Friends,

Friends,
As I leave Charlestown after a few short weeks, I’d like to leave you with some thoughts to ponder which are not my own but I found them profound.

“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out God hates the same people you do” Anne Lamott

“The outdoors isn’t a place given to boys and girls by their parents; nature is a place you’re borrowing from your kids” Chris Bohjalian

“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide” John Adams

“As it is with trees, our roots shape our horizons” Kenneth Woodward

“My point once again is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them
symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.” John Dominic Crossen

“The question is not whether the Church can convert the world, but whether God can convert the Church” Paul Stagg (American Baptist Church)

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced“ James Baldwin

“What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger?” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If you ask a naïve child “Do you believe in Santa Claus? He or she will say yes. If you ask a bright child the same question, he or she will say no. However, if you ask yet an even brighter child that question, he or she will reply yes …., though now for a different reason.”
“Those who are cowards will ask, ‘Is it safe?’ Those who are political will ask, ‘Is it expedient?’ Those who are vain will ask, ‘Is it popular?’ But those who have a conscience will ask, ‘Is it right?” Paul Washington

And finally, “Dear Ann Landers: I am a 16 year old girl who is a nervous wreck from gettng yelled at. All I hear from morning ‘till night is “stop smoking, get off the phone, hang up your clothes, do your homework, clean up your room. How can I get them off my case? signed Sick of Parents
Dear Sick: “Stop smoking, get off the phone, hang up your clothes, do your homework and clean up your room”

Thank you, Charlestown for your hospitality and affirmation. I speak about you in superlatives. I have only the best of memories from my time among you (1990 – 1996). I’ve been in my glory these past 4 weeks renewing acquaintances and reliving the best of times.

Thank you for everything. I am a better person and priest because I know you.

You are loved!
Fr. Coyne