Many people embrace their retirement years as a time to reflect and experience life as more free individuals. Some people travel, some take a nap every day. Still some golf and spend time with family and friends.
We all know people who keep working or explore new work as a second calling. But, what about priests? Are their experiences of retirement any different? Is it once a priest, always a priest?
When Fr. Bruce Hennington attended St. Lawrence Seminary — a high school seminary located in Mt. Calvary, Wis. — he got interested in history, especially in the Civil War.
Several articles in this week’s Catholic Herald made me think about the importance of history and why we should pay attention to it.
Many people today take life one day at a time. They don’t want to look back at the past or even think about the future. The here-and-now is all that counts.
The 18th century Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke said, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” By learning about previous mistakes, we can try to avoid them.
However, I’m not sure I totally agree with Edmund Burke. Not all history is bad. There are many good things that happened in the past that are worth remembering and celebrating.
