The End of an Era

October 26, 2008

At long last the scaffolding came down and a bright shining church was revealed last Friday, the octave of the Feast of St. Ignatius, which we had celebrated in grand High Church style the Sunday previous. When I got there it was already twilight, then Saturday we had a near hurricane all day so I had to wait until Sunday morning to really see how wonderful it looks. It feels like a new era has begun and tomorrow we will put up a new flag and then it's on to less glamorous projects like nailing down the loose shingles and patching up the bell tower and apartment roofs. I'm so glad our new leaf screens on the gutters will mean we only have to have them cleaned every 2 or 3 years rather than twice a year. With the new roof over the narthex and holes in the party wall sealed up we should finally have a dry porch and dungeon. And it already feels warmer with all the other gaps that were filled up. The windows look much brighter also and now we must pray for funds to finally clean the inside.

October 4 we said goodbye to the Cursillo Kid, Kevin Farley, with a "Burial of the Dead" service at St. Mary's. I'm pretty sure Kevin would have preferred a black requiem, but they apparently don't do black anymore there, so it was white and a Mass of the Resurrection, with Fr. Wells celebrating and Fr. Gerth assisting and preaching. It was good to see and hear Fr. Wells at the altar and he was in very fine form 10 years after retirement. It was a lovely service with readings and music that Kevin had chosen. The choir did a splendid job with the beautiful Durufle Requiem and also gave us Bruckner's Ave Maria and Mozart's Ave Verum before the service. It was great to see many old time St. Marians and Cursillistas there and hear a rousing Alleluia, Sing to Jesus at the Offertory. Kevin's cortege down to the Holy Sepulchre in Trenton was too far a trip for most of us, but afterward 12 of us toasted Kevin in grand Irish style at the Playwright Tavern and proposed creating a new Cursillo wristband with WWKD (What Would Kevin Do) on it. October 4 was also the 29th anniversary of his (and the NY Diocese's) first Cursillo weekend. I dare say there will never be anyone more devoted to Cursillo than Kevin. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Kevin Farley
1/30/22--9/25/08