Eternal rest grant unto Fr. Duffy O Lord,
and may Your perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace.
and may Your perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace.
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friends. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Father Edwin Joseph. Duffy R.I.P.
"How are the mosquitas in New Joisey"?
I am sure going to miss Fr. Duffy asking me that every year when I returned from New Jersey.
Our good friend and homeschooling spiritual director passed away last evening. God called his faithful servant home on the feast day of St. Joseph, the patron saint of the departing souls.
It was indeed a blessing that I along with many of his friends, including my old homeschooling group, were able to visit with Father Duffy yesterday and bid our aloha.
Father will be remembered for his Irish wit, his humor and most of all his love of the Catholic faith...of the priesthood. He was always encouraging the boys in our homeschooling group to become a priest. He even called my son "Pope Joey" and that is the name everyone in Fr. Duffy's circle of friends knew him as.
He was also a good confessor and spiritual director to many people. He was one of two priests who could make me laugh out loud literally, during Confession. Yet, I knew I had made a good confession with his gently promptings and guidance.
It didn't matter where you were when you need to go to confession. Father Duffy would always be happy to hear your confession. Many times, after picking Father up, Father Duffy would hear my confession, in the car before driving off to a homeschool meeting.
He had a late vocation. He had a career as a businessman and then the army before entering the Blessed John XXIII Seminary.
He was originally from Brooklyn, which explains why he referred to my home state as New Joisey, and was he proud of that! He never did forgive the Dodgers for moving to L.A., even though he did continue to watch them.
There is just so much to share with all of you about this very holy priest who helped bring so many people into the Church.
He wrote a few books based on his popular Father Duffy's Reflections which appeared regularly in the Hawaii Catholic Herald.
It always amused me how he was unfazed by the notables he knew. He had the privilege of riding in the car with Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen when Bishop Sheen visited the islands a long time ago. Instead of being impressed by this fact, Fr. Duffy wanted to know why the archbishop was so quiet. And, he didn't hesitate to ask. That was Father Duffy's point to the story he was telling.
He also told me the story of how he had a really nice conversation with actor Richard Harris when he was here filming the movie Hawaii.
A few months before Father Groeschel had that terrible accident, I had the opportunity to hear him speak. I also had a chance to say a few words to him. I mentioned I was from Hawaii. I don't know how Father Duffy popped into the conversation but he said "Tell Edwin, I said hello". I passed the message to Father Duffy who didn't seem at all surprised like I had been.
Father loved to hear jokes and he especially loved to tell them. One of his favorites was about a husband and wife were out driving in the car. They had been arguing. They pass a herd of swine. Husband remarks sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?" Yes, the wife replies "In-laws". Boy did he love this joke!
Well, I know Father is happy now. He is with his beloved family and his good friends like Fr. Turk and Fr. Mark Consalves.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may Your perpetual light shine upon him. May Father Duffy rest in peace.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
RIP Sister Mary Lucy Sullivan
On Thursday, the day Joey and I were arriving in New Jersey, my parents received the sad word that our good friend was dying. It was a bittersweet reunion that morning.
If you are fortunate, once in your life you meet an angel on earth. It was therefore a huge blessing that our entire family was blessed to have this guardian angel be a friend to our entire family. Sister Lucy, as we all affectionately called her, was our angel. She virtually adopted our family as her own and we loved her very much.
She was my sisters' 6th grade teacher at the now closed St. John's Catholic school. She became and remained our friend until her death this past Wednesday at the age of 89.
Since last week my family and I have been reminiscing a lot about this wonderful sister. My parents had her over for dinner regularly, at least once a month or so. She was a little bit of a woman but what a dynamo! She was as Irish as you can get and still spoke with that delightful Irish lilt in her voice. Her family came over from County Cork, Ireland. She was a wonderful story teller who often regaled us with tales of her experiences as a Sister of Charity in China, St. Thomas the Virgin Islands and of course of her beloved family and her students.
Her funeral was held last evening at the beautiful chapel at Convent Station. For many years now, Sister Lucy's memory failed her and she did not recognize us any more. Yet she was still sweet and funny as ever. The celebrant priest had been Sister Lucy's 8th grade student and he spoke of her with such love and admiration. As he told stories of his mischievous ways when he was Sister Lucy's student and how she dealt with his shenanigans, it was as if Sister Lucy was still with us. I guess she was with us in spirit as they say.
There are many stories that I would love to share but one that stayed in my mind is one my sister told me. After Sister Lucy retired as a teacher, she moved to an affluent town's convent. There she brought Holy Communion to the homebound. One day my sister accompanied Sister Lucy on her rounds. On that particular day, they stopped over at Catherine Beebe's home. If you are a Catholic homeschooler, you are no doubt familiar with this Catholic author whose books were included in the Vision Books series. She wrote St. John Bosco and St. Dominic and the Rosary as well as other books. I still wish I had accompanied them that day.
