Nessa The Cantor
Nessa The Cantor
Within the last 24 Hours, I received some sad news. No one I knew had died, but someone I knew had lost her faith & is condemning loads of people who know & love her so very much.
An associate of mine had relayed the news. He looks a lot like FOX Saturday Baseball's Lead Play-By-Play Announcer Joe Buck.
This story begins for me, on Sunday, 12/01/96, during Monsignor Sherman Council Knights of Columbus Operations @ Sacred Heart Church in East Glendale, Queens. I was Grand Knight @ that time. I would call this period “The Dawn Of A Great Reawakening”, as this was the time of healing a long rift between Sacred Heart Parish & Monsignor Sherman Council. It was a major undertaking & a major special project of mine.
Simply put, we were selling chance books. It was a damp, rainy Sunday & people in Sacred Heart were looking @ us like “Who Cares About You Stranger.” Yet I was having a good time with the whole thing. I witnessed something sweet & heartfelt happening there.
An 8th Grader from Sacred Heart School was Cantor of the 9:30AM, 11:00AM & 12:30PM Masses. I was watching someone who was giving of herself. She may not have the Greatest Voice in the World (As one Past Grand Knight was once heard saying that she is AWFUL & gave him a headache as she wasn't singing but SCREAMING), but I was somewhat delighted by it, in fact, moved by this action of hers.
I thanked her after every Mass that Sunday. She was very polite. It would be a number of months before anything major would take place.
But on May 31st, 1997, I made a request which would make Sherman History. Nessa was asked to sing the 1st Appalachia Fund Mass, which was scheduled for Sunday June 1st, 1997 @ 9:30AM @ the Council. Nessa accepted the assignment & clearances were obtained from Sacred Heart Parish & her parents.
She sang all 4 Appalachia Fund Masses+my 2nd Installation. Funny thing though, when I remember her parents as outwardly-pious but were only keeping up appearances, as it would turn out, as her parents were getting their feet washed as a sign of honor, @ The Mass of The Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday @ Sacred Heart in East Glendale, they were only living together as both were divorced from other spouses & were trying to keep this a secret from their children & other Sacred Heart Parishioners.
Of course her appearances @ the Council infuriated those 2 Moral Paragons, a certain Father-Son Past Grand Knight Duo, unto the point of spreading salacious stories about me in 2 Parishes. Perhaps the Son was looking for all of that attention for himself.
She cried when she sang her last Mass @ Sherman & so did I. I now realize that Undercatechised Catholics could fall victim to Well-Versed Fundamentalists, as she fell in love with one in Arizona & has denounced the Catholic Church & all her friends in it.
For this, I shed a few tears a few nights ago. But, with the move to Arizona in 2000 & her parents' lack of true faith, it was bound to take place.
She does, however, have a Special Place in Council History-One of Reunifying Sherman & Sacred Heart & without her consenting to singing the 1st Appalachia Fund Mass, the relationship of Parish & Council would've been merely an Institutional One @ best. I got to know real people & how they lived.
Thank You, Nessa-You're In My Prayers, Always. Peace!
Within the last 24 Hours, I received some sad news. No one I knew had died, but someone I knew had lost her faith & is condemning loads of people who know & love her so very much.
An associate of mine had relayed the news. He looks a lot like FOX Saturday Baseball's Lead Play-By-Play Announcer Joe Buck.
This story begins for me, on Sunday, 12/01/96, during Monsignor Sherman Council Knights of Columbus Operations @ Sacred Heart Church in East Glendale, Queens. I was Grand Knight @ that time. I would call this period “The Dawn Of A Great Reawakening”, as this was the time of healing a long rift between Sacred Heart Parish & Monsignor Sherman Council. It was a major undertaking & a major special project of mine.
Simply put, we were selling chance books. It was a damp, rainy Sunday & people in Sacred Heart were looking @ us like “Who Cares About You Stranger.” Yet I was having a good time with the whole thing. I witnessed something sweet & heartfelt happening there.
An 8th Grader from Sacred Heart School was Cantor of the 9:30AM, 11:00AM & 12:30PM Masses. I was watching someone who was giving of herself. She may not have the Greatest Voice in the World (As one Past Grand Knight was once heard saying that she is AWFUL & gave him a headache as she wasn't singing but SCREAMING), but I was somewhat delighted by it, in fact, moved by this action of hers.
I thanked her after every Mass that Sunday. She was very polite. It would be a number of months before anything major would take place.
But on May 31st, 1997, I made a request which would make Sherman History. Nessa was asked to sing the 1st Appalachia Fund Mass, which was scheduled for Sunday June 1st, 1997 @ 9:30AM @ the Council. Nessa accepted the assignment & clearances were obtained from Sacred Heart Parish & her parents.
She sang all 4 Appalachia Fund Masses+my 2nd Installation. Funny thing though, when I remember her parents as outwardly-pious but were only keeping up appearances, as it would turn out, as her parents were getting their feet washed as a sign of honor, @ The Mass of The Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday @ Sacred Heart in East Glendale, they were only living together as both were divorced from other spouses & were trying to keep this a secret from their children & other Sacred Heart Parishioners.
Of course her appearances @ the Council infuriated those 2 Moral Paragons, a certain Father-Son Past Grand Knight Duo, unto the point of spreading salacious stories about me in 2 Parishes. Perhaps the Son was looking for all of that attention for himself.
She cried when she sang her last Mass @ Sherman & so did I. I now realize that Undercatechised Catholics could fall victim to Well-Versed Fundamentalists, as she fell in love with one in Arizona & has denounced the Catholic Church & all her friends in it.
For this, I shed a few tears a few nights ago. But, with the move to Arizona in 2000 & her parents' lack of true faith, it was bound to take place.
She does, however, have a Special Place in Council History-One of Reunifying Sherman & Sacred Heart & without her consenting to singing the 1st Appalachia Fund Mass, the relationship of Parish & Council would've been merely an Institutional One @ best. I got to know real people & how they lived.
Thank You, Nessa-You're In My Prayers, Always. Peace!
posted by Michael Leggett at 11:34 PM
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