[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by Talk Host

My 90 year old cousin lives in St. Petersburg. She was raised in my hometown of Weirton, WV and attended Catholics Schools there. She is a former Marine and was married to a Marine Colonel. They lived all over the world prior to his retirement. She was widowed about 12 years ago.

During the Korean war, he was seriously wounded. My cousin went to her parish priest and asked that a mass be said for him. The priest declined because her husband was not Catholic. Since that time, she has been an on again, off again Catholic. (mostly off)

She became extremely ill about a month ago and was given only a few weeks to live. Last week ,when it seemed that the end was near, her son called the priest in the St. Petersburg parish where she lived and asked if he would visit her in the hospice and administer the "anointing of the sick" rites. He declined, saying that she was not an active member of his parish and would not do it.

What right does a person have to call himself a man of God who refuses to tend to the sick . If he was walking down the street and saw a person dying on the sidewalk, would he check to see if the person was a member of the parish before he would tend to his spiritual needs. What if a devout practicing Catholic from Chicago was in St. Petersburg and fell ill. Would this priest refuse to visit the sick individual?

In her two greatest times of need, the church turned it's back on her.

My cousin died last night. She was a dear soul with never an unkind word about anybody. Some of her last words to me were, "when you speak to the man upstairs, please mention my name."


JLK

JLK, I'm so sorry for your loss. My wife also had a negative experience many years ago with a priest when her mother died. Heaven knows that I'm not a religous man, but it's a shame that the actions of a relatively few have to reflect on an entire religion.

If you would please provide me with the names of both your deceased cousin and her pre-deceased husband either here or in a PM? I have a cousin in Alaska who's a priest and also a priest freind in Staten Island who is specially trained in Cannon Law. I would like to send both of them a copy of your posting, if that's alright with you, and ask both of them if they would include both your cousin and her husband in their prayers at a future mass.