Pastor's Column for January 28, 2018

This should have gone in last week’s bulletin, but as I type this on Monday, January 22nd, we commemorate the sad anniversary which legalized abortion in the United States. Though the number of people opposed to abortion is on the rise, the number of unborn children who do not have the chance to experience this life is overwhelming. It is with sad- ness but hope that we continue to pray for an end to this culture of death.

When confronted with issues such as this where I feel so powerless, it helps to deal with another issue where there is something that can be done. As Congress continues to argue over immigration, I found an article about Immigration Reform in the latest Northeast Ohio Catholic Magazine. If you don’t have one delivered to your home, let us know & we can take care of that for you (no cost to you). We also have some extra copies in our rectory office (they are pub- lished 6 times a year). Here are two short paragraph’s from this article that summarized this complex issue:

“...the Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs that good government has two duties that must be carried out: to welcome the foreigner out of charity and respect for the human person and to secure one’s border and enforce the law for the sake of the common good.” And “Part of the problem is there are some misconceptions about crime being higher among the immigrant population. ‘That simply isn’t true,’...citing a study by the Washington D.C.-based Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, non-advocacy think tank. The study shows that the crime rate among the immigrant population is significantly lower than that of second-generation and native-born Americans.”

I wrote a letter to our Ohio Senators and our Congressional Representative which simply stated our Catholic belief about these two-fold duties of the government. I encourage you to write or email them yourself. Their addresses are found in the next column.

On January 19, Fr. Ron Bryda had the funeral Mass for Joseph Tocco whose sister Lisa is a member of the parish. Please remember them in your prayers.

Congratulations to Xian Monica Brenne Elise Jolly, a student in our parish school who was baptized last Sunday. She will be making her first Holy Communion this May. Welcome to our Church family Xian!

Today we celebrate Catholic Schools Week, beginning with an Open House from 10am until 1pm for our Preschool and Elementary Schools. Feel free to stop in and see how our children are receiving an excellent education coupled with a faith-based environment. In our 8 county diocese, there are 20 Catholic High Schools, 94 Catholic Elementary Schools and 60 Preschools which total 44,000 students, making it the largest school system in the state of Ohio. We are so blessed to be one of those parishes with a school! May our children flourish because of it. 

Pastor's Column for January 21, 2018

Before I forget, may I ask you to pray for Stella, Rose, Mildred, Fran, & Mary Jane? These are all parishioners whom I have anointed or visited recently & I promised your prayers for them.

Gail Ryan was a longtime member of the parish who had been living in the home of her son and daughter-in-law for several months. She passed away on January 7th and we celebrated her Funeral Mass on Saturday, January 13th. She was a devoted Catholic who held bible study’s in her home, prayed the rosary daily and would never miss Mass when she was physically able to attend. Her son Jay spoke beautifully about her at the funeral and we extend to him and to his wife and 5 children our sympathies and our prayers.

Here’s a bulletin correction: I misspelled the name of one of the twin girls who were baptized last Sunday. Both parents and both girls have names that begin with K (now I keep thinking of the jingle in that commercial for Kay Jewelers that goes, “Every kiss begins with Kay.” I bet that jingle will be in my mind the rest of the day now!). Anyway, I typed “Karson Joan Wheeler” instead of “Karsyn Joan Wheeler.” It was spelled that way in the bulletin because it was spelled that way on the registration form and it was spelled that way on the baptismal certificate. At least I’m consistent. When I’m wrong, I’m wrong everywhere.

So in last week’s bulletin I spoke about why we have parish boundaries and I said I would point out the advantages to being registered in a parish (or parishes). First, being registered (which simply means we have basic information about you in our files like your address, family members, etc.), allows us to know who officially “belongs” to our parish community. This census information helps us to know the size of the parish so that we can plan accordingly. It also helps you because if and when you are asked to be a sponsor or godparent for someone being baptized or confirmed, it is required that you be registered in our parish in order for you to receive a sponsor certificate which gives the assurance that you are a full-fledged, practicing member of the parish & so qualified to act as a sponsor. Being registered also helps when someone is getting married or is requesting another sacrament or when it is time to plan a funeral. You can do this in the rectory office or after Mass at the Information Desk in the vestibule or even online at our website. It’s just a short form to fill out and it will help you and us to know that we are responsible for your spiritual care. So make it official and we’ll make sure that we spell your name right. 

