As some know, I entered senior status as a priest about a year and a half ago. I moved about an hour away from my last assignment in Richmond Hill, GA (Savannah is its suburb) to Hilton Head Island, SC. That’s in the Charleston Diocese and I have faculties here (meaning I can celebrate any of the sacraments without seeking permission each time).
I use “senior” status, in that retirement isn’t exactly the right word as I am a priest and still function in a sacramental way and strive to keep my two promises of obedience and celibacy within the context of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Saturday was an interesting day. I celebrated a very sad Requiem for a 17 year old boy who took his life. He was a senior in high school at Hilton Head High School. The Mass was filled with his classmates. His parents, brother and other relatives devastated. It was all so very tragic. He was a talented artist and would have graduated in December. He was accepted into the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design. Thus is life and death and priesthood…
Saturday night, Hilton Head Island held its annual Lantern Parade. It is really cool. One of the major changes since I entered senior priestly status, is that I have made friends independently of my parish assignment. Thus I went to the Lantern Parade with friends I have come to know on the beach where I go almost daily. I thank God for my mother’s Italian skin which I inherited! Then after the parade, they and some other beach friends went back to their condo for a Pizza dinner—never in a million years did I think my senior status would lead to this!
I took this first photo at sundown about an hour before the parade began. It was a stunning sunset and the ocean looked like icy glass and the cloud formation looks like a snow capped mountain. The mother and child are just perfect. I was at the right place at the right time for this iPhone photo that looks like a work of art:
Then, once it was dark, here are a few photos of the fabulous parade:
6 comments:
Great pix! The mother and child is a wonderful catch.
What’s interesting about that photo is that I really didn’t pay attention to the mother and child as there were a lot of people walking back and forth in front of me. What I noticed was the cloud formation, the glassy ocean and how the sun was hitting the cloud and that is what I wanted to capture. After I looked at the photo, the mother and child stole the show and dumb luck had no one else walking in front of them and me.
Most of my really good pix have resulted from a little thought and a lot of dumb luck!
Beautiful photos! Beautiful memories.
Sophia here: These are truly beautiful-"a picture is (in this case pictures are) indeed worth a thousand words"! Thank you so much for sharing them-next best to being there. I enjoy hearing how you are living your life as a senior priest-you are clearly thriving! I am not surprised that you are making friends and participating in a social life, which strengthens your health (mind, body and spirit) and therefore adds to longevity. It also enhances your ongoing service as a good shepherd! Congratulations, Father. Pax.
Sophia here: I am praying for the repose of the soul of that 17 y/o and his devastated parents and other relatives, friends and classmates! What a tragedy to lose a child at any time but this close to Thanksgiving and Christmas and from any cause but from suicide- grief upon grief, self-blame upon self-blame! What a nightmare! This dear family cannot have enough prayers offered up on their behalf! Only God can supply enough comfort in a situation like this.
Sadly there are an increasing number of parents/families/friends/classmates finding themselves in a similar situation-12 every day. Our young people are destroying themselves at a bewildering rate-suicide, substance abuse, alienation. Because the increase in suicide among adolescents has been so alarming and many suicides occur within weeks/months (38% within 4 weeks) of seeing a healthcare provider, in 2022 the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that all pediatric health providers screen all patients 12 years and older for suicidality at least once per year-universal screening; screen youth 8-11, when indicated (they are presenting for a mental/behavioral health issue); no screening for children under 8- assess for suicidality when warning signs are present or parent reports suicidal behavior/thoughts. Having recommended universal screening for teens, they also admit what we already know- that teens are unfortunately reluctant to confide in adults, even professionals.
May God protect our young ones and their families. .
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