Last Sunday our local parish priest, Father Mike Mac Mahon, celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination into the priesthood with an evening Mass followed by a dinner and a reception. The church was packed for the Mass. In addition to the celebrant and the parishioners, there were 2 bishops, 2 abbots, and 20 other priests in attendance. A young girl standing in the dinner line ahead of us told me that she counted them. I took this picture of Nancy with Father Mike during the reception.

Father Mike was born and raised in Ireland, and several members of his immediate family flew to Alabama to join in the celebration. He says he felt a calling to come to America when he entered the seminary in 1960. After he read Ezekiel 20:29, he knew what he had to do. "Then I said unto them, what is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day."