:*(

I just got off the phone with my mother and found out that my favorite priest died: Father O'Meara. He suffered a stroke and was in the hospital, unable to really respond. He was an elderly gentlemen with a lot of spunk. I think he was a lot older in age, but he didn't act like it. He may have been in his 80s. 86, maybe? He was from the old school and he spoke his mind. He always said what some people didn't wanna hear. But that's because the truth hurts. He would tell it like it is from a Catholic perspective. I admit I was a tad scared of him, but I respected him. He would always say what he thought. The Catholic Church today is quite lax, I think. It's more or less "come as you are," so, oftentimes people are wearing things like jeans and t-shirts. Just dressed very casually. But I remember when Fr. O'Meara was gonna preside over the mass the following week, we would be warned beforehand to make sure we came in our "Sunday Best." lol, cuz Fr. O. would complain about coming to church dressed as bums. Like I mentioned before, he was from the old school, when life was harder, yet simpler, and things were just stricter.

Fr. O. also once made a comment about how a young female in another mass he said was dressed. He was talking about how this young girl was wearing an inappropriate outfit and how he was thinking, wow, does this girl's mother know how she's dressed? And then he sees his answer: this girl's mother is dressed the same way. He would just tell us these things. One time around Valentine's, I think this was last year, how he was in the mall and he passed by Victoria's Secret and saw the underwear with hearts on it, and he stopped and added, "I'm a priest, but I'm not blind." hehe... That man. I loved him. I hope there are still plenty of other Church leaders like him left. This world we live in is just way too liberal and I need some more strong moral guides.

I remember once I forwarded Fr. O'Meara an article about the dwindling population of Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land. He wrote me back with this response:

Sheena,

Before your piece, I knew about the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant populations in Israel. Five years ago I was subjected to Israel "security" during my visit to the HOLY LAND. At the airport, a padre companion and I, in our clericals, were grilled about our intensions in visiting and our relationship. After our first night in Jerusalem, we were boarding a bus with other tourists, when two truckloads of young
Israel troops suddenly appeared, cordened off the street, pushed people up against walls, surrounded the bus with pointed rifles and demanded our documents. All the places and shrines were closely policed by Israelis. They were the conquerers

I applaud your efforts to separate the US and Israel. Tanks against rifles is hardly a "level playing field". Compare the number of Palastinian fatalities with the Israelis. Israel cannot be trusted to accept agreements. Nuff said!

Blessings,

Fr. O

May you rest in peace, Father O'Meara. You will be missed!