missing fr. caloy (this is not an obituary)
Fr. Caloy has left us! No, this is not an obituary, this is just a change of assignment or more specifically a change of residence. Fr. Carlo Noquez is our Archdiocesan Chancellor. In the past he should have been called “The Lord Chancellor”, though his height may not have made him that “lordly” in bearing, yet his voice very well compensates, so they say. A chancellor is a fulltime job and he is required to report in the office of the chancellor at the Archbishop’s Residence everyday except on weekends. And so to facilitate such he took up residence in the Rectory of the Jaro Cathedral. Now he has transferred to Molo.
Personally I am beginning to miss him. Do you know why? Because now that he has transferred I am eating once more my breakfast in silence. After 11 years in the Seminary as a formator I got used to the daily routine of seminarians who observe the silentium magnum or the great silence beginning after our night prayers and ends only after breakfast. So for 11 years I have eaten my breakfast in silence. When I was assigned in the cathedral I was somewhat disoriented. Fr. Caloy around the breakfast table was just too noisy for me that one time I transferred to another area at another table and ate my breakfast alone (of course without telling them of my preference to eat breakfast in silence). He saw me eating alone and thinking that I must be quite lonely doing so, he invited everyone (including himself of course) to join me for breakfast at my table. And that was the end of my peaceful breakfast. After that I told myself, I have better get used to this “rowdy” breakfast if I have to survive. After sometime I got used to it and even enjoyed it and even looked forward to it. Now with Fr. Caloy transferred I have to get used once more to a silent breakfast.
Fr. Caloy and myself are members of a very small group of priests we formally call Circulo Primer Lunes with the moniker “los papas.” (Our second meeting was held in a restaurant called “los papas” or something like that and so the name.) We gather every first Monday of the month to talk and laugh - just that - talk and laugh over food and coffee until late in the evening. It is the most refreshing thing in our lives in a month and is always looked forward to, talking among friends about things we would not rather talk about in the open or with other priests. And the company and the laughter are just refreshing.
So Fr. Caloy is now assigned residency in Molo. We will miss him. And jokingly I told him that he presented some difficult problems with this transfer which I think he should talk about with the bishop. Well, I told him that theologically a person who went through purgatory has nowhere to go but in heaven. It seems that Fr. Caloy came from purgatory and went straight to hell! That’s a problem indeed and I bet even the pope will have a hard time thinking that through.
Nevertheless, we bid Fr. Carlo goodbye thanking him for his presence (and his “noise” and infectious laughter). Despite the fact that he had been assigned here only as a resident, he helped us in our pastoral programs including celebrating masses for the dead during the wakes in the homes, answering to sick calls and putting so much input in our pastoral programs which he is not obliged to do. Thank you Fr. Caloy. Your presence here in the cathedral was really appreciated and will be sorely missed.
Personally I am beginning to miss him. Do you know why? Because now that he has transferred I am eating once more my breakfast in silence. After 11 years in the Seminary as a formator I got used to the daily routine of seminarians who observe the silentium magnum or the great silence beginning after our night prayers and ends only after breakfast. So for 11 years I have eaten my breakfast in silence. When I was assigned in the cathedral I was somewhat disoriented. Fr. Caloy around the breakfast table was just too noisy for me that one time I transferred to another area at another table and ate my breakfast alone (of course without telling them of my preference to eat breakfast in silence). He saw me eating alone and thinking that I must be quite lonely doing so, he invited everyone (including himself of course) to join me for breakfast at my table. And that was the end of my peaceful breakfast. After that I told myself, I have better get used to this “rowdy” breakfast if I have to survive. After sometime I got used to it and even enjoyed it and even looked forward to it. Now with Fr. Caloy transferred I have to get used once more to a silent breakfast.
Fr. Caloy and myself are members of a very small group of priests we formally call Circulo Primer Lunes with the moniker “los papas.” (Our second meeting was held in a restaurant called “los papas” or something like that and so the name.) We gather every first Monday of the month to talk and laugh - just that - talk and laugh over food and coffee until late in the evening. It is the most refreshing thing in our lives in a month and is always looked forward to, talking among friends about things we would not rather talk about in the open or with other priests. And the company and the laughter are just refreshing.
So Fr. Caloy is now assigned residency in Molo. We will miss him. And jokingly I told him that he presented some difficult problems with this transfer which I think he should talk about with the bishop. Well, I told him that theologically a person who went through purgatory has nowhere to go but in heaven. It seems that Fr. Caloy came from purgatory and went straight to hell! That’s a problem indeed and I bet even the pope will have a hard time thinking that through.
Nevertheless, we bid Fr. Carlo goodbye thanking him for his presence (and his “noise” and infectious laughter). Despite the fact that he had been assigned here only as a resident, he helped us in our pastoral programs including celebrating masses for the dead during the wakes in the homes, answering to sick calls and putting so much input in our pastoral programs which he is not obliged to do. Thank you Fr. Caloy. Your presence here in the cathedral was really appreciated and will be sorely missed.
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