Dec 27, 2019

Greetings,

A Happy & blessed New Year to you! We are especially blessed as New Year’s day is a Holy Day of Obligation this year and we get to attend Mass to honor Mary, Mother of God. How fitting is this feast in a time when so many aspects of the meaning of this day are suffering: family, motherhood, life . . .  I am so looking forward to celebrating Mass with you on this day.

NEW YEAR’S DAY MASS SCHEDULE:

New Year’s Eve - 7:00pm

New Year’s Day - 9:00am, 5:15pm - Extraordinary Form (Latin) and 7:00pm

IN OTHER NEWS:

OFFICES CLOSED:  The parish offices will close at noon on Tuesday, New Year’s Eve, and open again on Thursday, January 2nd.

ADORATION SIGN UP:  Because Tuesday falls on New Year’s Eve, I want to make sure that we have people signed up for adoration. If you are able to be here for an hour between 8:30am and 7:00pm, please sign up at the altar rail by the Blessed Virgin Mary statue.

FAREWELL - WELCOME:  January 1st marks a changing of the guard in our finance office. Mr. Kevin Audin is retiring from his position as Business Manager. When one works for a parish, rarely are one’s duties confined to a little box. It’s not that we have to tackle as many things as we do as a parish, but that there are so many cool things that we can do. But if we want to take so many things on, that means everybody stepping up to take on little tasks that might not necessarily be written on the job description.

Kevin certainly went above and beyond in this during his employment here. After a career in the business field, he made the decision to work for the Church to give back and that he did. You might be surprised at how much of the restoration work in the church he took on just to make sure that it got done and that we made it in under budget. Last weekend (of course on the weekend) one of the covers of our lights in the ceiling came loose and was hanging by its safety chain. Kevin came in early in the morning, climbed up into the attic and fixed it. That is just his way.

While he was here we had a number of projects, from the church restoration to fixing up the school, the parking lots, the Diocesan Capitol Campaign, the collection enhancement effort, the opening of the Julie Billiart School and many behind-the-scenes projects and efforts. Although he is retiring we will still see him around at Mass and volunteering, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all of his years of service to our mission as a Catholic parish serving the faithful in West Akron. God bless you Kevin!

Also I would like to welcome our new Business Manager, Milissa Smith. Please have some patience with her as she gets a handle on the job. Kevin will be around to help with the transition. But she is sharp and I think in no time things will be running smoothly. (I will write more in upcoming bulletins.) Thank you to the search team. You made the process easy.

NEW YEAR’S MEN OPPORTUNITY:  There will be a course offered on Christian Manhood once a month on Saturday mornings (not to interfere with the men’s breakfast) at Akron Family Restaurant given by Matthew DuBroy of the Thomistic Institute for Ongoing Formation. More information to follow. For those who want to go really deep, the men of the parish are invited to join those who will be going through the Exodus 90 program during this time. Those who are interested should (first read about it online) contact Fr. Valencheck.  The E90 program will begin January 13th and end at Easter.

LETTER TO YOU:  The Culture Project (https://thecultureproject.org) was brought in to the diocese by Bishop Perez. Young adults spend a year as missionaries in a diocese spreading the faith in focused and dynamic ways. They recently spent a few days at our school and wrote a letter to us which stated in part, “We are amazed by what a great school and community you have at St. Sebastian!” Yeah, I think that you are pretty awesome too.

LITURGICAL CALENDARS:  A big thank you to Hummel Funeral Homes for providing the parish with beautiful calendars. Please get your household’s calendar at the doors of the church.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck