25th Anniversary of Ordination

On June 13, 2021 we celebrated my Dad's 25th Anniversary of Ordination with a Mass and reception at Our Lady of Victory Church. He has been serving at Our Lady of  Victory in some capacity consistently since we moved to Halethorpe in the 70's. He has lead the RCIA, prayer groups, bible studies, been a catchiest, member of the parish council, liturgy committee, and school board. At my mom's prompting he began the deaconate program and was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Baltimore on June 15, 1996. Jim and I were living in Aurora, CO at the time and we used our one week of vacation to fly out to Baltimore for the ordination. Since that time he has served at OLV as a deacon, ministering at wakes, funerals, Holy Hour, Adoration, Stations of the Cross, weddings and Baptisms. We were all so blessed to have him baptize all of our children into our faith. As the Anniversary approached we decided it would be fun to gather all of the Baptism pictures and Sacrament pictures that my Dad was in. It was quite a collection.

 

COVID-19 has been complicating celebrations for a year and a half but as preparations began the pandemic was easing and we were able to embrace a large celebration as we had hoped. The OLV parish organized the celebration with the Knights and Women of Victory volunteering. Our family stepped in and helped with the music, planning, serving, decorating and personalization of the party. The parish was also working behind the scenes to establish a scholarship fund in my parents names in honor of their service and dedication to Catholic education. I had been working with Dad on the invitation list and getting the invites out both with physical invites and an online invitation. As I was showing these to my Dad, I had a fake set and a real set that included the Scholarship information.

The day of the celebration all of the family pitched in to set up the hall, decorate the tables, hook up the slide show of photos through the years, decorate the cake. Many of the grandkids joined Mary in the choir to provide music for Mass, grandkids got changed to serve on the altar, they handed out programs. Joe and Magaly brought up the gifts with more of the grandkids. Will and Becky read the readings and Mary the psalm. My Dad proclaimed the Gospel and gave a homily with a wide scope of his faith journey. We participated in the Sacrifice of Mass together. 

Fr Bill and Bill Bernard presented my Dad with the establishment of the Scholarship fund and he was truly surprised and touched.  After Mass Dad asked invited guests to please join in for pictures. Many of his Cardinal Gibbons colleagues came to celebrate, prayer group friends, men's group, parishioners, and family.  It was a blessing that so many of his long time friends and colleagues were able to attend and celebrate with us.

The reception went wonderfully. We shared food and desserts and my Dad went from table to table to greet all of the guests. I made a table to display the Newspaper clippings from 25 years ago and a board of all 23 pictures of the grandkids baptisms. It was a wonderful day and I kept thinking how proud my Mom would be. 

Road Trip 2 - Welcome Baltimores

August 6, 2017

    We woke up early Sunday morning at our hotel, grabbed a quick breakfast and then got on the road to Green Bay. The drive  took us on a highway whose concrete had separated and was quite a jibbity drive, it turned into a bit of a joke. We were meeting the whole family: my Dad, siblings, spouses and children, who also made the trip from Baltimore, at Sts. Peter and Paul Church for Mass and the start of our Heritage tour.

   After Mass the kids were all excited to see their cousins and the adults swapped road trip stories, including Joe, Magaly and the kids having to sleep in the van because all of the hotels were booked. We got a chance to say hello to Uncle Don and Aunt Sue before we gathered together to hear some of the history of the Jauquet's and Cleereman's connection to the church. My Dad passed out the book he and I had worked on all summer, full of photos and history of our Belgian ancestors' beginning in Wisconsin.

My Dad and Uncle Don told us stories of their great Grandparents donating stained glass windows and their Grandfather donating a statue of St. Therese of Lisuex in Thanksgiving for surviving a logging accident. They had also discovered a family portrait of their grandmother's family. I was excited at the find as it was a missing connection we wanted for the book.

The Ascension

The Nativity

St. Hubert, Patron Saint of Belgium

   After our intro to family history we went to the Tundra Lodge to check in and get settled into our room for our 4 night stay. We worked out a system of determining who slept where and with whom. Hanna would be sleeping on the floor at the lodge. Meg and Bridget were sharing a queen, and Em and Rae were sharing a fold out sofa. 

        Uncle John and Aunt Kathy invited everyone over to their house for a barbecue, so we were soon headed out but the lovely weather turned into rain. We were surprised to see all of the effort they put into the event. The whole front lawn was covered in greeting and they had rented a tent so all was dry. They have always called us "The Baltimores", and so that is how greeted us. We were surprised that they had invited the whole extended family and cousins had come in from all over the state. I was really touched.

It was a wonderful time to get to talk and visit with the family, especially those that wouldn't get a chance to join us on the bustrip the next day.  The kids played a huge game of capture the flag and drank a lot of pop. The food was great and Aunt Barb made some delicious desserts.  Then they surprised my dad with singing and cake for his 75th birthday.

They had also invited a photographer, so they gathered family groups for pictures, plus we all gathered into the back yard for the huge group photo on the hill.

Dad's 20th Anniversary of Ordination

The morning of Emma's graduation party we went to a special Mass at Our Lady of Victory to celebrate my Dad's 20th Anniversary of ordination. It was a beautiful Mass and Mary, with Joseph, Michael, and Katherine sang a gorgeous 4 part harmony Alleluia. My Dad spoke at the end and thanked everyone and reflected on his years as Deacon. My Mom was the one who suggested it to him and supported him thorughout the journey. He got a little teary as did I. My Dad shared that at his ordination he wasn't looking forward to doing wakes but as the years past he realized that it was one of his favorite services to the parish and people, which is good becuase at this point he has done hundreds.

The parish hosted a very nice luncheon in the hall afterward. I made sure to get a picture of my dad and laughed because he was wearing the same special event tie that he has worn for the past 22 years of special events.