May 20, 2021

Greetings,

It appears as though the worst of our fears about the COVID are coming to an end. Thank you St. Sebastian, patron saint against contagious diseases! How exactly this will effect our parish is not yet completely known. Your priests have received two letters, one from the Catholic Conference of Ohio (all the Ohio bishops) and one from our bishop. Clarifying letters won’t come out until Wednesday or Thursday as bishops determine what exactly the Catholic Church in the state of Ohio in general and Diocese of Cleveland in particular should do. Hopefully, whatever statements are made will be in time for us to send out in the Thursday Angelus Letter, so keep an eye out for that in your email.

THE BISHOPS OF OHIO:  It has been the desire of the bishops of Ohio to work in concert so that we don’t have one diocese following one protocol and next door another diocese doing something else. That would make things confusing especially for those who travel a bit. Reports say that this was not an easy task as even the bishops are not all on the same page about moving forward. However, they are in agreement insofar as reinstating of obligation to go to Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation on June 5th and 6th, (coincidently being the last weekend that Fr. Simone is with us.)

We have a serious obligation to attend Mass as a Divine Law, but it is not an absolute one. If you are sick or in real danger of becoming ill, if you are about to leave the house to go to Mass and your spouse falls down the steps and breaks a leg, or if you are going exploring to someplace like the north pole where there are no churches, the obligation to attend Mass is, of course, not applicable. But even then, some effort must be made to keep holy the Sabbath day. (More on that in the Angelus Letter.)

OUR BISHOP’S LETTER:  This is the long and the short of the letter we received from the bishops:  We are not to change anything quite yet. “The Governor has consistently made it clear to the bishops of Ohio that religious institutions are not regulated by his state mandates out of concern for religious liberty. However, the Diocese of Cleveland has used the Governor's decisions to guide our own response to the pandemic.” As of this writing, the Governor has not yet issued anything in writing that changes any protocols before June 2nd although the CDC has appeared to do so. Bishop Malesic is not only weighing what is being said by health officials and government leaders, but also trying to give a united front with his fellow bishops. Not an easy task in a fallen world where any given three people cannot even agree on where they want to go out to eat.

YOUR PASTOR’S LETTER:  By the time you read this, your parish staff and I will have had our staff meeting, weighed the information that we have, and apply it to our situation here at St. Sebastian. This should come to you by way of the Angelus Letter. It is my intention to inform you of any progress as it happens so please keep an eye out on your email.

PASS IT ON:  This week our parish school will be celebrating it traditional Pass It On Mass, a ceremony in which it is recognized that student leadership of the school is handed on from our current 8th graders to next year’s 8th graders. These past couple of years it has been enlightening as to just how important good student leadership is. The pandemic has revealed what faith filled and exemplary leaders this school and community form. I am so terribly proud of you Terriers!

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck