Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: June 06, 2021
My dear Parishioners and Friends,
It’s always nice to begin my column in The Carpenter with some good news: it looks like the water leak in the steeple of the Cathedral that I mentioned last week is not as bad as I first feared. After only a first inspection, our architects have assured us that there seems to be no structural damage to the building. Also, it appears that there’s little danger of water beginning to pour into the great organ above the loft. What a relief!
This doesn’t mean the problem – almost certainly with the metal “flashing” surrounding and embedded in the tile roof – is insignificant. There are some electrical conduits and a breaker box directly under the leak, for example, and everybody knows that water and electricity don’t play nicely together! There may be more rotten wood up there than we can see so far. And it will certainly get worse if nothing is done. So the leak will have to be fixed soon. But I was able to give Father Cary a more positive report as he prepares to take over as pastor on July 1.
I’m sure that news was a comfort for him! Please support him with your prayers – and every other way you can think of! – in the weeks and months ahead. As many of you know, for the past three-and-a-half years Father Cary has been the primary caregiver for Father Jerry Young, my predecessor as pastor here at St. Joseph Parish. And so Father Young will be “moving back” to St. Joseph’s with Father Cary.
Here’s where I should probably offer a word of concern and advice. Father Young’s physical health is pretty good for a man his age, but the ongoing challenge for him and everyone around him nowadays is his greatly diminished memory. Kindly take this into account when you see him, for he is not likely to remember everyone or interact as robustly as he used to. He’s as wonderfully kind and gentle as ever, but far more limited in what he can do. Thanks already for understanding, and for your continued friendship with him.
(I understand Father Cary also will be bringing his cat with him. From my two brief encounters with it when visiting St. Francisville over the past few years, the cat is not gregarious, so you really won’t have to make a new feline friend!)
In the meantime, here in the Parish Office we’re trying to put together lists for Father Cary: what he will need to know when he arrives, who he needs to call when something breaks, what choices are awaiting him and what things don’t seem to be optional, why we do things this way and not another way, etc., etc. He’s had a dozen years of experience now as pastor in St. Francisville and Jackson – a community three or four times bigger than ours – so I’m confident he’ll be able to handle the blessings and the challenges of our Parish family and the downtown workers, visitors and transients whom we also serve. After all, as I’ve said in this space for a few weeks now, he’s going to have YOU to help him out!
Always in Christ,
Father Paul Counce
