Please Pray for our Pastor

Please won’t you take a moment to pray for our pastor, Rev. Carmine Sacco?

I just got an e-mail from the president of our pastoral council, which read in part:

We received a call from Father Fuchs yesterday late PM that Father Sacco is back in Saint Joe’s. The emergency room folks told him that Father needs his gall bladder removed. We were told that he would have surgery right away.

I recall Fr. Sacco being uncomfortable in his abdomen area shortly after his hip replacement. So, this has probably been festering for awhile.

He’s getting the medical attention he needs.

Fr. Sacco has not been well since Christmas. You may recall that he collapsed during the Christmas Midnight Mass, right after the consecration. What I don’t think I mentioned at the time was that I was one of the two lectors who caught him and broke his fall that night.

He spent about a week or so in hospital after that incident, and some time after he returned he slipped and fell outside the rectory, prompting another return to the emergency room.

The week after Easter Sunday he went into hospital for a hip replacement, and he was due to return to us in the next week or so.

And now this.

Fr. Sacco is an extraordinary priest, as I’ve mentioned before. He has faithfully served the Church and the Society of Jesus for more than sixty years. He has served as pastor of St. Rita’s for 32 years, having now in several cases baptized the children of those he baptized early in his time here.

He’s due to retire in the autumn, and I’m sure he would appreciate your prayers.

Update:

Father Sacco had surgery Thursday mid-afternoon and is recovering with no apparent complications. Deo gratias!

Please pray for his continuing recovery.

Update [2]:

Special thanks and a friendly wave to all those stopping by from Mark Shea’s blog, Catholic and Enjoying It!

Update [3]:

Father Sacco was readmitted into hospital Saturday with internal bleeding and high blood pressure. The doctors have stabilized him and his blood pressure is now under control. He apparently has a “high constitution” according to one of the doctors, and they are confident of his recovery.

Please continue to pray.