This column needed to be submitted in advance due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday this week so it’s a challenge to report news that is current. In my column last week, I gave an update on our (gratefully healthy) financial situation so I thought I’d share some information with you that we received recently from the Diocese concerning the assessments that we pay to the Diocese. We are taxed a certain percentage of our weekly contributions which not only allows us to receive substantial assistance from the Diocese in our parish work, but also allows us to participate in the mission of the Universal Church in proclaiming the Gospel. So let me quote for you some important information which may help you understand how this assessment works.
“The Diocese of Cleveland provides pastoral and temporal services for people, parishes and institutions in the Diocese, and represents the Faithful in the Diocese in the worldwide church. Funding to help support the work of the Diocese is primarily provided through an assessment that is paid by each parish. The Code of Canon Law, Canon 1263, provides that “after the Diocesan Bishop has heard the Finance Council and the Presbyteral Council, he has the right to impose a moderate tax for the needs of the Diocese.” This Canon further states that the tax is to be proportionate to income. The current assessment rate in the Diocese of Cleveland is 16.5% of offertory, reduced to 11.5% for parishes with schools.
The Diocese supports the work of the Bishops in the United States through the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Catholic Conference of Ohio Bishops represents the Catholic Church on public matters throughout the state, such as ensuring the receipt of government funding for education including textbooks and vouchers for students enrolled in our Catholic schools. Lastly, each Diocese throughout the world is asked to support the work of the Holy Father in his ministry. Funds are requested by the Holy Father to demonstrate our fraternal support for the work he undertakes to meet the needs of the Church on a global basis. Funding provided by the Diocese of Cleveland to these various state, national, and global ministries approaches $500,000 annually.
On a local level, the Diocese serves people, parishes and institutions in temporal and pastoral matters largely by administering and funding the Bishop’s ministries that are best accomplished at the Diocesan level, ministries that the parishes cannot do on their own, and ministries that complement all the work that is done at the parishes and other institutions.
In all cases, the resources provided by the parish assessments are carefully used to further the mission of the Church. These resources are under the discipline of an annual budget process, an annual independent audit, and the advice and oversight of the Bishop’s Finance Council. Further, the Diocese publishes an annual accounting of its utilization of these resources in its annual Report to the Community.
Although a specific parish or institution may not use all of the services that the Diocesan Offices provide, the services of all these Offices are used frequently in most parishes in the Diocese.”
Hopefully this information helps you to understand why our assessments are necessary and helps you to realize how much assistance we receive from the Diocese. Your donations help both the parish, the Diocese and the Universal Church to accomplish its mission of doing the work of Christ.
Please join us for Mass this Thanksgiving at 9am and enjoy the long holiday weekend, another gift to be thankful for at this time of the year.
Pastor's Column for November 14, 2021
Bette Novak was one of the first people I would see on Sunday morning as she would be sitting in the first pew in front of the pulpit, long before the 8am Mass. She was a always wearing a smile, even when facing difficulties in her life. She would stay at home with her husband Don of 57 years who has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for several years. She lost a son who died about 3 years ago. But she continued to place her faith in God and to give thanks for the blessing of her husband, 3 surviving children & several grandchildren. Betty died after a short illness & we celebrated her funeral Mass on Friday, November 5th. May she and all the faithful departed, rest in peace, especially as we remember all of those who died from our parish during this past year throughout the month of November.
Father Vesely turned 93 this past week on Monday, November 8th. Please remember him in prayer & ask the Lord to keep him in good health.
In this weekend’s bulletin, you’ll find the Annual Summary Financial Report for our parish from this past fiscal year (July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021). I gave a brief update on our parish finances a couple of weeks ago in this column, but I wanted to mention a few other highlights from this report. First, in terms of building renovations, we were able to complete the full remodeling of the boy’s & girls restrooms in the school building. We also remodeled the school office and have placed new floors in the main hallways of the school. We have installed new touch-less drinking fountains in the school and have replaced all the old doors with new ones. New awnings will be in place soon on all our buildings to clearly mark the building and its entrance location.
