God bless you Fr. Jim McNamara! - Parish of the Holy Cross

FAREWELL BUT NOT GOODBYE
The time has come for me to leave Holy Cross. I say: “Farewell but not goodbye”
because I will continue to hold all of you in my heart and will keep you in prayer each
morning. I have truly been blessed to be your pastor these past ten and a half years.
It was not by any means easy to come here after the memorable years of Father Joe
and Father Bill. Now, a new pastor will join you - Father Michael Holzmann. He is a very
fine priest, a very spiritual man. Our theme here at Holy Cross has been: Let all be
welcomed as Christ. As you welcome Father Michael, I ask you to welcome him, that is,
let him be himself, do not compare him with others. A true Christian welcome means to
respect each individual as a unique person created and loved by God. Father Michael
will bring his own good gifts and he will be a good shepherd of this good community.
I have been here longer than any other assignment in my forty-two years as a priest. If
the truth be told, it is very hard to leave. And yet, I know that God is always with me and
is always faithful. I learned this lesson very dramatically in 1982. I was leaving to go to
Rome to be on the faculty of the North American College for five years. My father died
of a heart attack a month before I left. Since my mother had died soon after my
ordination, our family home was sold as I started my work in Rome. It was a time of loss
and change and I needed to mourn the past before I could embrace the future. I was at
a crossroad: my life had changed and would never be the same again. I prayed very
fervently during that first year and I became convinced that God was still with me and
was doing something new.
In a less dramatic yet similar way, I am at another crossroad. I wrote recently in
response to questions about whether I was excited about going to Point Lookout, that it
wasn’t about where I am going but about where I am leaving. So, some mourning and
letting go has to happen before I can embrace the future once again. But, I will embrace
the future and I will embrace the people of Point Lookout. And I will do so with hope and
enthusiasm to share the greatness of Jesus Christ with the people there.
I have been there several times and stayed overnight once. With my new broad hat, I
walked around in the evening. I was greeted by a shopkeeper when a car came by and
a young man yelled my name. His mom stopped the car.
The shopkeeper told me that Anthony was an usher at
the 10:15 Mass on Sundays. Anthony had a broad smile
that belied his severely disabled condition. I put my
hands on his gnarled hands and greeted him and thought
that: “Yes I can do this. I can fall in love again.”
Farewell but not goodbye,
Father Jim McNamara
Fr. Jim’s
Installation at
Holy Cross 1/19/03
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