Reality check: A beloved parish priest tests positive

My younger daughter and I were talking over the weekend. “I don’t know anyone who has tested positive,” she said.

My response: “I don’t, either.”

(Now, do I know who Jackson Browne is? Yes. I had all his records. I saw him five times at five different venues. But do I KNOW him? No.)

That was Saturday. At 3 p.m. Tuesday, I returned from a semi-successful run to Publix. (We’re having trouble finding Spanish rice.) My wife greeted me by saying, “We now know someone who has tested positive.”

I froze. “Father Brian,” she said.

Father Brian Sheridan is our pastor. He presided at my older daughter’s wedding. He’s my wife’s boss. She works in the Religious Ed department at St. Thomas the Apostle…