Transitions in life

This evening I had a very difficult telephone conversation with a friend. He shared that today, 26 March 2022, he was now in hospice care. There is a problem with his aorta and he feels at his age there will not be an extensive lengthening of his life or quality of his life. Carl Uhler and I have been friends and colleagues since 1975 when I was called to Advent Lutheran Church in Cleveland, OH. He was the priest/pastor at St. Henry Roman Catholic Church. Both were in the Lee-Harvard area of the city. We were installed in our respective congregations within a week of each other. We were both in the Lee-Harvard-Miles ministerium and the Harvard Community Service Board. We became good friends. When we both had the same day off, we would go to his family cottage on Lake Cardinal in Rome, OH.  He had gone there since he was a teen-ager with his family. Carl is 91years old so that site had been in his life a long time. My visits continued to Lake Cardinal when I moved to Gettysburg. I would spend a few days each summer. In fact, very often I worked on articles or my Payne book while there. In the summer and fall Carl would come to Gettysburg. We traveled the Gettysburg and other nearby Civil War sites, museums in DC, etc. During my first sabbatical when I was doing research at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, Carl came over to visit for a week and we walked the Paris streets and visited a number of museums and tourist sites. During our conversation this evening we talked about all of our adventures. They are good memories.

I must also say that although we were good friends, we had our differences. We had very heated theological discussions or should I say arguments. These "discussion" ranged from social issues to pastoral authority. Even though we each held strong theological positions, they were not friendship dividing. Carl was helpful to me in developing contemplative/spiritual life. He took time to read and reflect. The Breviary was his companion.

In our conversation this evening, Carl reminded me that we don't know how long the hospice process will be. We'll continue to talk. I write this blog to help me adjust to Carl's news.