May 13, 2021

Greetings,

In the rectory we are still largely living in denial, just enjoying life and not yet acknowledging the fact that Fr. Simone will be moving to Parma soon. It is rather nice living this type of illusion as we get to enjoy our camaraderie without the pall of separation hanging over every day. (Luckily, St. Charles is not that far away.) Plus, we do have the great cooks at St. Sebastian and he loves food, so I’m sure he’ll be back for many a meal.

Fr. Anthony’s last weekend with us will be for Corpus Christi, June 5th and 6th. There will be a small reception for him after all of the Masses so if you wanted to give him a card or some such thing, that might be a good time to do it! Of particular note, he will be the celebrant for the 9:00am Mass that Sunday and the Schola will sing one last Mass for him. After which, weather permitting, we will be having our annual Eucharistic procession.

IN OTHER NEWS:

PRIESTHOOD ORDINATION: Saturday, May 15th, is priesthood ordination day in the Diocese of Cleveland. Alexander Clark, Cameron Popik, Alexander Spenik and James Winings are being ordained from our diocese that day.

In this class of newly ordained priests, a few are from or will be assigned to the Akron area. Alex Clark is from neighboring St. Francis de Sales Parish. Special shout out to our very own Karen Spangler (who has made so many of our beautiful vestments), she was commissioned to help make his ordination vestment.

Cameron Popik, will be stationed right next door at St. Hilary. This is the first class in a while that hasn’t had some kind of tie to St. Sebastian! The closest is (almost Fr.) Cameron Popik. His home parish is St. Adalbert in Berea where one of my priest friends was pastor and he used to go out to breakfast with us once in a while.

Please say a prayer for all of our newly ordained priests! The Thursday Angelus Letter will have a link to watch if you so desire.

GREETINGS COLLEGE STUDENTS: Finals are finalizing, graduates are gradually graduating! It is time for many of our college students to be back home (and for our seminarians to be moving in). It is so good to see your faces again. And an extra congratulations to those who have graduated. Let us know if you need anything after being away from your parish, we are happy to be of assistance!

POSTS: This weekend you might notice a few posts planted in the ground between the rectory and the church building. These will eventually become a privacy fence for this underused and somewhat hidden part of our grounds. It will be a private outdoor spot for residents of rectory, but it will also be able to be opened up for parish events such as Autumn Lights. I would like to take this time to especially thank the family that donated the resources to the Foundation to make this happen. What a blessing! We are trying to rush the project a little bit in the hopes that it will be finished in time so that Fr. Simone can enjoy it before he takes off for his parish in Parma.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck