.
In a special way, I ask you to consider coming to the 9:00 a.m. Mass this coming Tuesday, August 16, as we have the funeral Mass for Mary Margaret (Marge) Coyle. We are having her funeral at the time of our regular daily Mass in large part because Marge (as I have come to know her) was fearful that given her age (97) and the fact that most of the people she knew in the Village had preceded her in death, and her family is small (only one daughter and a few grandchildren), that there wouldn't be many at her funeral Mass. Marge always prided herself as being a "charter member" of Sacred Heart Parish. She lived in the Village before there was a Catholic Church bulding and was one of the families that promoted to the bishop having Mass in the Village on weekends. She said she and her husband were key in bringing Father Frank Draude to serve in this parish. She and the early pioneers of the parish supported the building of the first church building that is now our Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. Marge also took wonderful care of her dear husband until he finally went to be with the Lord. I took Communion to Marge here in the Village and at her final home at West Shores in Hot Springs. Her faith was strong, and she remarkably stayed strong in mind almost to the end of her life. She always enjoyed and appreciated my visits and the contacts she had with a few of our parishioners, including Ann Bowman who e-mailed her everyday. Marge was a dear lady, whom I truly miss seeing. May God bless her soul and give her everlasting peace and joy. Hope to see some of you for her funeral Mass this coming Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. I told here that we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that we would be there for her as we lift her up to the Lord.
In a special way, I ask you to consider coming to the 9:00 a.m. Mass this coming Tuesday, August 16, as we have the funeral Mass for Mary Margaret (Marge) Coyle. We are having her funeral at the time of our regular daily Mass in large part because Marge (as I have come to know her) was fearful that given her age (97) and the fact that most of the people she knew in the Village had preceded her in death, and her family is small (only one daughter and a few grandchildren), that there wouldn't be many at her funeral Mass. Marge always prided herself as being a "charter member" of Sacred Heart Parish. She lived in the Village before there was a Catholic Church bulding and was one of the families that promoted to the bishop having Mass in the Village on weekends. She said she and her husband were key in bringing Father Frank Draude to serve in this parish. She and the early pioneers of the parish supported the building of the first church building that is now our Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. Marge also took wonderful care of her dear husband until he finally went to be with the Lord. I took Communion to Marge here in the Village and at her final home at West Shores in Hot Springs. Her faith was strong, and she remarkably stayed strong in mind almost to the end of her life. She always enjoyed and appreciated my visits and the contacts she had with a few of our parishioners, including Ann Bowman who e-mailed her everyday. Marge was a dear lady, whom I truly miss seeing. May God bless her soul and give her everlasting peace and joy. Hope to see some of you for her funeral Mass this coming Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. I told here that we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that we would be there for her as we lift her up to the Lord.