September 3, 2017 - "Good to be back"

I am back at my desk after having been away for ten days on vacation.  This little break gave me the opportunity to visit with several old friends and family members whom I only get to see when I am in Western Pennsylvania.  A highlight for me was attending a dinner on Saturday night (August 26) with about 200 classmates from the 1967 Senior Class of Butler Area Senior High School.  Another classmate who is a retired Protestant minister and I gave the invocation at the beginning of the dinner.  I sat at a table with several classmates who also attended St. Paul School with me as well.  I was in school with them from grades 1-12.  Most of the people with whom I talked I had not seen since graduation day in May, 1967.  There was a moment of silence for the nearly hundred classmates who have died in the meantime, including three who were killed in the Vietnam War.  Two of the three classmates who were killed in that war were good friends of mine in high school.  People have good memories and bad memories of their high school years.  I am no exception to that experience.  It was fascinating to listen to stories of what people have done since graduating from high school.  Several people were curious about my journey to the priesthood, which I gladly shared with them.  I was able to stay in the rectory at St. Paul and to celebrate several daily Masses there and the 10:00 am Mass on Sunday morning before coming back here to the parish.  It is always a great experience for me to celebrate Mass in the Church where I was baptized, made my first Confession, received my first Communion, and was confirmed by Bishop John Wright of Pittsburgh.  While I was there the stone mason carved in the date of death on my mother’s tombstone.  While I was in Butler, I paid several visits to the cemetery to pray at the graves of my parents, my sister Katie, and grandparents.  May they all rest in peace!  I got some reading done and had a very relaxing time.  As good as it was to be away, I am happy to be back at work here in the parish!  I want to dedicate myself anew to living out and encouraging us all to embrace more fully our parish vision statement in which we state that  we are committed to growing a community that preaches the Gospel at all times through our worship, our words, and our actions.
 
Until next week.
Fr. John Dillon