A parish business manager has to be a very special person: someone skilled in accounting, in human resources, in the unique world of the Catholic Church, in the need to adjust one’s computer worldview to a system that is created for a unique culture of church terminology. Most importantly, a parish business manager must be ethical, competent, controlling expenses, able to work with the finance council, and possess a dedication to Christ and His Church and a reverence for the people of the parish.
Our business manager, Joan Fiore, possessed these qualities in spades. Early Wednesday morning in the wee hours Joan woke her husband to say she was feeling terrible. By the time he got to the other side of the bed she was having seizures and cardiac arrest. He did CPR, attended to their 2 small children, called 911, and called a neighbor to take the children to their home while the ambulance took Joan and Tom to the hospital. Over the next 2 days the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital (Boulder Community Hospital) went to heroic lengths to save her from the effects of a pulmonary embolism, but very early Saturday morning Joan was removed from life support and as she underwent her last cardiac arrest, her healthy kidneys became a gift of life to others who would have died without such transplants.
I am grief stricken. I am brokenhearted. I’ve worked with Joan for 7 years as the business manager of my other parish. Joan was the main reason I’ve had such confidence that all would be well at St. Rita’s; and we were so blessed when she was selected to be our business manager here.
In preparation for this homily, all week long I was aware of the theme of joy and the texts that speak of joy:
- The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. . . He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
- I rejoice heartily in the Lord; in my God is the joy of my soul.
- “My soul rejoices in my God,” we sang in our psalm response.
- Brothers and sisters: rejoice always.
Yet, if I feel brokenhearted, especially for those 8 and 10 year old girls, how can I speak of joy and glad tidings?
Well, there’s a clue in Paul’s words: “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”
Have you ever noticed the hints of suffering that exist in the most joyful readings of the Bible, namely the Christmas story? In the 3rd Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, Joseph and Mary take the brand new baby to the Temple for the customary offering after the birth of a first-born son; and while there an old man, Simeon, prophesies that the heart of Mary will be pierced with a sword, a prophecy about her witnessing 33 years later the heart of Jesus pierced with a sword upon Calvary Hill.
And remember too the tragedy of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents by a tyrannical Herod who was out to destroy the newborn King of the Jews.
And finally, in Advent is not John the Baptist writ large in our minds not only as the one preparing the way of the Lord, but also as the one who was beheaded for his witness to the truth?
So, yes, in all circumstances pray without ceasing and give thanks. Learning to pray teaches us that no matter what we face, we have reason to abide in hope. No matter what our fears may be about our jobs, our savings, indeed our very life itself, we have reason to abide in hope. And hope begets joy.
Joan’s death has been especially poignant to me not only because she such a wonderful human being, such a strong Catholic, and not only because I have relied on her so much, but mostly because I deeply identify with those young children, for I was but a tad older when my mother died; and I know how dreadful a mother’s death is for the children.
Yet in all circumstances, pray and give thanks. Have you noticed that for people who have had to face terrible suffering one of two things happens: they either become sour human beings, or they find God in the suffering and they become compassionate and are a cause of great joy for others? That’s my prayer for Joan’s family.
Comments