This weekend we honored and gave thanks for the ministry of both Msgr. Greg and Father Paul. We celebrated the 5:00 Saturday Mass honoring Msgr. Greg and the 10:00 Sunday Mass honoring Father Paul.

Msgr. Greg now lives at Our Lady of Life center on the Cardinal Carberry campus off Watson Road. He is very happy there as his sister lives there and the chaplain for the center is a priest that he lived with both at the Epiphany Church and later on at Ste. Genevieve in Ste. Genevieve.

Msgr. Greg has served St. Peter for the past 10 years as a retired priest in residence and he has served us well. What a difference he has made having a third priest in the rectory! It sure made life easier for us. Msgr. Greg never refused taking his turn on the schedule for daily and Sunday Masses and anything I might ask him to do. He was like having another full-time associate pastor. Wow! What a gift that was! In addition, he would regale us with his many stories of his early priesthood, the pastors that he served with and his experience in the three parishes as a pastor. He has a remarkable memory for historical trivia and Church history and biblical history as many of his homilies reflected.

The absolute best compliment that I can pay to Msgr. Greg is that he is the consummate parish priest and loved parish life and parish ministry. And he was really good at it, too. Even in his retirement, he kept to the task at hand shepherding our parish while taking the time each week to play racquetball with his good friend Jim Prezada or hanging out and working at his cabin in the woods near Weingarten, Missouri cutting grass and cutting wood for his wood-burning stove. Until recently, Msgr. Greg had the energy and strength of a 60 year old. He was amazing.

Blessed was the day when he and I were on a retreat in Ars, France with Archbishop Carlson and he told me of his upcoming retirement. I told Msgr. Greg that he was welcome to come to Saint Peter Parish to live and he took me up on the offer and we never looked back.

We now wish him good health and many more years of enjoyment in this new phase of his life. If ever you are near Our Lady of Life center he would love a visit and you can hear his stories first-hand.

Father Paul has been with us for the past three years and has amazed us with his strong preaching and teaching. Every time he goes to the pulpit you just know that it will be a well-prepared and thought out homily. What is even more impressive is the fact that he goes to the pulpit without any notes or texts. He knows what he wants to say and has it stored in his heart and delivers it to us with enthusiasm and energy. We will miss his presence at the pulpit for sure and at school where he would visit and teach in the classrooms in addition to his teaching schedule at the seminary. He taught philosophy and logic to the college seminarians. On occasion, I would ask him what he was teaching that day and he would practice his lecture on me and I would pretend that I understood what he was saying. He is an analytical thinker and a very intelligent young priest and I marveled at his knowledge and his way to articulate so clearly and so well any and all discussions on so many issues. By the way, he is a good hockey player during the winter and plays on a team in Florissant. In addition, he is becoming quite a cook as well and seems to enjoy trying out new recipes and preparing meals from scratch.

Let us pray for him as he prepares to assume his new role as a pastor for St. Francis of Assisi Parish in South County. While this new position holds some anxiety with it, he is totally excited to begin being the chief shepherd for his people on Telegraph Road. Thank you, Father Paul, for your ministry among us. We will miss you. Your homilies brought us to a new level of challenge and understanding of the Gospels and the teachings of Jesus and we thank you for that.

We bless you and we praise you, God of our fathers!

You are the God of Adam, father of the human family.

You are the God of Abraham, our father in faith who was ready and willing to give up everything to be faithful to you.

You are the God of Isaac, who was born of laughter and old age, and the God of Jacob, whose clever trick gained an inheritance for twelve tribes of sons and daughters.

You are the God of Jesse, from whose loins a nation sprang, a sturdy family tree of monarchs, prophets and priests.

You are the God and Father of Israel, your child whom you love with all your heart.

You are the God of Zechariah, who fathered the Baptist and taught him the Torah, and of Joachim, the grandfather of Jesus.

You are the God of Joseph, who loved and raised Jesus as his own.

You are the God and Father of Jesus, and our Father in heaven, too; Holy is your name!

We thank you, God, for the gift of our fathers, for grandfathers, and godfathers and fathers-in-law, too.

Send your Holy Spirit upon our fathers, in whose laps we were cradled, on whose knees we were bounced, by whose hands we were fed, instructed, at times corrected, in whose company we learned to work and play and pray, at whose side we hear your word and celebrate your mysteries.

Heal their pain and disappointments.

Forgive all that needs to be forgiven.

Give to them the good that they have given to others. 

And welcome into your arms those who have died.

Fill this world, O God, with a father’s love!

We ask this through your Son Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray to you as Abba.

He lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, who is Father of the poor, one God forever and ever. 

Amen.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Farewell Masses for Msgr. Greg and Father Paul this weekend! If you were unable to attend and would like to watch the recordings, visit the links below.

Father Paul's Farewell Mass:

Msgr. Greg's Farewell Mass: 

If you have answered “Yes” to any of these questions, we would like to invite you to join the RCIA process this year.

If you would like more information about the RCIA process and where the Inquiry Sessions will be held, please contact Linda Doyle at ldoyle@stpeterkirkwood.org or call her at 314-966-8600, ext.1011.

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