Niềm đau chung của Cộng Đồng VN New Orleans : Đức TGM Phillip Hannan qua đời

New Orleans -- Close friends of Archbishop Philip Hannan said Thursday that Hannan left an indelible mark on their lives.

Hannan died at 98 during the wee hours of the morning.

People who knew Hannan well said he always put others before himself. And it turns out, that unselfishness was evident even in Hannan’s final hours.

"This picture, the archbishop had just gotten here right after Betsy,” Jimmy Fitzmorris as he pointed to a black and white photo of him and Hannan taken in 1965, not long after Hannan was sent to the city to lead the local Catholic Church.

It was a picture that captured the birth of a lasting friendship.|

"I had the great privilege of sharing a long and wonderful friendship with him. I not only admired him as an archbishop and man of God, but I admired him as a dear friend, one who gave himself rather than ask for anything,” said Fitzmorris.

Fitzmorris, who later became Louisiana’s lieutenant governor, said Hannan impacted him right away. "First time I met him, and that was one of the really fond moments because I felt within my heart that I had met a truly great man,” Fitzmorris, further stated.

"A blessing is what I called him. He was a beautiful man,” said Jerry Romig.

Romig helped Hannan realize his dream of seeing a television station owned by the archdiocese.

"One day he said I want to have a TV station for the archdiocese and I said, yeah, okay let's do it,” Romig said.

Hannan accomplished that and more with unmatched finesse, friends said. He touched the lives of generations along the way.

“It's a personal loss but on the other hand, Archbishop Hannan is with his Lord, with his savior, and what a homecoming that's going to be -- let the party begin,” said Kent Bossier, who was Hannan’s aide and caretaker.

Bossier was with Hannan during his final hours.

“He always liked the song 'Danny Boy,' I was able to sing a song for him, sing some of the other Christian hymns that he liked and one of his favorite songs was 'Just A Closer Walk With Thee.' I was able to sing that song for him, and I kind of leaned in and I put my head to his chest and he was weak, and he took his hand and he comforted me. So here I was, he was comforting me when I should have been comforting him,” Bossier told FOX 8 News.

Bossier became Hannan’s caretaker on Easter Sunday in 2007. The two of them are pictured together in Hannan’s autobiography.

"He was going to go with his boots on and he stayed very active all the way up until the end,” Bossier stated.

"He was a man of all occasions, it didn't make any difference how important you were or how little you were,” said Fitzmorris.

Friends recounted how Hannan relished being able to bring Pope John Paul II to New Orleans, so that thousands could behold the pontiff.

“Just having his holiness visit New Orleans was such an opportunity and Philip Hannan who made it possible,” said Romig.

"I know he felt that that was a great, great thing. You know, here he was, not in Rome, but in New Orleans, Louisiana and having the pope as his guest,” said Fitzmorris.

And in the days leading up to John Paul's arrival in the Crescent City, Archbishop Hannan even took time to hold a class of sorts for local journalists who would be covering the pope, just to make sure they were up on papal protocol.

“That was typical of the archbishop. He did all of those little small things, so the big things would come off perfect,” Fitzmorris said.

Romig said Hannan always embraced the media. And even during his myriad illnesses he pushed on to inspire others.

“He had a lot of the battles that many people his age fight. He fought them with dignity, he never complained. I never heard the man utter a word of sympathy for himself,” said Bossier.

And now that Hannan is gone, those who knew him up close cherish his legacy.

“We're going to miss him terribly,” said Fitzmorris.

"Oh my gosh, we miss you,” Romig said, nearly choking up.

And Bossier said his final moments with Hannan will never leave his thoughts.

"He patted me on the back and I said 'I love you,' and he said 'I love you, too,' so I was fortunate to be able to spend that time with him."

And friends said that in the future they need only listen to their hearts to feel Hannan’s eternal presence.

[url]http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/Close-friends-of-Hannan-say-he-embodied-love/QuL41HlxW0yTPPSL5Twklg.cspx[/url]

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