Category: MAD FOR 2019

A year ago or so, I went in for my annual physical. Grossly overweight and with health issues getting worse by the day, I was, quite candidly a hot mess. An excellent doctor like Joe Martin whose comforting and reassuring words are sometimes far more powerful than any medicine ever could be, he was in good form that morning. As gently and compassionately as a human could ever speak truth is what Dr. Joe Martin did for me that day.

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A very faithful Catholic man, Joe is a gloriously kind and compassionate person. If ever there has been a man that I would compare to how I personally picture the Our Blessed Mother, at least temperamentally, it would be this guy. He explained in his soft-spoken way, that no matter what comes next, he will work to help me be as healthy as I can be. Only because I have a rare gem like this man as my doctor was I able to hear the love of Christ in his urging to make a radical decision to lose the weight. It wasn’t something I didn’t already know, of course. There was simply something beyond truth telling going on in our conversation. I didn’t make an immediate move, but I sat with his words for quite a long time. I took them with me to prayer.

“In order to be a good doctor, a man must also have a good character. Whatever weaknesses and foibles he may have, he must love his fellow human being in the concrete and desire their good before his own.” WH Auden

Earlier this week, I returned to see Dr. Martin. Having heeded his advice, but certainly with more work to do, I was nearly 90lbs lighter and not only in body, but in spirit too. His authentic praise for the turnaround in my health was so effusive that I found it almost embarrassing. We talked quite a while about our faith and trust in the Lord and the importance of spending time with Jesus in eucharistic adoration. He told me he wants me to be the woman God has called me to be. I mean, who has a doctor like this? I’ll tell you who– only the truly blessed. Articulate, professional, compassionate and caring are the adjectives that come to mind when I think of this doctor. He’s incredibly bright, but you don’t have to be brilliant to be an excellent doctor. I’ll take a kind truth-teller who loves the Lord every day of the week, even if there might be some doc out there more innovative or with more experience…or whatever. I know I’m not alone on this one, because there is most certainly a reason why this man is not taking new patients. He’s a grace-filled and gifted doctor.

Dr. Joseph Martin, the way you live your professional life leaves me doubting not even for a moment about the sort of husband, father (of 4) and friend you must be to those who are closest to you. Those folks are incredibly blessed to have you in their lives. I am grateful to them for sharing you with those of us who come in to your office every day and soak up so much of your time and energy. You are a bright light with a beautiful, caring smile who never makes me feel like you are in a rush to get to the next patient. In you, I have certainly experienced the love of Christ. Thank you so very much for what you do each day! YOU ARE A GEM!

Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise.

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A few years back, I met Shelda Balcer for perhaps the first time (at least formally) in my own family room. You see, the high school kids were headed to the prom at Guerin Catholic and they decided to use our home, which is very near the school, as their “photo op” location. Shelda’s incredibly intelligent and absolutely stunning daughter, Olivia, was headed to the dance that year with my son, Drew. Shelda is pictured above (far left) with her truly gorgeous family.

Before I knew it, Shelda had ordered the rearranging of the furniture and was very definitely commanding the room full of teenagers as to where they should stand, sit, and so on. I thought to myself…well…looks like I have met my match today! Haha! Shelda was sporting a rather impressive camera on her hip, however, so I yielded. I was thrilled a few days later to receive an email with some really lovely pictures of the kids. She’s talented with that camera!

Shelda is the mother of four, two girls and two boys. Her daughters happen to be the same ages as my sons, Nick and Drew, and they ran in the same kid groups while they were Golden Eagles. Emma and Olivia are both incredibly intelligent and kind young ladies who have impeccable manners. I don’t know her sons as well just yet, but it’s hard to miss the very tall and handsome, Dylan, who is a year ahead of Zach at GC. I spot him fairly often serving mass at OLMC. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure yet of meeting her husband or her youngest son, Adam.

