20TH MONTH IN MMT STARTS WITH AN INDEPENDENT LIVING ASSESSMENT WITH RETIREMENT COMMUNITY APARTMENTS BUSINESSWOMAN..........................

As the twentieth month of my involuntary exile as a fish out of water in the geriatric surroundings of Mercy McMahon Terrace rolls out, when at age 56, I am far from geriatric;  today I am required to tread territory visited five months ago, that I thought closed as a viable alternative.  I must meet this morning with a businesswoman whose work is to find and place seniors in retirement community apartments.  Remaining in active ministry with no intention of retiring anytime in the foreseeable future, why an Independent Living Assessment with someone who does not hold pertinence in defining my status,- as my doctors and medical team do - is another enigma on this mysterious ministerial twilight zone.  An experience I have found myself thrust into for 582 days, and counting, with no assurance of concluding at anytime.   In the meanwhile my capability to productively, publicly, actively, minister as a priest, continues to unfold.  The R.C.I.A., Adult Faith Formation, Dads Discussion Group, Baptismal and Marriage Preparation and Celebrations, the Masses I concelebrate, and the four Homilies I have preached in the past nineteen months, which parishioners and others present are still remarking about as memorable and meaningful to them; witness to the reality that I am more than ready to be returned to full time parish ministry in a canonical appointment of placement and assignment. The verification of that  which is being increasingly attested to by a myriad of people who value, appreciate, and affirm, the effectiveness and necessity that time to resume a normal existence outside the confines of being warehoused in a senior citizens assisted care residence twenty to forty years too soon, has more than arrived.............Fr.  Troy David