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An emotional retirement just occurred at Blessed Sacrament parish in Albany.

After 21 years of service, the parish bus that transported youth groups and senior citizens made its final trip -- this time, to the salvage yard.

"When I came here as pastor 40 years ago, they had an old school bus," Rev. John Bradley reminisced.

That vehicle, purchased by the Home School Association, was the first of a series of used school buses the parish bought over the years. "They would just wear out," the pastor said. "One time, we had our senior citizens stranded in Schenectady at the police station."

The final bus was brand-new when it came to Blessed Sacrament 21 years ago. A yellow school bus with the stop signs disabled, the bus served the parish community well for two decades, but "it just got old," said Father Bradley.

The bus broke down on a parish ski trip and needed repairs that cost more than it was worth. Even then, its reliability wouldn't be guaranteed.

"We just couldn't justify spending any more on a bus that age," the pastor said, noting that Blessed Sacrament's pastoral council and school officials agreed with the decision. Other parishes in the Diocese don't have buses, he said.

Mary Rosch, now 29 years old, remembers riding the bus for youth group trips during her middle and high school years.

"We went all over the place. We had lots of trips," she said, citing trips to Grafton Lake State Park, to a dude ranch and for a Halloween hayride.

The parish bus had dozens of drivers over the past 40 years, but they'd been harder to come by lately. Stricter licensing regulations for large vehicles make it be an intense process that parishioners weren't as willing to go through in order to drive the bus.

"We prayed; we sang; we cried" on the bus, recalled Rose Reed, who ran Blessed Sacrament's youth group for 30 years. Ms. Reed was sad to see the old yellow bus retire, but she's more disappointed that the tradition of having a parish bus has ended.

Senior citizens from Blessed Sacrament took the bus on retreats. Other parishes and groups rented it when they needed extra seating for a trip.

Ms. Reed and Ms. Rosch noted that the bus allowed the youth group to have a sense of independence, traveling to new places together.

Parishioners had supported the cost of the bus through a special offertory envelope. The final envelope had been printed and sent out before the decision to scrap the bus was made, so Father Bradley suggested Blessed Sacrament take up the collection anyway and use the donations toward helping children in need pay for the cost of future trips, since there will be an added expense to hire a bus.

Father Bradley admitted there have been fewer trips in recent years due to lack of interest, which makes him sad.

The parish bus "was a great thing," he said. "It's the end of an era."[[In-content Ad]]

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