A Wonderful Family Tradition

Today I got to witness one of the things that just makes our Archdiocese and our priests so great. One of the elderly priests of the Archdiocese died this past week and the funeral was today. I remember when I was thinking about becoming a priest I wondered just who would come to the funeral of a priest. Most of the time family members come to funerals. At the end of a long and beautiful life there are many children and grandchildren left behind; that’s been my typical experience at funerals: family. But what about for a priest? Who would there be to come to a priest’s funeral I used to think.

Well, today kind of answered that question. First of all, the bishop comes (that’s pretty neat in itself). Archbishop Naumann celebrated the Mass. But, the thing that was really neat to see is that it has become the tradition amongst our priests that when a brother priest dies, or even a parent of a priest, all the priests in the Archdiocese make every effort to be at the funeral. It was really beautiful to see so many priests present to say goodbye to a brother priest. Talk about having family present! I am so happy to see that the priests in our Archdiocese really do consider themselves to be part of a family. This is not always the case in other dioceses, but we are very fortunate here. I look forward to joining this family some day.

I’ll end with just a quick word about this great priest who has gone on to his reward. I’m not sure how to spell his name, but I believe it is Msgr. Lancarik. He has been a priest for 70 years. We celebrated the funeral Mass in St. John the Baptist Church in KCK. This is the church where Msgr. Lancarik was baptized, confirmed, received his first Eucharist and first penance, and is also the church in which he celebrated his first Mass after ordination in the 1930’s.

Praise be to God for such great priests as Msgr. Lancarik that have really held up the church and kept us going through some very challenging times. I pray that I may be as faithful as he has been.

Peace and all good,

Shawn