Hello my friends! Several of you have asked me to address both personal & spiritual questions. Here are some questions and my answers to them. I invite more questions. Call me, write me or send questions to Diana for this bulletin article (d_hudock@yahoo.com). This article will also appear on our Facebook and Blog on our website.
D asks: Who are your favorite “saints in the making” on earth? Past & present? And why?”
Father Pete: I have been blessed by many “saints in the making” as I call them. By this I mean those family members and friends who have given to me a beautiful example of faith. I will write about one of them today, Father Ray Finnerty.
Father Ray was a pastor at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Tallmadge. I don’t know the years of his tenure there but he arrived when I was in high school and he lived until I was a priest for about eight years. Fr. Ray inspired me by his great acts of charity for the poor and for troubled parishioners. He demonstrated for me a beautiful understanding of Catholic theology. He affirmed me as a good candidate for priesthood. Most of all, he intrigued me with his sense of God’s presence in his prayer life. I would observe him before Mass, his arms spread over the back of the pews as he sat in wordless silence. I have no idea what was at work in his soul, but this observation encouraged me in the deep sense of God’s presence in my life.
Dear God, bless Father Ray with eternal joy in your presence…
Love, Fr. Pete