However, I’ve gathered enough evidence to be convicted of a few things about Shelda and I’d like to share them with you today. First of all, she’s a faith-filled, articulate woman with an incredibly beautiful smile. She’s friendly, confident, and positive in her interactions with others. I truly believe there are few things more important or powerful for the next generation than mothers who are prayerful and faithful to the Lord. Shelda is most certainly both of those, and it shows in the integrity of her children. Motherhood is a million little moments. That’s what I know, and I can see that Shelda understands too the words of St. (Mother) Teresa. “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

I see you, Shelda, being the face of Jesus to that beautiful family of yours and the rest of us around you too. You are a woman of character. I chose the quote above as I attempt to honor you today on your 50th birthday, because I think it powerfully applies to you. Thank you for your witness of faith and the grace-filled example of motherhood you provide to those around you. It matters. Those little things are how I think you make your positive difference in this crazy world. I’m grateful for your warmth and your smile as well, because the world needs every single grin! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELDA! I hope it’s been a terrific one! My rosary today was for you and your intentions. May our good and gracious God bless you on this special day!

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life and those who fear the Lord will find them. (Sir. 6: 14-16)

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Someone brilliant explained to me once that the Jesus girls and weirdos who put up with my quirks, not begrudgingly, but with smiles that say “me too” are actually my tribe. Those folks, she said, are the people God sent into your life. Hold on to them fiercely. I replied simply, “Yep. That rings with truth.”

My friend, Julie Ferrucci, (above on far left) is among the “elite” class of weirdos who I count among my most dear friends on planet earth. She’s without a doubt one of my most valued people. Selfless, creative, intelligent and loving, Julie is the mother of three incredible sons and the wife of a pretty solid guy named Steve. She’s an Indianapolis native who attended Bishop Chatard High School before getting her art degree at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Thank you, God for sending me this talented, thoughtful woman as a friend! That’s a very real prayer I say aloud while looking towards the sky… ALL THE TIME. I’m fairly solid in the area of communication skills, so I can throw together an event and rally folks around an idea, but aesthetically speaking, I am a major disaster area. That’s where Julie comes in! The poor woman has saved me from myself on color choices, centerpieces, décor, and accessorizing for most of my adult life, ha? I’m minimizing her giftedness here. She’s a very talented artist! Her paintings are filled with light and the love of the Lord.

What makes Julie truly stand out is the gentle, holy way she loves the others in her life. As a mother, she is supportive and wise beyond all telling. She loves Vincent, Dominic and Anthony with a graceful fierceness, and she prays for them steadfastly. Our Blessed Mother and the spirit of her beautiful “yes” to the Lord is very alive to me through my dear friend Julie. Jules, I am truly thankful to you for your example of faithfulness. In my life, you are a spiritual guide post.

What else? Julie is affirming and grateful, and she has a glorious laugh! She’s helped me with my children and my life too many times to count. She’s the friend who doesn’t judge my parenting skills and instead just loves up my goofy youngest kid by serving him chicken nuggets instead. She gets it when we can’t meet for dinner until later because someone has practice or because the Thiemes are obsessed with the Boilermakers and they have a game that day. She knows I want my sons at church on Sunday, so she’d always make sure to let me know when our kids had a sleepover at the Ferruccis that she’d give my kid back after 9am mass. She writes me notes filled with lies about my awesomeness so well that I almost believe her. I love them, so I save most of them to re-read on days when I have forgotten that I am in fact the beloved daughter of our good and gracious God.

Julie is funny, and she has a beautiful, genuine smile that lights up the room. She shares it with us the majority of the time, but not when Chatard is losing to Cathedral. That’s when her inner “Nula” lets loose. Haha!! If you never met Julie’s mom, Nula, then you’ll have to trust me when I tell you the woman was competitive and she minced exactly ZERO words. Julie is a sports lover who grew up in a household with 3 brothers, so the Lord prepared her in advance for the Boston College, Rex Sox loving crazies who would be her future family. She embraces the chaos, the baseball, football, basketball…heck even the hockey and the excessive use of ESPN!

My dear friend, as we celebrate your birthday today, I want you to know without a doubt that I love you. You are a treasure beyond words in my life. This is why I keep disturbing you, texting you 50 times in a row when I know you don’t even check your phone like a normal person. It’s because I never want you to be lonely! HA! Thanks for loving me despite the fact that I don’t know how to whisper and can’t ever find the school calendar. I’m never letting you go. Sorry for your luck. I love you. SO MUCH. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition (William Arthur Ward)

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Several new followers have joined my happy little corner of the digital media landscape this week, and I welcome you! For the benefit of the newbies to my “Mad for 2019” challenge, today is the 265th day of 2019, and on each of these days this year, I have written a few words and featured someone who I think makes a positive difference for others by the way they live their life. Today, I’d like to introduce you to an intelligent young woman named Erika Enderle!

