Jane and I attended two viewings of men we knew who recently passed-on. The first was Father Edward Bayer who I mentioned in an earlier post. Father Bayer was laid-out in a church where friends, family, and former members of his parish came to show their respects. I first met Father Bayer on a Cursillo Retreat. After twenty years of not being an ideal Catholic, and not going to Confession, I figured that this retreat, with some strange priest who I would probably never see again, would be perfect to unload a boat load of serious sins. It was great! The next Sunday at the end of Mass they announced to come over to the hall to meet our new pastor. As we moved closer to the front of the reception line I could not believe who I saw, Fr. Bayer. Being an exceptional priest, he didn't seem to recognize me as the sinner I was.
The second man was Bud Peroutka. Bud was a retired salesman who was in charge of organizing weekend retreats for Knight's of Columbus. I had the pleasure of driving two hours, to and from the retreat facility, once a year, for about six years. He taught me how to sell: "get your customers to talk about themselves". He was a huge fan of, "How to Win Friends and Influence People". He was a great philosopher and lived his faith. He always prayed for the poor souls, and said he never set an alarm clock, but trusted his angel to wake him. He was a great Catholic friend.
While at the funeral parlor, I noticed, Paul Schenck. Paul, who was with his wife, is a former Episcopal pastor, father of about seven children, and had left his church to become a Catholic. Our paths had crossed about six times, and rumor was, that he was going to become a Catholic priest. He was attired in a Roman collar. He told us that he was ordained a transitional Deacon last night, and was scheduled to be ordained a Catholic priest in June.
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