We have paid our first of three $22,000 installments to the Diocese as part of our commitment to help with the much-needed renovation of our seminary buildings in Wickliffe, and which allows us forgo a parish campaign whereby we ask you to contribute to this cause. In terms of income, we received $78,396 from our parish investments and received a one-time payment from the IRS in the amount of $64,557 as an employee tax credit due to remote work and school situations related to COVID. We received over $20,000 from our capital improvement envelopes (thank you!) and over $15,000 in donations from parishioners outside of our weekend collections. Our SVDP Ministry also received over $20,000 in donations this past year. Our Sweepstakes Raffle made a profit of $4,475 and we made a profit of $7,115 from our Fish Fry this year, despite the take-out only restriction due to COVID. Our Gift Card Program made a profit of $7,175. Because of these profits and due to a continued increase in school enrollment, our total bank balance for this past fiscal year was $1,732,785, an increase of $309,251 from our balance of $1.423,534 from the previous fiscal year. We also saw an increase in our offertory collection of 1.13%, due again to your continued commitment to the financial well-being of our parish. I am so deeply grateful for the hard work and generosity of all our parishioners who are helping us grow our savings and thus secure a financial future. Pray that I may be a good steward of our parish in every way.
I will be away this weekend before the Advent & Christmas seasons begin. Though it will again be more of a “staycation,” I look forward to getting caught up with family & friends now that my other errands have been taken care on from my last few days away. Thank you for welcoming the priests who will be praying with you this weekend. Please pray for us all.
Pastor's Column for November 7, 2021
Last week I visited and anointed a woman by the name of Rosalie Zupancic who was in Hospice Care in Euclid. She joined the faithful departed and was buried from our church this weekend (on Saturday, October 30th). She was a member of St. Leo the Great for a very long time and I’m glad I had the opportunity to speak with her before her passing as she was a woman of deep faith. She was devoted to St. Jude and to the prayer of the rosary. We include her in our prayers for all the faithful departed especially during this month of November and express our sympathy to her children and grandchildren.
On November 2nd, the feast of All Souls, we had a Holy Hour (actually it was about 45 minutes long but that’s close enough!) as we prayed for all the faithful departed, especially for those who were buried from our parish during this last year (November 1, 2020 through October 31, 2021). We had a wonderful showing of people who appreciated how well it was planned by Joan Berigan and then presided over by Deacon Pat. So my continued thanks to them for their creativity and service to the parish community. We will leave the names of the deceased from our parish displayed on the large screen during our Masses this weekend and again invite you to write in the name(s) of deceased loved ones you would like us to pray for during this month of November in the book by the baptismal font. May all of our faithful departed rest in the peace of the Risen Christ.
I just want to include here a little “shout out” to all of our parish and school staff. Especially with the parish school, we have many employees here at our parish, though I don’t like to think of them so much as employees as co-workers and co-ministers as it takes a village, the saying goes, to raise a child (or 300 of them) and to serve the adults of our parish, also God’s children, who make up our community. I am grateful to all of our school teachers, many of them new and young this year, who have joined us, not just in providing an excellent academic opportunity for our children but to do so in an atmosphere of faith, which is what makes the Catholic School so different from the public schools. I am also grateful to our maintenance staff who do an excellent job of maintaining all of our buildings…the rectory, the church, the parish center, & the school with the gym and cafeteria. Plus they do much maintenance on our parish grounds as well. They are understaffed right now as we are having a very hard time hiring workers like most of the country. So my thanks to them for doing more than their share of taking good care of our grounds & buildings. As you know from your encounters with our rectory staff, we have helpful and caring people who assist others in a hundred different ways. And again, my appreciation for our Principal, Denise Burns, who oversees both the elementary and preschool, and does so with great dedication and a sincere desire to do the very best for our children, their parents, and our staff. Top it all off with Deacon Pat & Joan Berigan, and I am filled with gratitude for such good leadership and service. I am very proud of all our staff members here at St. Leo’s and I hope you too can express your appreciation to them when given the opportunity. They are the ones who allow us to serve you to the best of our ability.
Pastor's Column for October 31, 2021
I was just trying to think of something scary to begin this column with, given that it’s Halloween weekend. But then I just received a text message from someone telling me that a very good friend of mine was just held up at gun point. Thank God he is OK. But the gun was literally held to his head. I couldn’t even image what that would be like. This man is in his 40’s & lives in San Diego, CA and I’m his confirmation sponsor. Living in today’s world is such a scary thing. So much violence and crime, sin & evil. Sadly this has always been the case in human history, which is why we turn all the more in thanksgiving (especially next month) to the God who was willing to enter our sinful world, and even become victim to the worst of violence imaginable at the time…torture and death by crucifixion. To me, these are the thoughts that need to come immediately to our minds when we hear of such tragedies in our lives so that we begin to see God in everything that happens to ourselves and to our loved ones. We continue then to pray for all victims of violence…abortion, murder, sex trafficking, racism, sexism, and everything else that seeks to do harm to the God-given dignity of every living thing on earth. We do so again at the very end of this month of October, a month set aside as “Respect Life” month and a month when we ask for the intercession of Our Lady who gave birth to the Author of Life himself.
