Every October I take my 5th/6th Grade Religion class to Mount Calvary Cemetery in town. The purpose of the field trip is to collect names from various tombstones in order to pray for the dead throughout the month of November. The other purpose is historical. We visit the Calvary monument under which many founding pastors of our parishes are buried--including the pastors who were here when our Catholic Schools first opened in the late 19th Century. We are all indebted to these visionary priests who built churches and schools. Some days I think I am busy, and then I think about what their lives must have been like in the 19th and early 20th centuries without the technology we have today. History is interesting and inspiring and we remember to pray for all of those who’ve left legacies, great and small, in our community.

Written By: Father Lance W. Harlow

Date Published: October 24, 2024