Dec 13, 2024

Greetings!
Happy Guadete Sunday! The word “gaudete” is the first word of the Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent. Calling us to “rejoice,” the emphasis shifts from “The Lord is coming!”
to “The Lord is near!” And it is indeed nearer than one may think. The Fourth week of Advent is only a couple of days long as we jump right in to Christmas.

IN OTHER NEWS:

ADVENT LESSONS AND CAROLS: This Sunday, December 15 at 4pm in the Church is our Advent Lessons and Carols with our Parish Choir under the direction of Mr. David Uschold. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is ceremoniously told in nine short Bible readings or lessons interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems. This practice dates back to the mid 19th century and is an attempt to help the faithful prepare for the celebration of Christmas while still respecting the season of Advent which so often gets run over roughshod by Christmas preparations. This concert is free and open to the public.

FINAL ORGAN RECITAL: The final Tuesday, Noon, Advent Adoration and Organ Recital will be this Tuesday. The Tuesday of the fourth week of Advent will already be Christmas Eve so this is it! This week we have Mr. Mark Ludwig who is the Director of Music and Organist at St. Mary Parish in Hudson.

THE BELLS ARE RINGING: You may have heard the bells peal at St. Sebastian and many other Catholic Churches last Saturday at 2pm. A note came from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops to consider participating in ringing the bells at that time to help mark the opening of the new restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I was in a meeting at the seminary so Fr. Marcelli took over the job of ringing them here - I know because I got a message on my phone from a parishioner saying that our bells were ringing!

MEETINGS MISCELLANEOUS: If you make it a regular habit of reading these pages and that of the Angelus Letter, you have become aware that I wear several hats for the diocese. As Dean of the newly formed Deanery of Southern Summit County, I have to meet with every pastor and his staff over the next few months. Just recently I met with Fr. Brunovsky (though I did not get to meet his staff as of yet) of St. Hilary and Fr. Pfeiffer of St. Paul. Monday will be Fr. Weber of Guardian Angels. These first meetings only last a couple of hours and will be followed up by more in depth triennial meetings beginning later in 2025. Saturday found me at the seminary in my role as a member of the Admissions Board. Every man entering the seminary must go through an interview with the Admissions Board. This past week we approved four men for formation for the fall. One of them is a parishioner of St. Sebastian! Although I was able to be part of the interview processes, I had to abstain from voting. When it is clear that he has accepted and things are moving forward, I look forward to making him known to you although you have seen him quite a bit in our sanctuary. This, with Christopher and John, will make three men from St. Sebastian currently studying at the seminary. Another recent meeting was of Presbyteral Council, an advisory board to the bishop made up of priests. At a recent meeting we approved a new way of assessing the parishes. The Diocesan Assessment is a kind of “tax” that the diocese places on each parish to help support all of the offices downtown such as the legal office and the Tribunal and such. This new way of assessing the parishes pays more attention to giving the poorer parishes a break and having the more flush parishes pick up a little more of the slack. Our assessment will be going up a little as you might imagine.

God bless,
Fr. Valencheck