A Pal in Paris!

Fountain, Luxembourg Gardens, Paris.

This past weekend I was very blessed to have a classmate from Scotland stop down to Paris for the weekend.  Father Gerry was ordained on the Fourth of July and is no stranger to the States.  In fact he has visited me both at St. Clare’s and Incarnation.  He also helped a few summers at Corpus Christi parish in Woodside.  While still a seminarian over twenty years ago, I was very warmly welcomed by his family in Scotland.

Les Invalides, illuminated from my front door.

He arrived in Paris on Friday night and brought with him a break in the heat.  Gerry spent a month studying French in the “City of Lights” so he was in no rush to wait on line for Notre Dame or the Eifel Tower.  We spent most of Saturday together at a Brasserie and met up again the next day where at his suggestion we bought a bottle of champagne and two plastic flute glasses and headed to the Luxembourg Gardens to watch the world go by on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Christ in Judgement, Central Portal, Notre Dame du Paris.

Besides being good chat, Gerry remembers everything:  probably too much.  He also reminds me of the passage of time.  We were in school together over twenty years ago.  That definitely makes me feel old.  Nevertheless, it is always wonderful to visit with him and to share priestly fraternity.

Tour d' Eiffel illuminated, Paris.