Erika is a nursing student at Purdue University, a sophomore, who hails from here in Carmel, Indiana. She’s a 2018 graduate of Carmel High School and was a cheerleader for the Greyhounds during her time there. She’s pictured above with my son, Drew, whom she met in West Lafayette last year during their freshman year of college. While my middle son was home over his summer break, this beautiful, sunny and articulate young lady made several trips across Hazel Dell Parkway to brighten up the Thieme household with her presence and her sparkly, smiling eyes.

The daughter of John and Judy Enderle, Erika is the youngest of their two girls. She has an older sister, Kaitlyn, who is recently engaged. Here’s what I’ve gleaned about Erika that I’d like to share with you all today. First of all, she’s brave and she’s got a great sense of humor! I learned both of these things during my mom’s birthday festival “cruise” at Geist on a pontoon boat ride. Erika voluntarily agreed to attend said party knowing that she’d be stuck on a rented pontoon boat with six of us “old people” and the three Thieme boys. That’s like 3 hours of her life she’ll never get back, ha? Next, she joined right in on our “face to face” challenge game after the ride. It is just the silliest game which was made popular by Jimmy Fallon. Essentially, the best players are the ones who can maintain a straight face the longest when confronted with ridiculous puns and jokes from the competitor across the table. I’m positively miserable at the game, but I love it all the same. It makes people laugh, including Erika, who I learned that night has the most glorious smile and genuine giggle. Smiling people are my favorite kind of humans.

Erika loves her cat Ned, and has a soft spot, I hear, for the loveliness of nature, most especially beautiful trees. She’s a big Harry Potter fan and worked on converting Drew to the same all throughout the summer. I’m not sure if it took or not, but I am a big fan of the concept of diversification of ones entertainment and interests. Since I’m not sure any of my boys realize there are other TV channels outside the ESPN/FoxSports Channel genre, I appreciate the attempt to broaden Drew’s horizons with a little Dumbledore or Hermione Granger…or whatever she comes up with next!

This young lady is compassionate, polite and capable. She’s a Theta at Purdue and I’d call any of those sorority sisters of hers blessed to have such a quality friend. Erika is a hard-working and high achieving student. I have no doubt that she will make a fantastic nurse, because it’s clear to me that one of her defining qualities is her authentic, caring nature. Today, as she celebrates her birthday, I wanted to just give Erika a little shout out! I see you out there in this crazy world sharing your sunny smile with others. I strongly suspect you offer that to the world, even on those days we all have that feel rather cloudy or gray interiorly. Smiling is a great gift that is much needed by nearly all of us. I notice the respectful, thoughtful, and unassuming way you interact in the world. Yes, you are a truly beautiful young woman. We can all see that. But for me, it’s your sunny disposition and the grace-filled way you share it with those around you that makes you truly shine! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIKA!! I hope you have a great day celebrating YOU!

A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. (Billy Graham)

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Because my friend, Lisa, and I often talk about our parents behind their backs, I know more about Don Kalmey than he maybe would like! Witty, joyful, intelligent, and athletic, Don is the husband of Ann as well as the father to my dear friend and her siblings, Lee Ann and Doug. He also has several well-loved grandchildren on whom he dotes! I’ve encountered him at MANY sporting events over the years, so I know this first-hand.

Don played college basketball at beautiful Bellarmine University in Louisville. My oldest son, Nick, is still dear friends with Don’s grandson Christian Daniels. When they were in grade school, the Kalmeys hosted the terrific trio– Christian, Nick, and Vinny Ferrucci– for basketball camp and it was then that we discovered more about Don’s alma mater. It’s a very cool campus, by the way. If you’re ever in the Louisville area it’s worth seeing! The boys and their summer hoops camp fun became a tradition they enjoyed for multiple years actually. Who wouldn’t love being completely over-fed and spoiled rotten for a week straight? Don’s terrific sense of humor always made Nick feel welcome…and very much at home. You see, Don Kalmey has some striking similarities to my Dad in the silliness department! That is the ultimate compliment coming from me.

Richly blessed is how I would describe Don Kalmey’s family to have such an integrity-filled man as a husband, father, and grandfather. He and Ann did an amazing job building their beautiful family as they are all faith-filled, terrific humans. Not only that, but I have long noticed something truly special I want to make note of today as I attempt to give him a heartfelt shoutout. My dear friend, Lisa, and her sons (Christian and Malcolm) beam with joy when he is around. His love for them is reflected back in such a lovely way. Its a beautiful and inspiring bond!