Monday, November 1st, is the feast of All Saints, a holy day…but because it falls on a Monday this year, it is not a holy day of obligation this year. But you are welcomed and encouraged to join us for the one Mass that we will have at 8:30am, along with the children of our parish school (half will be in attendance in the church & the other half will be watching from their classrooms via livestream). This is a wonderful time for us to again celebrate with thanksgiving all those holy men & women whose praises are sung in the scriptures and who have been shining examples to us throughout the history of the Church. Remember to ask your patron, the person(s) you may be named after, to pray for you on this day. Remember to seek the intercession of our parish patron, St. Leo the Great, of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Anne, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Joseph, St. John Vianney and of all the other saints whose statues in our church or on our property remind us that we are not alone in our journey of faith, on our journey of holiness, on our way to God’s kingdom. Did I miss any one in that list? May they all pray with us and for us that we may draw close to God as they did.
On Tuesday, November 2nd, we celebrate the feast of All Souls, or more accurately, the feast of All the Faithful Departed. We will list the names of all those who have died from this past year on our website and in the church, where you can include in a book, the name(s) of those deceased whom you would like to be remembered in the month of November during all of our Masses. A basket containing the envelopes you have filled out with the names of deceased will also be displayed by this book. Let us pray for all of these men, women & children who have died & who await the fullness of joy, of holiness, of glory and of eternal life as God readies them for his kingdom.
Pastor's Column for October 24, 2021
Every year the Finance Council of the Parish reviews the Financial Report from the previous fiscal year as well as the budget for the upcoming fiscal year as prepared by the Business Manager and the Pastor. We also share this information with you so in next week’s bulletin we will include the Summary Report which is required by the Diocese to be published to the parishioners. This will be for the fiscal year which began July 1, 2020 and which ended June 30, 2021. I would like to highlight some items for you.
Despite several months when Mass was not celebrated publicly due to the Coronavirus in 2020, and though our attendance has dropped over the last several months during the pandemic as parishioners take advantage of the live-streaming technology we implemented, our yearly contributions have continued to remain very steady. In fact, during the 2020-21 fiscal year, our offertory collection actually increased by 1.13%, or about $5000. In most parishes, there is typically a decline of 3-4% each year. I attribute this to your constant support of this parish, even during a pandemic, which allowed us to keep paying the bills, and I am very grateful to you for that. I still remember how so many of you dropped off your contribution envelopes to the rectory office when Mass was not celebrated here publicly for several months. And I know how many of you signed up for our online giving program called WeShare, in order that we may receive your donations even when you are not able to be here. I am so grateful for your financial support and I thank you for your understanding and generosity during the last couple of years which have been difficult for so many of us due to the pandemic.
As I hope you can see when you are here for Mass or some other parish event, we continue to maintain our buildings and to enhance our property as we are able. The parking lots are in very good shape after several years of slowly working to replace several sections that were in very poor shape. We continue to enhance the landscaping which is quite a challenge given the large size of our parish property. The school building continues to see updates and renovations, such as a new tile floor in the main hallways which will be much easier to clean and maintain, and which really modernizes the look of the building. We also have completely updated the school bathrooms with new toilets, sinks, urinals, stalls and floors. The classrooms in the basement have been cleaned out and refreshed after being used as storage rooms for many years, to make room for our ever-growing enrollment. And most recently, you will notice new awnings on our buildings (they should be installed in November) which will provide some cover from the rain & snow but more importantly will identify the buildings and entrances on our property. Again, your generous contributions to our Capital Improvement Fund of over $20,000 during each of the last 2 fiscal years have helped us to keep our buildings and property in good order and appearance. We also received over $15,000 in donations over the year which have been used for capital improvements inside & out. I’ll share a few more highlights in my column next week when we also include the Summary Report for the 2020-21 Fiscal Year.
I will be taking a few days off starting this weekend as I try to get to the errands that I have neglected recently, like renewing my expired driving license and passport! Gratefully there is a grace period for the driving license as I wouldn’t want to have to do a driver’s test after almost 50 years. But I trust you will welcome the missionary priest who will be praying with you this weekend.
