Jan 31, 2025

Greetings,

This weekend is our International Festival! Among the most venerable events at St. Sebastian, it returns again this year with foods from around the world, entertainment
and, of course, games! Doors open at 5:30pm immediately following the 4:30pm Saturday Mass, finishing up at 8:30pm. Bring the family, bring a friend and have a night out while escaping the cold.

A huge thank you to our organizers again this year. It is not an easy job, but it means so much for the community and so I offer you my gratitude from the bottom of my heart.

IN OTHER NEWS:

CONCERT SUNDAY: There will be an organ concert this Sunday, February 2, at 4pm. It will feature Kelsey Berg and Davis Badaszewski. Kelsey Berg serves as the Assistant Organist & Choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron, OH and is a doctoral candidate in Organ Performance with a concentration in Music Theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), studying with Professor Todd Wilson. Davis Badaszewski serves as the Organist/Choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Church in Painesville, OH and is a doctoral candidate in Organ Performance with a concentration in Musicology at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), also studying with Professor Todd Wilson.

This should prove to be a great concert. It is free and open to the public. So beat the bushes and invite a friend to this culture building event! Support organists and organist training so that there will be musicians to supply the Church with quality music in the future. There will be a free will offering at the end for those who are so inclined to support the Musical Arts of St. Sebastian.

SEMINARY NEWS: This coming Friday evening at 7pm at our seminary there will be the installation of those seminarians who are to become acolytes. The next day I will be traveling to the seminary for interviews for additional men who are applying for the seminary with an eye toward entering next fall. Please keep all our seminarians and hopeful seminarians in your prayers.

NEW PALL: Thanks to the artistry of Karen Spangler, our head sacristan, we have a beautiful new pall for funerals. The pall is the white covering put over the coffin during funerals. Our new pall matches the design of our ceiling and is so unique to our parish and is absolutely wonderful. Also, our unique paschal candle (by the baptismal fount) painted by Carly Politano is nearing its expiration date. I recommend taking a good look at it for it is beautiful and will be decommissioned at the end of the Lenten season. Fortunately, Carly has taken on the job of creating a new one for us this year!

God bless,
Fr. Valencheck