Today, I saw the hilarious and slightly creepy photo above on social media. It’s Don and Ann with their granddaughter, Anna, who plays volleyball at LSU. Naturally, they went halfway across the country to see her play. Apparently, they came across this cutout of her which was displayed at Chick-Fil-A and they decided to take a photo of Anna with Anna? It made me laugh!!

I find it hard sometimes to overlook the disfunction and chaos all around me. However, I’m so grateful to be sharing a space in this crazy world with the likes of Don Kalmey who selflessly shares his life, love, parental wisdom, and general “wonderfulness” with the rest of us. He loves the Lord and his family with glorious fierceness. No gift he could give them can ever match those. His is a beautiful soul. I find him utterly inspiring by the way he lives his life. THANK YOU, DON for being you. Carry on!!

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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She was quite simply a warm, energetic, fun-loving woman. This was the impression left on my heart as I walked away from my morning at Panera with Wendy Wiese. She’s the sort of gal who has clearly trained her brain to see the good in everything.

Wendy is the wife of Ted Wiese and the mom to two high-achieving, intelligent and athletic kids– Luke and Annie. She’s pictured above with Luke. I have known her son for some time now as our boys are long-time buddies. It was only recently that I decided to finally reach out and learn more about the mom he’s pretty crazy about. Getting to know her a bit more left me smiling.

Incredibly fit and filled with life, she is a woman of vigor who aspires to do positive things for others. As her children are both now in college, Wendy decided, for example, to go back to school to get her nursing degree. How cool is that? This Notre Dame grad, who hails originally from the Muncie area, is so filled with positive energy that I left her feeling like my battery had been recharged. I mean, Panera’s pretty tasty latte also helped, ha?

Here’s the thing. What spurred me to reach out to Wendy is the fact that this is the year I really discovered life is so incredibly short. I’m a slow learner. I had my own health scare early this year, and it has me feeling grateful and noticing so much more the little blessings and the phenomenal humans all around me. When I heard that Wendy (who I have always wanted to get to know more) was dealing with her own health challenges, well, I suppose I just didn’t want to waste any more time. Perhaps I also figured that I could encourage her and let her know in person that I care and that I am praying for her physical, mental and emotional healing!

Wendy is a force to be reckoned with, and a fierce woman of faith. She truly doesn’t need me or anyone to cheer her up. She’ll greet the day today, and then she’ll do the same tomorrow with her beautiful smile in tact. Thank you, Wendy, for taking the time to visit with me. You are a passionate, joyful and very impressive woman who is filled with Jesus! Those just happen to be my favorite kind of girls. Keep doing you, because you make the world a better place by being in it.

Mark Twain penned the famous quote, “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer somebody else up.” How filled with wisdom is that? In those words you will find the lesson and truth of my morning with Wendy Wiese. It’s a pleasure to call her friend. Her husband, children, family and friends are all incredibly blessed to have such a woman in their lives.

We are constantly invited to be who we are. (Henry David Thoreau)

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In high school, I had a friend named Julie with whom I engaged in a variety of fairly typical teenage shenanigans. She always had this beautiful blond hair, a great big smile, and she was armed with a handful of sarcasm at all times. I’m pretty sure it’s that last part that made the friendship work, ha?! I really enjoyed my time with her and I got to know her older sister, Renee and her little brother, Michael, a little too. We had plenty of sleepovers at the Tiller house, where Julie lived on Old Farm Road in Lafayette with her siblings as well as her parents, Arnette and Joe.

Julie’s mom, Arnette, was incredibly likeable from the moment I met her. What I didn’t know then that I understand much better now is why I was attracted to this family. It’s their unassuming authenticity! Now that I am pushing 50, I realize how attractive genuine people truly are. Arnette Tiller has remained friends over the decades with my mom. I had lunch with them both a while back and as I left, I remembered everything I loved about Arnette. She’s creative, articulate, talented…and OH SO REAL. She’s always been kind and generous.

As a high school athlete back in the 1980s, I was positively adequate. I spent quite a lot of time, as I recall, with perpetually sprained ankles. Sometimes, my ankles would blow up the size of pumpkins and Mrs. Tiller would take me over to Purdue to torture me with their training room ice baths for said ankles, ha?! At that time, her husband, Joe, was not the head coach at Purdue just yet. That happened a few years later. Nevertheless, she used her access to help a young girl try and get the obnoxious ankle struggle under control and I hope I was appropriately grateful.

