Meeting with "Bill"
The class met with Fr. Shannon Saturday 9/23 at 3 PM before the 4 PM Memorial Mass. 
Below is the text of Karen Moore Larimer's message to Msgr "Bill" Shannon on behalf of the class.

 
Message at the Reception for Father William (“Bill”) Shannon

Father Shannon, you are probably wondering why we called this meeting...

40 years ago we dedicated our yearbook to you. In our dedication we said,

“To Monsignor William Shannon in his twentieth year as chaplain..  Because he has chosen to become a priest there are miracles among us and between us and there is no one of us who can’t find Love. Children and many children will know their Father because he has chosen to teach women.”

That dedication, as beautiful and profound as it was, was  probably said, like so many lofty things we said at that age, without a clue as to the true depth of its meaning.  We wanted you to know, 40 years later, how richly it now resonates with us. We’d like you to know how much your examples of scholarship, generosity and courage have helped us as we’ve faced the then unimagined challenges in our world, church and personal lives.

We were with you  on the brink of Vatican II and you gave us some great gifts that would serve as a framework as we moved ahead...you allowed us

• to see our faith as something that could, in fact must, be questioned

• to understand Church as “Us”

You taught by example the values

• of life-long learning

• of courage to speak truth

• a dedication to a life's work

• of service to others

AND YOU WERE AND ARE A PRIEST WHO RESPECTS AND CHAMPIONS WOMEN. 

You even attempted to bring a little sophistication into our lives by:

• elevating our mixers to a Viennese Ball once a year

• and introducing us to the loveliness of a shared glass of wine at your soirees (judging from the party at Kate’s last night, we got that one.)

Very simply, we wanted you to know how much you have mattered to us. So, our class gift, for our 40th reunion, is being given in your honor. It might interest you to know that, through blatant marketing of your name, we achieved a giving record for our class, both in percentage of participation and in total dollars given. 68% of us gave $30,000 in your name to Nazareth.

When I was on staff at Nazareth, you once asked me to call you “Bill.” I must admit I was very touched, but that, along with calling Dr. Bush, “Mary,” did not come easily. You will always be “father” to us, in many ways.  But it put me in mind of a song entitled “Bill” from the musical “Showboat.” When I revisited it I found that it began with “Then along came Bill, an ordinary guy...” Well, of course, that wouldn’t do. There is nothing ordinary about Bill Shannon. As I listened to the end, though, I thought the last line might work very well...... Hit it , girls!

‘WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE’S, I DON’T KNOW, BECAUSE HE’S JUST

                                                OUR BILL l"

Thank you for everything, Father Bill Shannon.

Sigillum 1966 Dedication:

To Monsignor William H. Shannon in his twentieth year as chaplain.

Because he has chosen to become a priest there are miracles among us and between us and there is no one of us who cannot find Love.

Children and many children and children will know their Father because he has chosen to teach women.