One of the great mysteries of the Heron roots is that my family knows so little about my father's side of the family.
Both of my dad's parents died when he was a young boy. He and his brothers were split up and lived with relatives.
Maybe that is part of the reason dad rarely ever talked about his youth. And it's probably why we really don't know that much about the many distant cousins from the Heron family tree that are scattered across Philadelphia region and suburbs.
We knew vaguely of our connection to the Burkes, Doughertys and McCauleys.
Every once in awhile I would stumble across a connection - and in the process discover a distant relative.
That's how I came to reconnect with the Rev. Tom Heron. He was a cousin, and was invaluable in shedding light on dad's side of the family. When we first met he was at Good Shepherd parish in the Kingsessing section of Philly. Then he was moved out here to Delaware County at St. Gabriel's in Norwood. Now he's at St. Matthew's in Conshohocken.
'Father Tom' held a reunion for the Herons at St. Gabe's where I met a lot of local people I had no idea I was related to.
But I came across another 'heavenly' connection closer to home, or at least what is my second home.
A couple of years ago, during Lent, I started making daily walks to St. Eugene Church, which is basically right up the street from our office. It proved a quiet respite in what is usually the hectic, breakneck pace that goes with the job these days.
Sadly, I have lapsed a bit in my daily visits. Can't even find the time for those now either.
The former pastor, the Rev. Joseph Meehan, noticed my daily visits and we would talk occasionally.
But it was another older priest who was in senior residence at the parish who provided an odd family connection.
As I was walking out of the church one day, I noticed him walking toward the rectory. He noticed me and smiled. We started talking. He said he knew who I was. Then he stunned me by asking me if I knew we were related.
That is how I was introduced to the Rev. Monsignor Michael Burke.
I had always known there were Burkes in our family tree, and I knew several of them were priests, but I had no idea one was living right up the street.
The monsignor was a fan of my columns, and we would swap emails, talking about life and family.
Monsignor Burke died last week.
I learned from his obituary that in addition to his time at St. Eugene, he was the former pastor at SS. Philip and James Parish in Exton.
I will return to St. Eugene's Tuesday morning to pay my final respects to my cousin.
Thanks for the friendship, father.
Rest well, Monsignor Mike.
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