By coincidence (?) I was in the midst of reading about a saint named Fr. Tom (one of today's saints) when I received a message about another Fr. Tom. The first Fr. Tom, the saint, is Fr. Thomas Garnet who was put to death under Queen Elizabeth I. The second Fr. Tom (a different kind of saint) is our own Fr. Thomas McGrath who is thankfully still with us and, we hope, will meet a gentler end. Also, by coincidence (?) both Fr. Tom's are members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.
Before I share what I want to say about Fr. Tom McGrath, who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest, let us learn a bit about Fr. Thomas Garnet. Copied at the end of this post is the full entry about his life as found in Butler's Lives of the Saints. But immediately below is the part about his execution:
