A BIG THANKYOU ON BEHALF OF OUR DEAR FRIEND FR. JIM O'LEARY 

Dear beloved Parishioners!
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.



It’s good that we gather around a grieving family at the death of a mother or father, a sister, a child.   The love that binds us to our families (in our best moments) is a small taste of heaven; and when the physical expressions of love are no longer possible, we feel like we’ve been the victims of a horrible robbery.
The coming together cannot restore the loved one (May he live forever in peace!); but sharing the Christian faith in Jesus gives us hope that provides a context for our suffering.   

Many of us were not as close to Fr. Jim as some others. Some of us were very close to him.  We will all feel the loss of him from our lives to some extent.  It was good for us all to listen to others’ stories about the good Fr. Jim did for them.   And the listening itself may stimulate some reflection of our own on the gift he has been to us.

Thank you for taking part in the various stages of the funeral rites for this good friend of ours: the visitation here at St. Ambrose, and the vigil of prayer for him; the visitation at the Cathedral and the funeral Mass; the committal service at Mount Olivet cemetery and the lunch together here at St. Ambrose afterwards. Many were the women and men who made Fr. Jim’s sendoff beautiful: Sue Chicvara who came here to honor Fr. Jim one last time, and the choir members; those who prepared and served the meals, others who set up and took down the movable furniture in church and activities building, and all who came and prayed.

We will never have just this opportunity again.  Thank you for your part in making our parish a more complete communion in this way.

We applaud the great family spirit we and others witnessed and we hope we can all keep up this good spirit of cooperation and care.  Our neighbors, the Methodist community (kitty-corner from where Jim resided on Glendale) together with their pastor, pitched in too. May God bless our Parchment community.

Fr. Jim must be very happy and proud of us all as he prays for us.