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Biden unexpectedly meets priest who administered Beau's last rites
Joe Biden is the real deal
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/14/biden-beau-priest-last-rites/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
When President Biden arrived at the historic Knock Shrine on Friday, he entered the basilica for a moment of private prayer. For a lifelong Catholic who goes to church every weekend and keeps a rosary on his wrist that once belonged to his late son, Beau, it marked a quiet moment of devotion.
He didn’t realize how personal and meaningful the stop would soon become.
“The president came as a pilgrim, and as most pilgrims do, they want to talk about their family and themselves and their faith,” said Father Richard Gibbons, the parish priest and rector who accompanied Biden.
Biden quickly brought up Beau, his eldest son who died in 2015 of brain cancer. Gibbons then shared a surprising connection he had just learned of that morning: Friar Frank O’Grady, the priest who read Beau Biden’s last rites at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center nearly eight years ago, was now working at Knock.
Biden, startled, asked for a meeting. “When he met Father O’Grady, he gave Father O’Grady a big hug,” Gibbons said. “He was quite emotional at that point.”
Tears in his eyes, Biden thanked the priest for being at his son’s bedside as he passed away. O’Grady, who served in the military for 30 years and had worked at Walter Reed, returned to Ireland in August and began his service at Knock Shrine in September.
He didn’t realize how personal and meaningful the stop would soon become.
“The president came as a pilgrim, and as most pilgrims do, they want to talk about their family and themselves and their faith,” said Father Richard Gibbons, the parish priest and rector who accompanied Biden.
Biden quickly brought up Beau, his eldest son who died in 2015 of brain cancer. Gibbons then shared a surprising connection he had just learned of that morning: Friar Frank O’Grady, the priest who read Beau Biden’s last rites at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center nearly eight years ago, was now working at Knock.
Biden, startled, asked for a meeting. “When he met Father O’Grady, he gave Father O’Grady a big hug,” Gibbons said. “He was quite emotional at that point.”
Tears in his eyes, Biden thanked the priest for being at his son’s bedside as he passed away. O’Grady, who served in the military for 30 years and had worked at Walter Reed, returned to Ireland in August and began his service at Knock Shrine in September.
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