News

Mar 21, 2025

Greetings,

Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate will be on Saturday, April 12 at 10am. You might know a couple of the ordinands, Joseph Ho and Cameron Ferrell, who lived here at
St. Sebastian for awhile. Joe was one of the seminarians who was instrumental in assisting us through the trials and tribulations of COVID. They will be ordained as transitional deacons at our Cathedral of St. John.

It may seem a little early to be telling you this but, there is another important aspect to that date. That is also typically the last day for confessions before Easter at St. Sebastian Parish. So, we found ourselves in a little quandary wanting to celebrate Joe and Cam at their Ordination, but also needing to hear confessions. Cathy Sivec came to the rescue and found two priests who will be hearing confessions that day so that Fr. Marcelli and I can go to the ordination.

Confessions are also usually cancelled on the Tuesday of Holy Week because your priests are at the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass with the Bishop. However, this year, there is a priest in town from California, (Fr. Buzbuzian) who will have our last chance confession for one half hour on Tuesday, April 15 beginning at 7pm followed by Compline and Benediction at 7:40pm on the Tuesday of Holy Week.

To that end, do you realize that Palm Sunday, is only a couple of weeks away? Please consider celebrating the Sacrament of Confession now so that you won’t have to suffer with the last-minute rush or miss out altogether.

IN OTHER NEWS:

LENT CHARGES ON: We have had our Parish Mission and the Diocesan Night of Confessions. Stations of the Cross have been regularly celebrated. Soon, the painting in the Padre Pio Chapel entitled, “The Placing of Christ in the Tomb” by Litvinov Oleg Arkadievich will soon be leaving in order that the Christ’s Tomb display may be constructed. Stop in and see the painting along with our display of Relics before they leave for another year. Don’t let Lent slip by without a fight!

LETTER: The parish received a nice letter from Bishop Woost concerning the celebration of Confirmation that was held here at St. Sebastian on Friday, March 7. In part, he said, “Thanks again for a wonderful liturgical celebration on Friday evening. I really was impressed by your Confirmation candidates: their attentiveness and participation during our time together before Mass, their responses at Mass (especially, “I DO!”), and their letters (Wow!).” Tip of the hat to you eighth graders!

DEANERY NEWS: At a recent staff meeting we were reviewing Bishop Malesic’s Pastoral Letter. On page 14, he explained what the role of a Dean is and your staff found it enlightening and thought that it would be a good idea to share it with you to help clarify exactly what a dean is.

“Districts will now be referred to as Deaneries. Each of the twelve Deaneries will be led by a Dean, a priest of the area, who will act as my representative. In his Deanery, he will be responsible for proactively caring for the health of our priests, regularly visiting parishes and seeing to the good governance and vitality. Additionally, he is responsible for forming and supporting a Deanery Committee, led by a lay, religious, or diaconal Deanery Chair that will shape pastoral plans for the Deanery . . .”

God bless,
Fr. Valencheck