REMEMBERING JIM KAVANAGH.............

The Call to Eternal Holiness came very early this morning in County Kilkenny, Ireland to James 'Jim' Kavanagh, younger brother of Reverend Monsignor Edward J. Kavanagh, who died after a brief illness.  Jim Kavanagh was a kind and people serving person, true to his name and his family, as a Kavanagh of Urlingford.  Husband to Aine, for the past fifty two years, he worked in the family bus and newspaper business, J.J. Kavanagh and Sons, and was ever faithful throughout his working life dating back to his youth, in keeping the buses on the road and the newspapers delivered to Urlingford for distribution.  On my very first visit to Ireland in 1981, as I was on a J.J. Kavanagh and Sons bus that required immediate attention,stalled in Freshford, which is half way between Kilkenny City and Urlingford; who arrived quickly on the scene but Jim Kavanagh.  I had not met him yet, but he knew who I was.  As he stepped on the bus and spotted me sitting there he said to the bus driver, " I see you have Father Eddie's Yank with you".  Then he turned toward me and said, "Welcome to Ireland.  You're out there in the parish with Father Eddie in Sacramento".  And that was the spirited verve Jim Kavanagh possessed, greeting and interacting with others.  Jim was like so many Irish people I have met and know - friendly, engaging others, as though they never met a stranger, welcoming, and kind.  These words describe the man of family, faith, work, and community, Jim Kavanagh was, and will be remembered as being.  My prayers and sympathies go across the miles to Urlingford for him, and Aine, and the entire Kavanagh Family.  Father Eddie is traveling home to preside and concelebrate Jim's Funeral Mass this Saturday morning in Assumption Church Urlingford, with the Parish Priest, my beloved St. Kieran's Seminary classmate, Reverend Father Oliver Maher.  Eternal Rest and Perpetual Peace to Jim's soul and all the Faithful Departed.  May they dwell in God's Kingdom Forever.  Alleluia ! Amen !!.............tdp