Farewell To Father Madanat Commemorative Book

COVID at Our Lady of Fatima in Portland, Oregon

Looking back to four years ago. GOD BLESS IT ALL. The Covid restrictions resulted in an appreciation of something that many of us took for granted - the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God bless our aged priests, Fr. Post & Fr. Nicholas, in addition to Fr. Hufford & Fr. Portugal who would offer up to nine Masses per Sunday between OLF in Portland and the Fr. Heidt chapel in Silverton. While they were chilled and relaxed in the hills of Silverton, Portland was not the same scenario. Groups of 25 souls who were lucky enough to navigate the “SignUp” lottery, got to come to Mass. Wanting to keep at least one of those Masses a Sung Mass, which do the math =< 25 minus priest/schola/choir/servers, that only allowed a handful of “non working” faithful to attend. Yet those Masses, as do all Masses, drew down tremendous graces for our Fatima flock. We had nosey neighbors grilling people in our parking lots on how many people were gathering inside and whether we wearing masks. One brazen neighbor even came inside during Mass and took pictures, which only would have proved that we were following guidelines on numbers and distancing, as noted by the tacky yet not so tacky blue tape to block off every other pew. Yet still we lived in doubt; would they be able to shut us down? Remember those days when we couldn’t even mingle outside in the fresh air for fear of the neighbors opinions? That was just about the push we needed to flee Multnomah Village. Then along came Fr. Madanat, “our baby priest”. Boy, was he green behind the ears. His zeal coupled with his naivete about what it would take to pull off the move said, “Let’s go for it; we can’t stay here”; and so we did. Up went the “For Sale” sign in Portland as the “Sold” sign went up in Vancouver. Time to start packing… Well GOD did BLESS IT ALL and God bless each of you, too many to name, who make Fatima what is is today. This album has become not only a farewell gift for Fr. Madanat, but a gift for all of you as well. With much love & blessed to serve as our chapel’s coordinator ~ Aggie

Just the sight of this Mass SignUp picture puts me into PTSD