Several years later when the Tillers returned to Lafayette, the first home game that year was against Notre Dame. The Boilermakers, under new head coach, Joe Tiller, had lost the season opener to Toledo. So, as I recall, the expectations for the ND game were not particularly high. However, Arnette was utterly optimistic and as always wore a big smile on her face and with her great contagious laughter she invited us to her house after the big win! WIN THEY DID! I think Notre Dame was ranked that year? I’ll be honest, I had a 6 week old baby boy at the time and I was just happy to be at the game and then thrilled with the unexpected win! When we joined the victory party, Arnette greeted us at the door and then showed us her cool ceramics art in progress before shoving us into the center of the party. Nothing ever seems to rattle this positive gal with the great sense of humor. She’s welcoming and kind to absolutely everyone.

In recent weeks, Arnette donated a lot of terrific old Purdue memorabilia and an RV to the Joe Tiller Chapter of the National Football Foundation. The funds for this endowment do a lot of good for others, including providing student scholarships. She’s an impressive woman who does a lot of good in her local community out in Buffalo, Wyoming as well. I remember her telling us at that lunch we met for in Lafayette that she was working on a project at the Buffalo Carousel Center. Of course she is! She never stops. I’ve got no idea what she’s currently up to, but I’m sure there’s something spectacular up her sleeves…for her family, friends, or community.

I know Arnette, Julie, Renee, Michael and the grandkids are certainly missing Joe. However, this is a fierce woman who is full of life, and she inspires me by how she continues to do good for others and make a positive difference in the world in so many ways. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to give you a hug on your last trip to Indiana, Arnette, so today I wanted to just give you a shout out and tell you that I have always thought your authenticity and genuinely caring nature SHINES. You are a spectacular woman! I chose that quote above as I attempt to honor you today, because honestly I don’t know another person on the planet who lives her life being exactly who she is…and it is BEAUTIFUL!!

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” -St. (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta

Being a ninth grader is fraught with awkwardness. Honestly, I don’t know that anyone avoids the discomfort altogether? When my oldest son was in his first year of high school, he spent a great deal of the first six months feeling fairly miserable about the ordeal. At the time a friend attempted to comfort me with the words, “well, there’s really nothing lower, socially speaking, than being a high school freshman boy.” It made me laugh, because…well…truer words were never spoken? I guess the silver lining is that this phase tends to pass rather quickly, especially if one is surrounded by positive people like the young man pictured above. His name is John Tiplick, and he is a freshman at Guerin Catholic High School.

I have only recently discovered this bright, talented and very smiley kid. I’d like to share my observations with you, because I think it’s important for our young people to understand that how they interact in the world really does matter– to their peers and to us “grown-ups” too.

John is the oldest of the three Tiplick children and the son of Rosemary and Gary. Because he is on the tennis team with Zach, I have had the chance to get to know him just a little. Like a lot of freshmen boys, John is physically small, but discounting him would be a big mistake because that will inevitably change over his four years of high school…and he’s a beautiful tennis player with good looking strokes. He played in his first two varsity matches this week and did a great job representing the Golden Eagles. Tennis is NOT the reason I have chosen to feature John today, however.

Every single time I have seen John, he is smiling. His light shines on the area he inhabits and on the people who find themselves nearby. This kid is a bright light! On Sunday at mass, I noticed he was sitting at the piano at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, accompanying the choir for the 5:30pm mass. He’s a talented musician, I quickly learned, who volunteers his time for the benefit of his parish. What a beautiful example to the rest of us!

Last night, I had the opportunity to spend some time with John Tiplick for the first time while I drove a few of the GC boys to and from their match at Hamilton Southeastern. I was impressed. I would describe him as an upbeat, polite and very kind kid both before and after his match. Also? I’d like John to work with all three of my Thieme boys on their directional skills. His giftedness in this area is almost savant-like. He’s a human GPS. As he was directing me to his home, he carefully pointed out the best way to exit his subdivision to get me quickly back to 146th St. (and home) a tad quicker than the circuitous route we took coming in. You see, we had dropped off his neighbor and teammate Jak Kolb on the way in. It was impressive and thoughtful. I could hear the smile in his voice the entire time.

