Nov 12, 2020

Greetings,

Thank you to everybody who helped give Deacon Terry Peacock such a fitting send off.  It was telling how much of an impact he had on this community that, in spite of our current concerns and fears over illnesses, so many of you turned out.  Bishop Malesic was particularly moved at how many young people were in attendance, which pays tribute to how much Terry’s ministry was focused on and how he related to our younger parishioners.  In fact, we had almost 20 servers volunteer to serve Terry’s Funeral Mass with Bishop Gries OSB.  A humorous side note: Bishop Gries didn’t bring his crosier citing, “There typically are not enough servers to designate someone as a crosier bearer so I didn’t bring it.”  It was fun showing him the surplus of servers that were at his disposal.  Deacon Adair, who was the MC for the Mass also commented on how well our servers understand and perform their duties.  Deacon Terry would have been proud.

Over the course of the two days so many of you came to offer your prayers for Terry and your condolences for his family.  It was also touching to see the seminarians, newly ordained and former priests from St. Sebastian who came in recognition of his friendship and his mentorship.  If you were not able to come for any reason, you can see all of what took place on our YouTube page.  There are two videos.  The first is from Sunday and begins with Vespers (Evening Prayer) with bishop Malesic (Fr. Anthony, homilist) and continuing for the entire period of the calling hours and ending with a very simple recitation of Compline (Night Prayer.)  The second video from Monday is the Funeral Mass with Bishop Gries OSB (Fr. Valencheck, homilist.) 

As a side note, Bishop Amos was originally assigned for the funeral Mass, but Deacon Terry and Bishop Gries go way back and so he switched with Bishop Amos in order to be with his long time friend.

Fr. Karg (our former pastor) was able to make it.  It was his strong desire to be here even though it was difficult for him.  Please keep him in your prayers.

It took scores of people many, many hours to make this event all that it was.  Our maintenance team worked hard to try to keep the leaves at bay and our property looking presentable and took extra care to clean the church and sanitize it often.  The Knights of Columbus stood guard by Deacon Terry for the entire four hours he lay in state and served as pall bearers.  Sacristans worked around the clock, our staff made sure everything was coordinated, designed and printed, various musicians plied their talents, there were the live-feed operators, cooks for breakfasts and dinners for visiting priests and seminarians, all the ministers and their coordinators, and, of course, all of you who came, prayed and offered your respects.  Thank you for being such an awesome parish.  Many blessings to you.

The burial was a private event took place a couple of days later.  After several days of large crowds of people, this was their quiet, intimate time together to say goodbye.

Finally, I would like to thank those from the parish who ministered to Deacon Terry in his final days.  Fr. Simone visited him regularly and many of you stopped by or made food for him or did other kindnesses.  (Deacon Terry was nervous seeing people out of fear he would leave someone out and that they would feel poorly about it.)  Blessings to everyone who sent letters, particularly from the young persons for whom he cared so much.  He would point at a table in his room with joy and say, “Those are all from the parish!” and it was easy to spot how many of them involved construction paper!  And mostly thank you to those who kept him and his family in your prayers.

Also keep in mind those who are considering the permanent diaconate.  There are some mighty giant shoes to fill!  But you are needed.  Please consider this wonderful vocation.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck