May 28, 2020

Greetings,

Happy Pentecost Sunday! Welcome back to the public celebration of the Mass! It is so awesome to have the parish family together again! And, as the saying goes, no vacation goes unpunished. Well, we certainly were not on vacation and the pandemic seemed to create more work than relieved us of any, but since you were “away,” that just meant that many things simply backed up on the docket.

WELCOME CATECHUMENS:  Congratulations to those who are to be welcomed into the Church at this 4:30 Mass of Pentecost! Better late than never! I am so grateful that we have such a wonderful thing to celebrate with your coming into the Church. Thank you for your patience and for the blessing that you are to the community.

CONGRATULATIONS 8TH GRADERS:  We will begin catching up on all of the ceremonies. One of the things that will be happening virtually, is awarding of the 8th grade scholarships. The St. Sebastian Parish School Class of 2020 has earned over

$390,000.00

in scholarships and awards for their high school education. These dollars were earned through high achieving scores on high school placement tests, outstanding written essays on scholarship applications and the many donors that value a catholic education and want to see our St. Sebastian Parish School students continue down that path in high school. Congratulations to our students, their families, and to our outstanding faculty and staff!

FIRST COMMUNIONS:  We are also beginning to get caught up on our First Communions. There will be two First Communion Masses in order to accommodate social distancing and the option of students making their First Communion at the Mass of their choice. This will be the first year in the history of the parish that there cannot be a First Communion Day picture so we will attempt to make a composite picture in its stead.

IN OTHER NEWS:

CONFESSIONS:  The regular confession times of Friday at 4:00pm and Saturday at 9:30am will return to inside the church with no appointment necessary. Just please be mindful of social distancing particularly as you stand in line. We will return to the “church renovation style” of confession outside of the confessionals and with music playing. Tuesday confession will resume when all day adoration resumes.

ADORATION:  When we are a little more settled and know how many people will be returning to Mass, then we will be able to have sign ups to cover hours and will return to all day adoration. The church will remain open however for prayer before Jesus in the tabernacle.

BIG NEWS:  Fr. Jeremy Mersweiller from our parish has just been named the pastor of St. Francis de Sales in Portage Lakes to replace my classmate, Fr. G. David Bline. Also, Fr. Lois Thomas will be the next pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Norton.

THANK YOU:  It took a lot of people to keep the parish simmering on low so that we could be prepared to open as soon as possible. It also took resources and a lot of prayers. THANK YOU to everyone who made any kind of effort! You are awesome.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck