I have so many wonderful memories of Fr. Mat! We got to know each other more personally when he and I joined a backpacking group composed of several Oakland priests and several lay men. We planned backpacking trips every summer for years. In fact, this last summer with COVID was the first summer in at least 6 years that we didn’t have a summer trip together. Our destinations included the California Sierras, the Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe, Hawaii and Yellowstone. We’d start planning in January and by summer we were all ready and raring to go! There are two stories from these trips that I particularly want to share with you. On one of the Sierra backpacking trips we had all stopped for a lunch break in an area where a small lake was nearby. Most of us were enjoying our lunch when, very excitedly, Fr. Mat came running to us yelling that he had caught a fish! With his hiking pole he speared a fish in the shallow water. We got up from lunch and move toward him to him to see it, fascinated. As we got closer, we saw that it was not a fish at all! It was a piece of bark that looked remarkably like a fish. He had completely sold us on the joke. He laughed and laughed, and we laughed with him. Here’s the photo!!

Another story happened during our backpacking trip at the Grand Canyon. We started our hike on the southern rim and took in the sights as we went down, down, down to the Colorado river. The views were amazing on the way down. We had a great dinner and then set up camp for the night not far from the river. Well after dark when most of us were fast asleep a family group came into the camping area. Ernie Lopez, one of our group, was still up. He inquired with the family about where their camp site was only to find that they didn’t have one (!). They pitched their tent in our small camp area that night and we got acquainted with them in the morning. They had little food we learned and so we shared our food with them and then we all headed out for another camp about halfway up the canyon. We ended up getting into camp before the family and happily shared our site and food with them again. Then Fr. Mat began to entertain the children with some magic tricks. This was clearly the highlight of the trip for the children, who were not used to hiking and were having a tough time with this impromptu outing. The look on their faces as Fr. Mat made a napkin look like a mouse and then ‘come alive’ was something to behold. This was just another side of Fr. Mat that I cherish remembering – his desire to bring joy and happiness into other’s lives no matter what the circumstances. I miss that about him.

God bless you, Fr. Mat and thank you for leaving us with such wonderful memories of you.

Fr. Lawrence D'Anjou