Father Hennessy rose from his bed. It was a fine spring day and he
walked to the window of his bedroom to get a deep breath of the
beautiful day outside.

He then noticed there was a jackass lying dead in the middle of his
front lawn. He promptly called the local police station. The
conversation went like this:

"Top o' the day to ye. This is Sgt. Ryan. How might I help ye?"

"And the best of the day te yerself. This is Father Hennessy at St.
Brigid's. There's a jackass lying dead in me front lawn. Would ye be
so kind as to send a couple o' yer lads to take care of the matter?"

Sgt. Ryan, considering himself to be quite a wit, replied with a
smirk. "Well now Father, it was always my impression that you people
took care of last rites."

There was dead silence on the line for a long moment. Father Hennessy
then replied: "Aye, that's certainly true, but we are also obliged to
notify the next of kin."