Pastor's Column for January 14, 2018

Ralph Young was married to his wife Mary Ann for 56 years and they have 2 children: Jim & Lisa. Ralph died on New Year’s Day and we celebrated his Funeral Mass last Saturday. He was honored by his son’s words who learned so much from his dad. Ralph also served in the Army and so received military honors. We commend him to the Lord who has promised to raise us up to new life. May he Rest In Peace.

We return now to the Ordinary Time of the Church year until we enter Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 14th. The colors of white, green & violet signal what liturgical time we are presently in. So we’ll be seeing green for a few weeks...at least inside. I don’t suspect we’ll be seeing green outside for a couple more months. Green inside, white outside.

Congratulations to Kevin & Karyn on the baptism of their twin girls, both of whom have first names that also begin with...K: Kamryn & Karson. My mom used to use the wrong name for us when she was flustered and upset with one of us. She would either call me by my brother’s name (fine with me if I was the one causing the trouble!) or even by the name of her brother “Nunzie (from the Italian “Nunzio.”) Either way, I’d just pretend she was talking to someone else. But I hope that Kevin & Karyn will keep Kamyrn & Karson straight. God’s blessings on these two beautiful children and their wonderful parents.

I mentioned in last week’s column that we are celebrating our 70th Anniversary as a parish this year. You will see a logo to this effect on the front of our bulletin and on our website. So here’s a little information that I got from our 1988 anniversary booklet (when the parish celebrated it’s 40th anniversary): The first Mass of St. Leo’s was celebrated in the Ben Franklin School Auditorium (since there was no church yet) on Sunday, October 17, 1948. There was a simple announcement made in the bulletin of the former Our Lady of Good Council parish which said that St. Leo’s was a new parish in the area & then it gave the territorial “boundaries” which determined if you were to belong to this parish or not. In those days, it was expected that you would register and attend the church that was determined according to where you lived. Today, Catholics are still encouraged to attend the church in whose boundaries they live, but they are also free to register and attend whatever church (or churches) that is of their choosing. The reason for territorial boundaries is more for the Pastor than it is for the people. It tells the Pastor: “You are responsible for the spiritual and pastoral care of the Catholics who live in these boundaries, on these particular streets.” There are also parishes which are meant to serve not those in a certain territory but those of a particular ethnic background. Next week I’ll suggest reasons for why it’s a good idea for you to be a registered member of the parish. 

Pastor's Column for January 7, 2018

Debbie Staskiews lived in a house on Silverdale, just behind the fence on our property. Debbie fell about a week before Christmas and was not able to recover. We celebrated a Mass of Christian Burial for her on Saturday, December 30th and we remember her daughter Lexy in our prayers as well. Debbie’s husband Daniel had been in Parma Nursing Care for several years and she was faithful to visiting him. Daniel died this past June and now we pray they may be together again where they can give praise to God in their new heavenly home.

This past Wednesday I had the funeral for Edward Steadley, a 96 year old parishioner who died peacefully with his family at his side. Family was the center of his life. He was married for 68 years, had 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren! The love of Ed and his wife Mary Ellen (who died in 2010) bore great fruit. He attended Holy Name where he made All Scholastic in Football, Basketball & Baseball & was inducted into their Hall of Fame. May he and his wife Rest In Peace.

Along with those who decorated the church so beautiful- ly for Christmas & all of our faithful liturgical ministers who serve throughout the year, I must also thank Mickey Stitt, Julie Slattery, Rick Wiegand and all the members of the choir who really gave Glory to God in the Highest through their many hours of preparation for our Christmas liturgies. After a couple of the liturgies, many members of the congregation applauded as an expression of their appreciation so let me applaud them as well for using their gifts to help us pray on so great a feast.

This year we are celebrating our 70th Anniversary as a Parish. We were founded in 1948. Of course our bigger celebration will be in 5 years when we celebrate our 75th anniversary but we wanted to acknowledge this milestone as well. You’ll see a special 70th Anniversary logo on our website and on the front of the bulletin during the year. And in the vestibule of the church, we will have a couple of display cases in which you can see photos and other objects that recall the history of our parish (you can enjoy these especially when we serve coffee & donuts). We want to remember all those who have made St. Leo possible over the years. Someone suggested that we add a comma after the name of our church so that instead of reading “St. Leo the Great Church,” we would instead see “St. Leo, the Great Church!” That works for me! You are a great Church, a great people who make St. Leo what it is today, as we add to the great people who made St. Leo what it has been since its founding 70 years ago. May God bless us in what we hope will be many years ahead of us.