Supplements

archive ISSUE

I will go unto the altar of god:
a reflection on the untimely death of the Rev. h. thomas stout

    On Friday morning, Sept. 18, as we prepared to celebrate the Liturgy of Christian Burial on Saturday for our most senior priest, 93-year-old Msgr. Maurice F. Driscoll, monsignor’s family, his friends and the priest and people of the diocese, and I were feeling a sense of deep gratitude and quiet joy, rather than the great grief and profound sadness that many feel in the face of sudden, untimely death. Instead, we were commending him to God and giving thanks for his long, full, happy, and complete life which embraced an extraordinary 67 years of service in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

The serenity of these quiet prayers of thanks to God was shattered by the startling and almost unbelievable sudden death of Father (Harry) Thomas Stout, the recently installed pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Du Quoin, on that same Friday morning. Father Stout had just celebrated his 58th birthday on Aug. 9. The parish secretary, Mrs. Linda Sherman, who found him, thought Father Stout was preparing to leave the rectory to celebrate the eight o’clock Mass.

His shocking death has caused great grief and profound sadness in the hearts of his family, his friends, his parishioners, and his brother priests. I, too, experience a great personal sorrow in the face of the untimely death of a priest who was always joyful and zealous in the exercise of his ministry. Father Tom had personally asked me to assign him to Sacred Heart Parish because he was confident that he could build on the good work accomplished there by his predecessors. He also wanted to be closer to his family I had occasion to speak to him on Monday.

Knowing of his past health concerns, I asked him how he was feeling. He said he was feeling quite well and that he was eagerly entering into the life of the parish where he had been welcomed very warmly. He thanked me for appointing him to a parish that brought him closer to his sisters and brothers. He mentioned that he was going to the Cardinals’ game on Wednesday, and he said he was looking forward to the Convocation for Priests beginning on Monday. Everything indicated that his life and ministry were on a positive path for many years to come. Yet, for reasons beyond our comprehension, that was not to be. The light of Father Stout’s life dimmed as he was about to head for the altar for Mass. The entire life of every priest is headed for the Altar of the Heavenly Eucharist. “I will go unto the Altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.” These sad events remind each of us of the absolute truth of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “You know neither the hour nor the day.”(Mt. 24:36) We must strive to live each day truly loving God and every other human being as if it was our last day of life. One day it surely will be!”

Let us pray often for Msgr. Driscoll and Father Stout. May the angels lead them into Paradise and give them complete joy in the company of Jesus Christ, the High Priest.