So, this evening I wanted to give a shout out to a pretty fabulous 15 year old! John, you are clearly a faith-filled young man who is the face of Jesus to those around you with your sunny temperament and ever present smile! Thanks for reminding me that every single one of us can make a difference for others by the small, holy acts of kindness we bestow on the world. Keep doing you, kiddo! You are a grace-filled scoop of awesome sauce!

P.S. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, John, about the possibility of being a “victim” of my little series! Ha!!

And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back, because her passion burned brighter than her fears. (M. Anthony)

Confident women like my friend Renee McGowan always inspire me! This fierce, articulate and uber supportive mom of three is also the wife of a fabulous husband named John. They are completely adorable together, and are pictured above.

A little over a year ago, I shared with Renee at a baseball game that I was interested in working on a healthier diet. Positive thinking and compassionate gals like Renee who are willing to go the extra mile are rare. It was maybe a day or two later that this health conscious gal, and workout loving woman showed up with a pile of keto friendly guidance and recipes, giving me a practical assist which I never properly thanked her for! That was super cool of you, Renee!!

Renee runs a niche construction business. The woman can apparently wield a hammer, while yours truly can barely hang a picture! If you want to know more about her work or support a strong woman who is out there getting it done, visit www.theaccentwallco.com!

Renee is from Brownsburg and she’s a Ball State gal. One also can clearly tell that she inherited her accessibility and caring nature from her uber supportive parents who are absolutely lovely and can frequently be spotted at her children’s many events!

Friendly, energetic and passionate, Renee is a formidable woman of faith! Those are all qualities I respect greatly, but it’s her fierceness that inspires me the most! Today is Renee’s birthday and I wanted to take a moment to tell her that I find her inspiring…and wish her a very Happy Birthday!! I hope your day has been as special as you are, Renee because your life is DEFINITELY worth celebrating!!

The priest is not a priest for himself- he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. -St. John Vianney

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Grace Kelly Leon is a beautiful young lady who is a senior in college this fall. I have quietly been stalking her and praying for her now for several years. She was a grade school friend and classmate of my oldest son, Nick, and that is how I came to know her. I haven’t seen her in person in some time, but when I do, I know she’ll give me one of her big bear hugs! When she was in the 7th grade, she was diagnosed with a blood cancer which is more often called lymphoma. Grace Kelly was a very sick girl at the time, and there were a large number of us doing a lot of praying for her healing.

It turned out that a seminarian I had never met, named Dominic Petan, had just been through treatment for the exact same condition. The details of how I came into contact with him escape me now. Perhaps I had written a blog post about Grace Kelly asking for prayers and he happened upon it? I just don’t recall, however what I do remember very clearly is that he asked me to put him into contact with her. His kindness in reaching out to her and his promise of prayers for GK were very meaningful and comforting to her at a difficult time, and I began to include him by name on my regular prayer list for priests. He hadn’t been ordained yet, but I could see that was merely an accident of timing. Hans Urs Von Balthasar famously said “A good priest is always a miracle of grace” and any fool could see this young man was compassionate, prayerful and full up to his eyeballs with grace.

It’s many years later now, and Dominic Petan is now Fr. Dominic Petan. Since the holiest priest I know is always lending out books that are apparently rarely returned, I decided maybe a new young priest could use a start on his own library and I sent him a box with a few of my favorites when he was ordained. He’s now the pastor of the Cathedral parish of our diocese, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Lafayette. Since he posts his homilies online, I often read them. I had gone to mass this evening at my own parish in Carmel and though I clearly recalled the gospel, I admit I was distracted during the homily, so I went to get an alternate “gospel message” to start my week from Fr. Dominic’s site: dominicpetan.blogspot.com. It was a beautiful message about differentiation– being who we are before God and others.

If you’ve been following my little 2019 mission, you’ll know I’m on day 257 of 365 in my attempt to point out great folks around me who make a positive difference for others. Although I still haven’t met this holy, young priest, I find his words to be full of intelligence and grace. His message is consistently both accessible and full of the love of Christ. I recommend his blog if you are inclined to check out such things! I’m WAY past overdue to tell Fr. Dominic Petan that he’s a light in the darkness, a bearer of the cross, and a solid human being for whom I am grateful! Thanks for all you do for others each day, Padre!! My rosary tonight will be for you.