Rest in God, Father Catfish

He died last night at the age of 42, after surviving stomach cancer that came back in his bones and other places. There's no doubt that his funeral on Friday will be standing room only. He was a man who had many gifts, one of his main ones being that of connecting with youth through his sense of humour, and his love of super heroes, Star Wars, legos, and Pepsi. He was chaplain for Edmonton Catholic Schools and Camp Encounter, and he had his own website with blog postings and hundreds of youtube videos. I chuckle as I read the titles of some of them: "Premarital Sex with Father Catfish" parts 1, 2, 3 and 4(!), "Love! And that's an ORDER!!!" "Dodge Ram! Arrghh Arrghh Arrghh!!" and "Church can be a lot like Facebook," to list just a few. He spent time listening to young people, inviting them to chat about life while sharing a jar of DinoSours at school. He and his dog sang at our daughter's graduation mass in May. He made many poignant health update and other videos as he dealt with his cancer, many of them underlining his belief that God is love.

Rest in that love, Father Michael Mireau.