Summary
The morning after Father [Joseph Champlin] passed away I was interviewing Michael Heagerty at the Palace and the subject of Father Champlin's death came up. Newly elected to the Common Council, Heagerty, who had not yet read the news in the paper, was saddened and began to tell yet another tale of the priest's generosity.
When Heagerty's brother Pat died, Champlin was the priest at the Cathedral. Heagerty recounted in amazement how Champlin made the family feel at home in their time of loss. "He opened the Cathedral up to us. The house was ftill. We had dancers, we had Buddhist monks, we had a gospel choir. He took us all in, and let us celebrate Pat. And he loved it."The thing is, Champlin didn't decide to take care of me because of my politics, like he didn't minister to the Heagertys because of their religion. He just saw people in need, and responded. I couldn't tell you whether Father Champlin was a Democrat or a Republican; I only knew that he was a Catholic. He was better versed in Catholic teaching than any priest you might ever meet.See the full content of this document
Extract
Spirit in the Sky
Over Thanksgiving weekend in 1980, the house on Westmoreland Avenue where I lived with two friends burned to me ground. My friend and his sweetheart had been tending to the fireplace when they became otherwise engaged, and while they were distracted the faulty old unit dropped its ashes where...
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