What follows are excerpts from Fr. John Fontana’s homily for Fr. Doyle’s funeral on Friday October 11:

“In this season of autumn, I’m reminded, once again, of the difference between those brown, crumpled, dry leaves that will hang on through the winter, and the ones who let go and fall while beautifully and brightly colored. Fr. Michael Doyle continued to show his autumn colors, by living as fully as his weakening body was able. But he made it very clear to us that he did not want to just hang on, with the help of surgery or chemotherapy. Rather, after 86 full years of life, most of them teaching and preaching about faith and with faith in the resurrection of Jesus and its promise of our own, he was very ready to let go. And so on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, shortly after I was privileged to pray with him and his young family, he did let go . . .  with deep trust that he would fall into the welcoming arms and heart of our loving and compassionate God for eternity. Or, in the language of Celtic spirituality, to which he was quietly attracted, he has crossed the threshold, the thin moment, the transparent curtain between heaven and earth. For us who are on this side of the thin veil, both our grief and our gratitude comes from our experiences with Fr Mike during the many seasons of his life leading to that threshold.

“I have been imagining the older Mike, with whom I have lived in community three times, echoing St. Paul’s words to the young Timothy during these last months of his life: “I fought the good fight; I finished the race; I kept the faith and am ready to receive my reward.” I don’t know what Mike was like when he was young, but we Servites know Mike fought a good fight, even when we didn’t know that we were competing. He certainly loved to take the “other” point of view. Some of you weren’t used to the Colonel’s style of leadership or his being sometimes a bit “crusty” on the outside; once you got to know him, his soft heart helped him to connect with others, his Irish charm helped to get many things done, and his steadiness, instruction and advice were articulated with a confidence and assurance that developed with age and wisdom. When he fought the good a good fight, he did so as one of the most fair, honest, and just and straightforward persons I’ve known. His bold and true colors were loud and evident, even as the sharpness of some of them evolved into a more mellow gentleness, care, and so much gratitude toward others who helped him.

“Secondly, he ran and finished the race, a really long one which  started in Chicago in 1938 and took him through seasons of his life in Granville and Ladysmith, WI, Benburb, Ireland, Rome, parishes on Chicago’s East Side, West Side, and Hillside, Affton, MO and Air Force deployments in Columbus, MS, Alburquerque, Soesterberg, Netherland, and Aurora, Co, and finally her at Assumption for the last 18 years. He loved being a Servant of Mary and loved being a priest. And as he approached the finish line in the autumn of his life, he led our community, and looked forward to every celebration of Eucharist, especially Monday’s Mass, which included the St. Peregrine prayer for healing.

“While fighting the good fight and running the race, he kept the faith and looked forward to his eternal reward. All of Mike’s many diplomas, citations, medals, promotions, honors, and accomplishments now take their rightful place behind his ultimate reward, which cannot fit in a frame nor be hung on a wall. I sincerely hope that his reward will truly match the prophetic image we have of heaven as an eternal banquet, without tears, a feast of juicy, rich food and pure choice wines. There are other images of heaven, but faith promises that Mike no longer needs images, as he experiences the real thing, and joins his parents, brother Patrick, his Servite brothers and so many more, in a an eternity of life and love which you and I only get hints and glimpses of on this side of the thin veil.

“Michael Doyle’s profession of vows as a Servite and his ordination to priesthood was a response to his call to live for others. Might we consider that his death is also for others, for us. Although death may be the end of success, productivity, or importance among people, its most hope-giving aspect is that it is not the end of our love and fruitfulness, which shows itself in its fullness only after we have died. Let’s trust that his life will yield fruit far beyond the limits of his earthly existence, as he now claims his eternal reward.”

            Fr. Joe