COLORADO SPRINGS — St. Paul Catholic Church and School did a drive-by goodbye for Father John Fitzpatrick Sunday.
Fitzpatrick was set to leave at the end of the school year to start a new chapter of his life as a Chaplin for the U.S. Navy, but when the coronavirus outbreak happened, he got his orders pushed up and he is now leaving the parish this week.
A proper send off was not possible, but the church and school came together in a different way.
"Parade of sadness is what I called it earlier, because usually we say good-bye to people over the course of some time, but today, it's just one after another, which I am grateful to have closure with everybody, but this is certainly kinda sad," Fitzpatrick said.
Father Fitzpatrick goes to basic training and then is off to Japan to be a Navy Chaplin for the Marines.
