Dearly Beloved, There Is Good News Tonight

If you will forgive the extravagant grammatical casualness, it will be like olden times – oh, so early in 2014 – when shiny new Mayor Mehaul O’Leary makes his maiden voyage as Hizzoner at this evening’s 7 o’clock City Council meeting in Council Chambers.

If non-believers will glance to the sky for a flash, it can be disclosed that Mr. O’Leary,

son of the Old Sod and a proper Irish Catholic pillar of the community, is restoring the  revered Invocation to the Council agenda … for as long as he is in charge.

He did not want to – if partisan critics will forgive the timely verb – billboard the comeback of prayer, the return of a reverent reverie.

He who recites the Invocation has not been finalized. Could be Mr. Mayor with a surprise dusted off from truly olden times.

An inquiring reporter wanted to know why.

In a rising tone of approbation, the reporter flung open the door of a conversation by saying, “The invocation is back tonight!”

Feigning shock, Mayor O’Leary answered, “My God! I wonder how that happened.”

The mayor was asked if restoration of the invocation – eliminated as unnecessary by predecessor Meghan Sahli-Wells – was a difficult call.

“No, it was just something that was going to come back if I was in charge,” Mr. O’Leary said. “I appreciate the invocation.”

He wanted to say that  “we are not going to make a big deal of it. It was made a big deal getting rid of it. We are not going to make a big deal of bringing it back.”

Mr. O’Leary elaborated on his reasoning.

“I personally like the idea that we as a Council have very important decisions to make,” he said. “We are mere mortals. I would like to think there is divine inspiration for our decision-making.

“Anything I can do to encourage that, which would include the Invocation, I will.”