A life of prayer right ’til the end

For 30 years Carmel Joyce ensured Msgr. Tom Raby had a comfortable place to go home to, first as his housekeeper and then as his prayer companion.

In 1983 Joyce became Msgr. Raby’s housekeeper at Kingston, Ont.’s Church of the Good Thief and followed the late priest around the archdiocese for 24 years until he retired to St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Msgr. Raby passed away Sept. 6 in a Kingston hospital following years of declining health. His funeral is being held today at St. Joseph's Church in Kingston.

“I’ll miss him terribly,” said Joyce. “I’m sure he is gone straight to heaven because there was a Mass said for him a few hours after he died.”

Msgr. Raby spent two years at St. Mary’s Cathedral before he and Joyce were reunited in prayer at Providence Manor.

“When I first came here we prayed with others,” said Joyce. “That bad, bad seizure caused him to have very heavy speech problems and for that reason it was hard for anyone to kind of pray with him ... because he had his own way of saying words.”

Knowing how important a strong prayer life was to Msgr. Raby, Joyce wasn’t willing to let a few slurred words stop the two from praying together. So twice a day they would meet, in the afternoon for an hour and in the evening for about 30 minutes, and Joyce would lead them in prayer.

“When he became not so well, not remembering details so well, you could say ‘would you like to say some prayers’ and he’d say ‘oh yes that would be kind.’ I miss that already.”

Joyce said she intends to keep the afternoon prayer tradition alive at Providence Manor by starting a Divine Mercy prayer group. And while she is saddened by the passing of Msgr. Raby, she is at ease knowing her friend is resting in peace.

“I bet he is happy now.”