Pastor's Column for October 17, 2021
I had a funeral service for Renata Germanotta last week. She had 2 daughters and 2 grandsons. Please keep her and her loved ones in your prayers, especially during this month of October when we ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for us “now and at the hour of our death.”
During October, we also dedicate this month to Respect for Life. Of course at the heart of this value we again find Mary having a profound respect the Author of Life itself whom she bore in her womb. And so again we ask Our Lady of the Rosary (a feast we also celebrate during October), to pray for expectant mothers and for all those who may be considering an abortion, that they may seek other options if they are not ready or able to care for a child themselves.
Though I write this column before our Parish Festival takes place, I thank you in advance for your support of this annual event, especially in it’s modified form this year due to the pandemic which we had all hoped would be behind us by now. I am especially grateful for your efforts to sell the raffle tickets which make up the lion’s share of our festival profit. Last year we “lost” several thousands of dollars due to the modified festival and that will be our fate again this year however we must accept what we cannot change, while trying to change what we can, as the serenity prayer says. But again I am grateful to all those who worked at the festival in preparing and serving the take-out orders and for those of you who showed up to support us buying dinners to take home with you.
I would like to remind you again that your support of our gift card program is also very helpful to us. By buying gift cards for places where you shop anyway (or by buying them as gifts for others), we are able to make a small profit on each card we sell, even though you are still able to receive the full amount of the goods purchased through a gift card. They are always available in the rectory office and I hope that our more popular ones will be available for purchase soon in the vestibule of the church at our Information Desk. I’ll let you know when that has reopened.
I really enjoyed the retreat that I was on last week and thank you for your prayers as some of my brothers priests and I took some time to reflect on our ministry to you, the People of God whom we love. We were reminded that the Lord enters into the narrative or story of our individual and unique lives in order to keep calling us to greater intimacy with him and to greater service of his people. The Jesuit Retreat House on State Road in Parma is such a great place to make a retreat or a Day of Recollection and there are many opportunities for both throughout the year, including lay people as well as priests, deacons and pastoral ministers. They have enlarged the retreat center with an additional wing which contains more rooms, a second chapel and areas designed for presentations and individual counseling & spiritual direction. They also have a great walking path which leads to a cemetery on the property where many Jesuits have been buried. It is the oldest surviving retreat center in the country, having started in the late 1800’s. So you may want to check out their website for more information on what kinds of opportunities they provide for you to retreat from your daily life, even if for a day, in order to be renewed in spirit.
Pastor's Column for October 10, 2021
Though I will be on retreat from Sunday through Thursday this week, I will still celebrate daily Mass Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at 8:30am. We’ll be at the Jesuit Retreat House on State Road so I’ll be close enough to be there by the time of the first conference at 9:30 each day. Again I appreciate your prayers during this time.
Next weekend is our festival which again will be modified due to COVID. But our take-out system worked very well last year, especially with the option to use a credit or debit card so please stop by to get some great food and thank you again for selling raffle tickets as this is the largest piece of the fundraiser for our festival. I hope to see many of you there and thank you again for your understanding of our adjustments during the continued pandemic restrictions.
We recently had our first Parish Council and Finance Council meetings after several months of not meeting due to COVID. Again I am very grateful to all those who served on these councils in the past and to those who have agreed to participate in these now. I will be updating you on the parish finances in the next week or two and will publish our Annual Financial Summary sheet here in the parish bulletin. We will also communicate with you our discussions in the Parish Council and hope that you will pray for us as we meet for the good of the whole parish community.
