Fr. Thumbi Update
As most of you know, Fr. Thumbi has been struggling with terrible back pain for most of the last six months. After Mass in Deming on Dec. 09, he collapsed and was taken to the hospital. While in the hospital, a CT scan revealed signs of cancer in his lower back bone, which is commonly due to prostate cancer which has spread.
Between now and Christmas, Fr. Thumbi will be taking a reduced load of appointments, though he is going to try to continue celebrating Masses. After Christmas, he will be taking his already-planned trip home to Kenya. Upon his return, he will have a biopsy, after which we will know more about diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
I know there are a lot of questions about how to support him, and also about what this means for our parish family. The short answer is that we do not know and are still figuring it out. Some longer answers:
Communication – Whenever I go on vacation, I spend the 10 days after I return answering the question “How was your vacation?” about 100 times. I appreciate the care that people have for me, and their desire to connect over and interesting topic, it just becomes tiresome answering the same question over and over again. Now imagine being a priest with likely cancer, when all of our parishioners are really concerned about you – the only thing you ever talk about is your diagnosis, and you have to do so 30 times each time you celebrate Mass. I am not saying you should never ask Fr. Thumbi how he is doing, but I would encourage you not to do so in passing, and to reserve profound questions for moments when you have the space and time to be present for a longer, more sincere answer.
More to the point – it will be up to Fr. Thumbi how and when he wants to provide updates. I will work with him to make sure there are appropriate means and moments to do so.
Support – Obviously your prayers are the most important means to support Fr. Thumbi. You can pray for his healing or, should that not be God’s will, for his peace. Beyond that, as needs arise, we will try to find a way to communicate those needs to parishioners who would like to help out. If you have a specific help or service you would like to offer, please ask Fr. Thumbi if it would be helpful by e-mailing him at frthumbi@whatcomcatholic.org. (Specific meaning, for example, “Can I bring you a meal on Saturday?” rather than “Is there any way I can help?”)
Parish Family – Blessedly, Fr. Stephan is now set with a license, car, and insurance, so he is able to drive and be far more present to the county. So as Fr. Thumbi has to scale down, Fr. Stephan can scale up. Unfortunately, that means we are still more surviving than thriving, since we do not yet have the three full-time priests we had planned on. If Fr. Thumbi is able to continue saying Masses, we are functionally in the same status quo as we have been since August, but with him and Fr. Stephan switched. If at some point he can no longer say Masses, I will need to cancel 25% of our daily Masses and work with the Archdiocese to find extra help for our Sunday Masses. We are keeping the Archdiocese apprised of developments, so that they can jump in with help if needed. Please continue to pray for your priests.
Fr. Moore 