A final word on Msgr. Raby

Readers will indulge me, I trust, if I write again about Msgr. Thomas Joseph Raby, whose funeral was held last week in Kingston. It does not seem excessive to spend another week on his memory.

At the funeral Mass, Fr. Stan Alanen, Msgr. Raby’s closest spiritual son, preached a warm and affectionate homily. He recalled how Msgr. Raby would often have a pen and notepad at hand and, if struck by a particular incident or remark, would record the anecdote.

“You knew then that you were likely to be included in his next column,” Fr. Alanen recalled. That likely made some people anxious, but it shouldn’t have, for Msgr. Raby was quick with a word of praise or comfort. He rarely banged out a harsh word on his typewriter.