Thursday, August 16, 2007

Fr. Lee Selzer ... Rest in Peace

Fr. Lee Selzer's first assignment as a priest was at St. Joseph's in Columbia, SC. He was there 2-3 years and was the 4th chaplain for the Men's Prayer Group. We met at 6:30 am every Tuesday morning and prayed the Liturgy of the Hours. We studied The Cloud of Unknowing with him in those early hours. As I recall, it was a scary book at times because it had warning early on that you must be serious about going down this path to contemplative prayer, and each chapter forced you to open yourself more to God.

Fr. Selzer wanted us to step up our prayer life. He was very intense and preached as if he was trying to will a fire of love into our souls from the pulpit.

I didn't know him that well personally. He came to dinner at the house once. He also went to the Citadel-a few class years behind me. He was reassigned to the Catholic parish in Newberry, SC shortly after we moved to Bethune. I had several times wanted to write to him and let him know that he had inspired me to greater effort in my spiritual life. Well he knows now.

At this point, I have no details on his death-I just heard the announcement and confirmed it before posting this. Fr. Selzer died on the 14th of August. I know he had had health problems in the past-yet he was still a young man, fully of energy.

There is a tradition (note the small 't') in the Church (see a reference to this here) that Christ's Mother emptied purgatory when she was assumed into Heaven, and that those who die on this feast (and on the eve) are swept to Heaven by our Blessed Mother. Let us pray for this grace for this holy priest.


Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal Rest Grant to them O Lord. May the souls of the faithful departed through mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A beautiful tribute. I knew Fr. Selzer back when he was a cadet -- he was in the same fraternity at the Citadel (Alpha Phi Omega) that I was in at the College of Charleston.

Years later, when I went to work for the Church, I saw his name as a seminarian. I asked my boss if it was the same one (since he had been Chaplain there around the same time). I was proud to find out it was.

I also knew Fr. Scott Buchanan -- another good priest taken far too soon! He and I were in Catholic Campus Club at C of C ....

I had not heard of that tradition before, but I like it!

Fr. Lee Selzer, pray for us.