Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

Well, dear friends, I have the unfortunate duty of informing you all that the Our Lady of Sorrows Province has lost a dear patriarch. Yesterday afternoon, Fr. Paul J. Pavese, OSJ, fell asleep in the Lord at Little Flower Manor in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where he had been living for the past three years. Fr. Pavese, 91 years old, had served the Oblates of St. Joseph as a religious for 73 years and a priest for 66 years.

When I was a young boy, Fr. Pavese was my pastor for a few years at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Pittston. I distinctly remember the first Mass I ever served as a new altar boy. Fr. Pavese celebrated. Even though it was my first Mass, the other altar boy never showed up, so I had to serve alone. At the end of the Mass, Fr. Pavese presented the newest parish altar boy to the congregation. I never forgot that, and neither did he. Years later, when I entered the seminary, he still remembered that, even though he could never remember my name (or anyone else's for that matter).

Fr. Pavese was a good man, a prayerful priest, and a dedicated Oblate. He will be dearly missed. Fortunately, God is merciful, and will surely be merciful to him. Now is a good time to remember my favorite Scripture passage, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). For a man like Fr. Pavese, to live certainly was Christ, and I am firm in my belief that his death was indeed a gain.

Here is Fr. Pavese's official obituary.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.


This ought to serve as a fitting meditation on death and dying, for those interested.