From time to time parishioners call or come to the rectory office requesting a sponsor certificate. This is a required document for those who have been asked to be a godparent for the Sacrament of Baptism or a sponsor for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be celebrated either here or at another parish. While it is an honor to be asked to be a godparent or sponsor, it is also a serious responsibility. A person invited to have this relationship with someone being baptized or confirmed is meant to be first and foremost an example of the Catholic faith to the one receiving the sacrament of initiation. This responsibility, and this relationship, therefore requires that someone be qualified to act in this role. A sponsor certificate is a document given to the priest who will be celebrating the sacrament which assures him that a person is in good standing with the Church and acts according to the demands of faith. So the first requirement is that someone be a registered member of a parish community. They must also be at least sixteen years of age and must have received all three sacraments of initiation themselves, namely baptism, confirmation and Holy Communion. If they are married, it is expected that their marriage have taken place in the Church, before a priest (or deacon) and two witnesses. Finally, it would only make sense for someone to be a sponsor if they themselves are practicing their faith by participating at Mass weekly. Unfortunately, many people who have been asked to be a godparent or sponsor do not qualify to act in this role, and therefore a sponsor certificate cannot be given to them. We do deal with every request on an individual basis and can make exceptions if there is evidence that someone is willing to make changes which exemplify their commitment to faith, but we take this seriously and cannot give a sponsor certificate to someone if there is not enough time for this change to take place. I try to publish these requirements in this bulletin so that prospective parents or sponsors may be aware of them prior to asking someone to be in this role or prior to accepting this honor if not qualified. Please contact myself or Deacon Pat or Joan Berigan before asking someone to be a sponsor and well enough in advance if you have been asked to be a sponsor.
Pastor's Column for October 3, 2021
So here we are into October already. But this is my favorite time of the year. Now that our pets are blessed, we can move confidently through this fall season & enjoy God’s many blessing on us as well.
Please keep Deacon Pat & Joan Berigan in your prayers as they are on retreat this weekend. I will be on retreat myself next week from Sunday evening until Thursday so you can pray for me as well. This Tuesday, the priests of the Diocese will have a convocation (“a calling together”) with the Bishop for a day of prayer, fraternity and reflection on our ministry. Dr. Robert Wicks, a clinical psychologist & writer who is a well-known speaker, therapist & spiritual guide, will be speaking to us about the intersection of spirituality and psychology. We look forward to the wisdom he will share with us. Again, pray for us as we gather on this day.
This past week we celebrated the feast of St. Vincent de Paul which provided me the opportunity to reflect on the SVDP ministry that takes place here at St. Leo’s. First, thank you for your constant generosity as you drop off food in the baskets by the St. Vincent de Paul shrine in the back of the church, and for your constant donations in the boxes throughout the church which also goes to provide financially for this worthy cause. I also thank all the people of our parish who work quietly yet faithfully to put this food in bags & to distribute it each month to those in our neighborhood who need our help with this basic necessity of life. They are a constant inspiration to me of doing the most important work of the Lord who said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers & sisters, you are doing for me, for when I was hungry, you gave me to eat…” May God continue to bless them in this work of love and keep us mindful of the need to support them in this ministry through our constant donations which express our gratitude for all that God gives to us.
As COVID continues to surge, for your protection we have placed air purifiers in all the corners of the church which act as infection-control devices. These remove 99.99% of airborne particles, including pollen, bacteria, viruses and more and are left on all the time. We continue to pray for those who become infected with the coronavirus & especially for those who have died during this pandemic.
My special thanks to Joanne Deranek, our PSR (Parish School of Religion) Coordinator who does a great job in this ministry of Catholic education to our children, and to the teachers who volunteer their time to teach the faith and to witness to it by their own example. I am so grateful for their necessary ministry & invite anyone who would like to join them to contact the rectory office. PSR takes place on Monday evenings beginning at 6:45pm and is an important support to our parents who are “the first and best teachers in the ways of faith” (from the Rite of Baptism) to their children. I look forward to celebrating Mass with them Monday evening.
During the month of October, we dedicate these days to our Respect for Life. We also remember our Blessed Mother Mary during October as well, and these two intersect very well as who respected life more than the mother of the Author of all life? May Mary teach us the sacredness and beauty of life from the moment of conception until natural death, when we can finally join with her and all the saints to celebrate life eternally in God’s kingdom.
Pastor's Column for September 26, 2021
I have been requested to reserve the first pews on each center aisle for those who are elderly or handicapped in addition to the first two pews closest to the front doors of the church. These pews now have the same cushions that match the other pews that are currently reserved so they stand out as being reserved. Maybe some day we can get cushions for all the pews in the church to give you at least a little bit of relief during those long homilies. At any rate, we will bring Holy Communion to those in these first pews as we do to the others during both weekend and weekday Mass.
Thanks to John & Jeanne Sabol who have changed the archives display in the vestibule of the church with a series of photos about the visit of the Cleveland Browns to our school in 1987. It’s always interesting to see these highlights from years past.
I understand that someone has been placing political flyers on the cars in the parking lot during Mass on the weekend. We never give anyone permission to do this and it is done without our knowledge. If you happen to see anyone doing this, please let us know so that we can make it clear that this is not acceptable to us.
