Farewell Party

Well, I won't say as much as I might, because the words I come up with seem all wrong.

But it was a wonderful farewell party in Piqua today, with so many people and so much effort to make a nice event. I was glad to be able to talk to everyone, and I am especially grateful to those who brought children--not easy!--and those who don't get around well.

The parishes provided me a nice gift! An I-pad--which I now have to learn how to use!--and a nice gift of funds as well. Then there were many gifts from parishioners. Thank you so much!

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this. I didn't want to say goodbye! But really, given that it is sad, it was as nice as it could be. That turned out to be pretty nice indeed!

Thank you to everyone who came and who sent cards and notes; thank for every gift, and all the efforts to put this together. Thank you for all the kindnesses, for overlooking my failures, bad temper, impatience, bad judgment, biases and inaction. Thank you for helping me to be a better Christian and a better priest.