CLERGYMAN MOVING ON; PRIEST'S 25-YEAR PARTY A BLEND OF JUBILATION, SADNESS.Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer For most parish priests Parish priest may refer to
 `bĭlē), in the Bible, a year when alienated property and land were restored, slaves were manumitted, debts were forgiven, and a general sabbatical year was observed in is a
time of great celebration. For Mary Immaculate Church's beloved the
Rev. Tom Rush, however, it is bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. .
On July 19, Rush will leave Mary Immaculate to assume a leadership post in the international order of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest from Marseille. It was first recognized by Pope Leo XII on February 17, 1826. . While the post is considered a promotion, it is a sad move for Rush. Sunday afternoon, hundreds of Mary Immaculate parishioners packed into the Pacoima church in the 10000 block of Remick Avenue to say congratulations and goodbye to Rush. Congratulations on the 25th anniversary of his ordination ordination: see ministry; orders, holy. as priest. Goodbye to a friend. ``We have come to say goodbye to the father. We have known him for such a long time,'' said Rudy Campas, 66. ``We are losing a wonderful priest.'' Susan Vasquez is only 10, but she knows exactly what Campas is saying. She was dressed in a pink leotard and a baby blue silk skirt skirt abattoir term for diaphragm. made for her to dance at Rush's celebration. ``We're going to make him a Mass,'' Susan said. ``We're going to dance, because we're sad because he's not going to be with us anymore.'' Susan explained that Rush was an important influence in her life. ``He was always telling me what to do. What's good and what's bad,'' she said. Standing in front of Mary Immaculate, Rush watched as hundreds of parishioners poured into the church, stopping to greet him on their way in. ``It's awesome,'' Rush said of the tremendous turnout for his jubilee. ``There's a lot of people here from the past and the present,'' he said. ``I've been in this area for most of the last 25 years. I wish this (celebration) weren't in the context it is. But I guess that's just the way it goes. We take things as they come.'' Sitting in the front of the church, where children danced and sang to honor their priest, was Rush's 83-year-old mother, Dorothy Rush. ``He started in the third grade wanting to be a priest,'' Dorothy Rush said. ``I just wish his father could be here.'' Rush arrived in Pacoima at Mary Immaculate in 1992. He was an outsider Outsider often refers to one identified as on the periphery of social norms, one living or working apart from mainstream society, or one observing a group from the outside, as used in:
San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. . Pacoima had a reputation for becoming violent after dark. Two years after Rush arrived, the Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. destroyed the church and the school at Mary Immaculate. Tarps were tacked together for the first Sunday Mass. But Rush faced those challenges, leading protests and fighting for the things important to Pacoima citizens, including faster citizenship processing. Rush will be replaced by the Rev. Paul Ouellette of St. Ferdinand's parish in San Fernando. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO The Rev. Thomas Rush celebrates his 25th anniversary as a priest Sunday. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion