Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: April 18, 2021
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Now that the Easter season has transitioned from the glory of the Easter Octave to a still joyous but less intense progression of daily prayer and spiritual growth, I’m finding time to focus on a few other things. What about you?
Many people at this time of year experience the phenomenon generally known as “spring cleaning.” I try to resist that temptation! I do generally get infected, however, with the seasonal malady of “planting my herb garden.” Soon I hope to have plenty of fresh basil and thyme and parsley and such growing in the small enclosed rectory yard, ready for recipes at a moment’s notice.
But other gardening “projects” around the Cathedral will involve more work, and by other people – younger and more talented, to be sure. The azaleas in the courtyard just east of the church – where the bodies of our deceased Bishops Tracy, Sullivan and Ott lie at rest – were especially beautiful this year, but now need to be pruned back drastically so that it can happen again 11 months from now! There is a dying red maple tree behind the rectory that is in bad, bad shape. It will likely need to be cut down before it falls on something or someone. And last year’s garden around it is sad: really ragged azaleas and camellia bushes, dead agapanthus, out-of-control “cast iron plants,” and nandinas and loropetalum all overgrown with “trash ivy” and weeds of every description. It will get some special attention.
Not all improvements fall into the “vegetable” category. Over at the Parish Office, please admire the main doors when you next stop by. After 55 years the original heavy wood frames and hardware had become not only unsightly and misaligned but also a bit dangerous. So the good folks at Plaquemine Glass Works fabricated and installed some very nice new metal frames with double-paned (insulated) glass “storefront” doors. They really look nice, in my humble opinion, and seem to work just fine. Speaking of maintenance expenses, we also had to install a new water-heater for the Office and rectory buildings. After only seven years the “old” one began leaking natural gas and actually briefly caught on fire out in the carport shed. I was thankful that there was no other damage to any property, although not so grateful while taking cold showers over the Palm Sunday weekend and on into Holy Week! (A last bit of deserved Lenten penance was what it was, I suppose!) And in the end, although the new doors and water-heater weren’t cheap, you have been so generous to our Building and Maintenance Fund over the years that we were able to absorb those sizeable costs without any headaches. Thank you!
Of course, this little litany of restoration and repair is the kind of thing which you certainly deal with yourself each year, all too frequently. Life in this world is complicated, and often inconvenient and expensive. But we do have the opportunity to make fresh starts, and to improve our living situation. I try to smile through it all and draw some spiritual lessons from this kind of “ordinary” business: do you?
Yours still in the Risen Christ,
Father Paul Counce
