Oct 18, 2019

Greetings,

Every other year the priests of the Diocese of Cleveland have a three day convocation with our bishop. On the “off years” we have a single day of prayer and meetings. Monday is our day with the bishop and so Fr. Simone and I will be away. Please keep us and all the priests of the diocese in your prayers this Monday. Thank you.

IN OTHER NEWS:

WANTING TO BECOME CATHOLIC: Fr. Simone reports that there were ten people at RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) who were interested in becoming Catholic! Wow! Not all of them necessarily need to go through the entire process and have to wait until the Easter Vigil to come into the Church, but this is still a great sized class! Please keep them in your prayers. Also, if you or someone you know is looking to become Catholic, please contact Fr. Simone or myself, soon, especially if you want to come in through RCIA.

MEN’S VOCATIONS BBQ AT ST. SEBASTIAN: Have you even remotely felt a calling to the priesthood? Then this event is for you. There will be a vocations BBQ Saturday, October 26th at the St Sebastian rectory hosted by your priests and our seminarian intern, Mr. Ian Kelly. If you are at least in high school, please contact Fr. Simone at SimoneA@stsebastian.org. See elsewhere in the bulletin for more details.

VOCATIONS FOR WOMEN: Coming November 18th! The Mercedarian Sisters will be hosting a dinner at the St. Sebastian rectory for those women interested in vocations. However, it need not be an interest solely in this order. Later that night, they will be speaking at Theology on the Rocks. Watch for more details! For more information on the Sisters, go here:  https://mercedariansisters.org.

PIANO AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS WANTED: The Academy of Culture and Arts at St Sebastian is looking for people to teach piano and languages, particularly in the evening. The hours are very flexible. Please contact Mr. Scott Mason at masonmusic2@gmail.com.

WELCOME: To all the visitors to St. Sebastian Parish for this weekend’s Sanctam Catholicam Conference!

THEOLOGY ON THE ROCKS: This Monday at Tangier’s! For more information look elsewhere in this bulletin, or look up the Facebook page online!

OCTOBER COUNTS: I stand joyfully corrected. Every year the diocese asks us to take a count of everyone who is present for Mass for the first two weekends in October. It seemed to me that our numbers were down especially at the 4:30 Mass on October 1st also known as the day for the Ohio State game. Indeed, that particular Mass was down, but, over all, our numbers are up considerably. The average attendance for last year was 1,072. This year our average was 1,145! Combine that with your generous support of the increased offertory campaign thus far and participation in such things as Holy Hours and it seems that things are looking pretty good for St. Sebastian Parish! Please keep your parish in your prayers! Thank you for all that you do for the mission of Christ in West Akron.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck