Facing death, priest turns his farewell into teachable moment
May 6, 2021 catholic news service
Father Michael Kottar, a priest from the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., gives a 2015 World Meeting of Families homily for pilgrims in Philadelphia from his diocese. Kottar was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in 2021, an extremely rare and aggressive brain disease for which there is no effective treatment or cure. (Credit: Patricia L. Guilfoyle/Catholic News Herald via CNS.)
As dusk fell April 29, nurses pushed Father Michael Kottar in his wheelchair just outside a North Carolina rehabilitation center where 27 young men studying to become priests stood preparing to say goodbye.