For centuries, people have asked the priests who celebrate Mass to pray in a special way for a particular person(s), living or deceased, or for a special intention. We have just opened up our Mass calendar for these intentions to be scheduled for the following 12 months, however we need to cut back on the number of Mass intentions an individual may request since we need to reserve some days for when I am on vacation or retreat or am not able to celebrate Mass due a scheduling conflict. So you may request one weekend Mass and one weekday Masses during the next year, but please note that we may need to reschedule an intention from time to time. The pastor is also obliged by canon law to offer one weekend Mass “Pro Populo” or for all the people of the parish so this also limits our weekend intentions. Thank you for your understanding.
Those who have lost a loved one are invited to join others in sharing their concerns, feelings & struggles as they face this challenging situation. These bereavement group meetings are from 2:00pm until 3:30pm in the Parish Center on the first Wednesday of each month. There are both men & women who attend. If you have any questions, please call Joan Berigan at the rectory office.
We received the sad news this past week that Bishop Anthony Pilla, Bishop emeritus of the Cleveland Diocese, died in his sleep at the age of 88. He was a holy priest and one loved by clergy and laity alike. He ordained me 35 years ago & so I am especially saddened by his absence among us. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced but let us pray for him as he did with and for us during his 25 year term as Bishop of Cleveland and in his retirement.
This Sunday, September 26th, is Michaela’s 9th birthday. That would make her 63 in human years, two years older than myself! But while she can still jump onto the bed (most of the time…the knees are starting to give way), I sit up & get out of the bed with aches in my back & less strength in my legs. We both still beg for treats and we both bark at people who annoy us. But she’s still more willing to go on long walks & quite capable at her job of protecting the property from all enemies, foreign & domestic. Hopefully you’ll see the new hair cut she got for her birthday…be sure to compliment her on that as girls really like us to notice.
Pastor's Column for September 19, 2021
Congratulations to Andrea Mendoza & Darren Joyce Jr. who are being married this weekend at St. Leo’s. May the Lord bless their marriage as they celebrate it in the atmosphere of faith.
Cora Dejelo will be taking over the responsibilities of being the 11am Sunday Mass Coordinator and I’m very grateful for her willingness to accept this invitation. At the same time, I want to express my profound gratitude to Doris Neylon who has been active in this role for many, many years…actually decades! The Mass Coordinator position was established to enable the priests to focus on the celebration of Mass without worrying about all of the details concerning the setup for each liturgy. This has been a tremendous help to priests over the years, and most especially to me as I enjoy using that time instead by saying hello and visiting briefly with those who are coming in the church before Mass. The person in this role determines the number of hosts that must be placed on the offertory table in the back of the church which are to be consecrated at that Mass, fills the communion cups with wine (when we are using them outside of COVID times), sets up the priests’ chalice and Roman missals, and makes sure the lectionary is setup correctly for the proclamation of God’s word. They also contact the liturgical ministers such as altar servers, lectors and Eucharistic ministers and makes sure everyone is present & ready for their liturgical ministry. Then after Mass, they make sure everything is cleaned up and locked up as well, along with many other details in-between. Again, I can’t express how important this is to the priest but also to the people of the parish who expect that the liturgy will be celebrated with all such details taken care of. Besides Doris, Loretta Mlady also retired from this ministry after many years of dedication to the 8am Sunday Mass. Chris Rath also participated in this ministry and I’m sure some others who were before my time. I am deeply grateful to them and to those who continue to serve generously in this ministry, especially Nancy Zola at the 4pm Saturday Mass & Ron Kollar at the 8am Sunday Mass, along with each of the weekday Masses. May God bless all of them for their generous time and faithful commitment over many years of service to God, the priests and the people of St. Leo.
This weekend we will be taking up another 2nd collection for those affected by Hurricane Ida. We are grateful for the recent donations to aid those who are in need as a result of these natural disasters.
Just a reminder that Confessions are heard on Saturday from 3pm until 3:30 AND on Sunday morning from 10:15am until about 10:45am. I am also happy to hear your confession any time by request or by appointment, which can be made by using the link on our website or by calling the rectory office.
We are looking to hire someone part-time as a housekeeper and lunch cook for the staff. We are also in need of another full-time maintenance worker, preferably someone young enough to keep up with our daily needs in the school, church, rectory and parish center buildings, along with some outside work. Please contact the rectory office if you or someone you know may be interested.