Feb 20, 2020

Greetings,

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. For those of you who can make it, there will be Masses at:

             9:00am Mass with the school

             5:00pm Extraordinary Form (Latin)

             7:00pm

Now that we are entering into Lent, there will be Stations of the Cross and Benediction on Fridays at 1:45 and 7:00pm. Of course, there is always Adoration on Tuesdays until 8:00pm.

IN OTHER NEWS:

CHANGE IN THE MASS:  This past Tuesday evening, Bishop Nelson Perez was installed as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia leaving us, temporarily, without a bishop. Your priests have been instructed to drop the line, “and N. our bishop,” from the Mass until such time as a new bishop is installed. (We will do our best but I am sure we will mess up a couple of times so please be understanding.) In the meantime, say a prayer for Archbishop Perez, our diocese and for our future bishop whoever that might be.

WANTED: A BISHOP:  This means that there will be no bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland when it is time for our confirmation. As a result, one of the last things Bishop Perez did for us was to give delegation to all pastors to confirm their people until such time that there is a new bishop. That means that I will be the minister of confirmation for our class this year making them unique (I think) in the 91 year history of our parish: the only class not confirmed by a bishop or abbot. Our confirmandi were informed of this during their retreat last week and I want to thank them for not giving a collective, “Aw!” It does seem to make it special to have your bishop come for your confirmation but under these circumstances, I will find it an exceptional honor to be the celebrant of this sacrament for our outstanding young ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKING OF RETREATS:  I have to let you know what a great parish this is. The person in charge of our two-day retreat for our confirmandi came down with a long stretch of the flu the two weeks leading up to the retreat! I had just arrived home from my trip less than a week out from the date of the retreat and we were in a panic! Cathy Sivec, our former Parish Catechetical Leader valiantly came to the rescue. She and her husband Harry, our intern Ian Kelly and some very dedicated and flexible volunteers came to the rescue and put on a phenomenal retreat for the 2020 confirmation class. If the retreatants weren’t aware, I don’t think this difficulty would have shown in the slightest as far as the quality of the retreat. Thank you and God bless you all and those who attended the retreat who were so awesome.

THANK YOU:  Thank you also everybody who helped make our visit from Fr. Jacques Philippe a success for the 400+ people who attended. He and Scepter Press were very pleased with the evening. I was especially excited about those who took advantage of this special opportunity by bringing their whole families!

ROSE WINDOW:  The rose window in Zwisler Hall has been replaced with plywood for quite some time. As you may recall, the 90 year old wooden window frame was disintegrating and needed rebuilt. The frame is completed and is being stained. It should return soon.

SPECTACULAR:  Welcome to everybody who is coming to the parish for our Spectacular this weekend! Thank you for attending this most important event for our school.

CONCERT:  Here is a great opportunity for entire families, especially those with young children, to come to a concert! The Coffee House World Music Series Concert featuring University of Akron African Drumming Ensemble will be performing is Zwisler Hall on March 1st at 4:00pm. Free and open to the public.

BUILDING A BETTER CHURCH & CULTURE:  We have a great maintenance crew. In particular, we have had numerous events on the weekends and they made sure we looked good for all of them. If you subtract this part of our staff and our school faculty and staff, and your clergy, there are only five full time employees at our parish. We couldn’t possibly function as well as we do or do as much or as exciting things as we do if it were not for volunteers and benefactors. Thank you to all of our volunteers who put in so many hours to make our parish and community such a great place. And if you are reading this thinking, “Why doesn’t our parish do (fill in here),” please consider adopting the project, give me a call to see if the parish is able to handle the project, and be the cause of something else great happening in our midst!

SEBASTIAN:  Sebastian, the rectory dog, passed away this past week after having a week of spending lots of time with his friends, both canine and human. He came to the parish almost the same time I did, even predating Fr. Pfeiffer! When I was introduced to Fr. Pfeiffer right after his ordination, the first thing I said to him was “I hope you like dogs.” Over the years, Sebastian did a lot of pastoral work. Toward his end, things got a little difficult and “messy” and I want to thank everyone, especially Fr. Simone, who pitched in and helped out.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck