Given by Rev. Herbert B. Keller, S.J.
Cathedral of St. Joseph, Wheeling, WV, May 5, 2008

“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.”

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On behalf of all of us gathered in this church this morning, I wish to express to Father Tom’s entire family, our sincere condolences upon his death. We extend our prayers in a special way to his sister, Sister Kathleen, and to his nephews, Tim, Frank, Jim and Joe and your families. All of us want you to know that our prayers and support will be with you, not only this morning, but in the days and weeks ahead. Today, we are honored to be joined in prayer at this altar with Bishop Bransfield and Bishop Schmitt, Father Tom’s cousin, and so many of Tom’s brother priests. We are joined in this beautiful cathedral, the site of Father Tom’s first assignment as a priest, with the sisters of Saint Joseph, other women religious, family, friends, and former parishioners of Father Tom. There are people in this cathedral this morning who knew Tom from Warwood or Wheeling, Hinton or Follansbee, Weirton or Glen Dale. I know Father Tom would be so happy to see the children from Saint Paul’s School here today in their green shirts! Most of us in this congregation called him “Father Tom”, on more formal occasions “Father Schiffer”, and less formally, “Tom” or “Tommy”. A few of you called him “Uncle Tommy” and a few even “pappap”. And all of these names really define the life of this good and generous priest of God.