Another story my sister told was when Sister Lucy and Sister Carita, author of Havoc in Hunan were in China. A Communist soldier forced themselves into their bedroom. The sisters were usually always dressed in their habits. However, that day, Sister Lucy hadn't been feeling well so she was in bed. When one of the soldiers went to her bedroom he picked up something from the chair and started curiously looking at it with a perplexed look on his face. Sister Lucy burst out laughing and continued to laugh as he had picked up her corset. She was gutsy!
With the passing of Sister Lucy, the Sisters of Charity lost the last missionary sister to China.
Sister, we will miss you but I know you will be telling God all of your old jokes.
If you are fortunate, once in your life you meet an angel on earth. It was therefore a huge blessing that our entire family was blessed to have this guardian angel be a friend to our entire family. Sister Lucy, as we all affectionately called her, was our angel. She virtually adopted our family as her own and we loved her very much.
She was my sisters' 6th grade teacher at the now closed St. John's Catholic school. She became and remained our friend until her death this past Wednesday at the age of 89.
Since last week my family and I have been reminiscing a lot about this wonderful sister. My parents had her over for dinner regularly, at least once a month or so. She was a little bit of a woman but what a dynamo! She was as Irish as you can get and still spoke with that delightful Irish lilt in her voice. Her family came over from County Cork, Ireland. She was a wonderful story teller who often regaled us with tales of her experiences as a Sister of Charity in China, St. Thomas the Virgin Islands and of course of her beloved family and her students.
Her funeral was held last evening at the beautiful chapel at Convent Station. For many years now, Sister Lucy's memory failed her and she did not recognize us any more. Yet she was still sweet and funny as ever. The celebrant priest had been Sister Lucy's 8th grade student and he spoke of her with such love and admiration. As he told stories of his mischievous ways when he was Sister Lucy's student and how she dealt with his shenanigans, it was as if Sister Lucy was still with us. I guess she was with us in spirit as they say.
There are many stories that I would love to share but one that stayed in my mind is one my sister told me. After Sister Lucy retired as a teacher, she moved to an affluent town's convent. There she brought Holy Communion to the homebound. One day my sister accompanied Sister Lucy on her rounds. On that particular day, they stopped over at Catherine Beebe's home. If you are a Catholic homeschooler, you are no doubt familiar with this Catholic author whose books were included in the Vision Books series. She wrote St. John Bosco and St. Dominic and the Rosary as well as other books. I still wish I had accompanied them that day.
Another story my sister told was when Sister Lucy and Sister Carita, author of Havoc in Hunan were in China. A Communist soldier forced themselves into their bedroom. The sisters were usually always dressed in their habits. However, that day, Sister Lucy hadn't been feeling well so she was in bed. When one of the soldiers went to her bedroom he picked up something from the chair and started curiously looking at it with a perplexed look on his face. Sister Lucy burst out laughing and continued to laugh as he had picked up her corset. She was gutsy!
With the passing of Sister Lucy, the Sisters of Charity lost the last missionary sister to China.
Sister, we will miss you but I know you will be telling God all of your old jokes.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Fr. Grace's Article
Looks like we have a published writer here folks!I was speaking with my dear mom this morning. She told me Fr. Grace's article (his conversion story) was published in the winter issue of Medjugorje Magazine. I believe the article is entitled I Heard Our Lady's Call.
Although, I have already had the privilege of reading Father's story ( he send it to me a few months ago), I look forward to reading it in print.
Congratulations Fr. Grace! Now, let's get to work on that book :-)
Saturday, October 06, 2007
6th Anniversary of the Ordination of Father Grace
Oh! how great is the priest. The priest will only be understood in heaven. Were he understood on earth, people would die, not of fear, but of love.St. John Vianney
On this the 6th day of October, 2001, Andrew Kevin Grace was ordained to the sacred priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the Most Rev. Bishop Christopher Toohey, at St. Michael's Cathedral in Wagga Wagga.
Happy Anniversary Fr. Grace. May God always keep you close to Him.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Prayer Request for Lois
My friend Lois will be having surgery tomorrow to remove her thyroid. Please keep her in your prayers. Mahalo!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Celebration of the Holy Mass with Fr. Grace
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
A Tranquil Blog
There are many Catholic blogs that I try to read regularly. Some inform, some teach, some share their daily lives with their readers, a few are quite humerous, and a few are even controversial. They are all very interesting blogs. But there is one blog that consistently offers me peace.
That blog belongs to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's Exchange. It is an unassuming little blog which offers posts that are spiritually helpful, healthy and it just makes me feel good. So I want to publickly spotlight Denise's little blog. Mahalo Denise!
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