Farewell to Father Francis

For the last six weeks or so, our parish of Holy Rosary has been under the pastoral care of Father Francis Xavier Kikomeko. Father is from Uganda, and he spends his summers vacationing in the Seattle Archdiocese, filling in and helping out where he can.

We are so grateful to Father! He is solid, orthodox, and joyful. Pretty much everything you’d want in a priest.

This past Sunday was his last weekend Mass at our parish, so after the Noon Mass we threw him a bit of a farewell party. There was cake and coffee and photos galore.

After the terrible weeks of Father Wagner’s illness and death, and all of the uncertainty in the days following, Father Francis very much picked us up, dusted us off, and consoled us. I can’t thank him enough.

He was also very encouraging to our altar servers, particularly a number who are considering vocations to the priesthood. His joy in his priesthood radiates, and the boys were certainly affected.