Moe's 50th

Father Maurice (Moe) Mahoney, OSA came around today to concelebrate the noon Mass in English with me.  Afterwards he joined Albert and me at Rosario's for lunch.

Father Maurice (Moe) Mahoney, OSA

Moe is in the US right now on vacation.  He works in Nagasaki, Japan.  He attended the Chapter in Villanova last week.  Then last Sunday we had a Mass and party here in Lawrence to celebrate his 50th anniversary of ordination.  Moe studied theology in Rome in the late 1950s and then was assigned to Japan where he has served for all 50 years of his priesthood.  It was something Moe said on a visit to our seminary in DC in the 70s that started me thinking about volunteering for the Japanese missions and when I moved there in 1977 he took me under his wings and showed me around very often.  Moe is a delight to be with.  Very clever with words, both in Japanese and in English.  He also speaks Italian and holds his own in Spanish too.

Lately his back has been giving him trouble but he is looking forward to returning to his work in Nagasaki soon.  Moe loves ministering to the sick and to the Seinen-kai (young adults club) at the parish.

It was my pleasure to host 8 guys, most currently working in Japan and one who served there when I was there and now works in South Africa - Jack McAtee - over the weekend.  Also Tom Dwyer who has recently returned home from Japan to retire.  The common room was crowded especially at meal times and late at night with friends catching up on news with each other and reminiscing about old times.  Lots of laughter.  I drove 6 of them to Logan Airport at 6 AM Monday morning to fly back to Japan.  With Moe back in the US for vacation, Mike Hilden is the only American OSA from our province currently working in Japan.  There were 10 of us there in my early years in Japan.