Pastor's Blog for March 1, 2020

William Gleason was a man who was loved to tell people that he was a grandpa. The 4 grandchildren liked to play at his house & he would spoil them with treats. We had a funeral service in our chapel for Bill on Friday, February 21st where there were many who came to pray for him. We extend our sympathy to his wife Judy and to their children, Devon & Shane. As a hard working man who had a great sense of humor, he will be missed but not forgotten. May he rest in peace.

Marge Menge had suffered from cancer for almost 2 years. I anointed her when she had surgery in August of 2018 and most recently on Monday, February 17th, the day before she died. She is honored by her husband of 49 years and by her 4 children & 8 grandchildren. Marge had a devotion to Mary & prayed the rosary often. She attended Mass faithfully or watched it at home when she was too ill to be with us in church. I will remember her as a person of faith who loved her family deeply. Her funeral Mass was last Monday, February 24th. Mary, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Congratulations to Michael Tierney who has responded to the gift of faith and so will be Confirmed and receive the Eucharist for the first time at the 4pm Mass this weekend. May he continue to let the grace of God make him holy as a disciple and friend of Christ.

Thanks to John & Jeanne Sabol who have changed the display in the church vestibule to show visits from former bishops of Cleveland to St. Leo’s...from Archbishop Hoban to Bishop Lyke, Bishop Pilla and Bishop Perez. We are looking for photos of weddings that have taken place in our church (the old or the new) over the years so if you can share those with us, we will scan them & then return the originals to you.

My trip to the Holy Land is now official as you will see from the large posters that can be seen in the church. It will be for 10 days and 8 nights from May 11th through May 20th, 2021. That’s just a bit over a year from now so you can save up! The cost is very reasonable: $3400 which includes airfare, 5 star hotels, 2 meals a day (breakfast & dinner), fees to all the sites we will visit in air-conditioned motor coaches, and all gratuities. Someone from Trinity Tour Travels (they were born in Bethlehem) will be here this month to answer any questions you may have about the tour and give you more information about it. I’ll announce that date as soon as it is scheduled. I am very excited about this pilgrimage as I have never been to the Holy Land and I’ve heard so much about it over the years. So please let me know if you are interested (no commitment necessary at this time) so I can put you on a list for the sake of communica- tion. You can also call the rectory office to let them know. I’ll put some information about it on our website as well.

I am happy to say that almost all of our graduating eighth graders will be attending a Catholic high school next year. We are proud of all of them and again congratulate those who were confirmed last Saturday.

Pastor's Blog for February 23, 2020

William Megesi was 100 years old and his family had a wonderful birthday party for him back in September to celebrate his centennial life. But we celebrated his entrance into eternal life this past Wednesday and remembered how he served his country and his neighbor. Bill was a veteran during the Second World War & while in the Navy, was on a destroyer that was hit by a torpedo. It’s amazing that his life was spared. He was a religious man who attended Mass regularly until he could no longer do so at the age of 98. As a parishioner of St. Leo’s since 1964, he was a faithful member of the Church. May he who put himself into God’s hands, now find an eternal dwelling place in God’s kingdom.

Our parish welcomes Abbot Gary Hoover this weekend as he celebrates the Sacrament of Confirmation for several of our eighth grade students during the 4pm Mass on Saturday. I am deeply grateful to all those who were responsible for the confirmandi’s preparation for this sacrament and pray that the newly-confirmed will live out their Catholic faith as they grow in their personal relationship with Jesus who bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit on them.

This week we begin the Lenten Time of the year with our celebration of Ash Wednesday. Mass will be celebrated at 8:30am with the school community (all are welcome to this Mass) as well as at 7pm. We will also have a brief service (not Mass) at Noon for those who cannot attend in the morn- ing or evening. Ashes will be distributed as a sign of our repentance as we remember our baptism when the priest first made the sign of the cross on our foreheads, along with our parents & godparents.

There are two days of fasting in the entire church year... Ash Wednesday & Good Friday. While we abstain from eating meat (called “abstinence”) on each Friday of Lent, we fast only on these two days, which means that we have only 2 -3 small meals with no eating in-between (and of course no meat). Our hunger during this very short fasting time is meant to remind us of our hunger for God. We recall that Jesus himself fasted (a much more severe withdrawal from food) for 40 days in the desert.

Our abstaining from meat is admittedly not much of a sacrifice at a time in history when we have seafood meals and restaurants so readily available to us but the act of not eating meat is not meant so much to be a sacrifice but a conscious reminder of extending charity to others. We are able to do this when we are present to each other at community meals such as our Fish Fry’s, which begin this Friday in Lux Hall. Details are in this bulletin.

Don’t forget that on Fridays of Lent we pray the Stations of the Cross at 7pm so please join us in the church for a few minutes after you have enjoyed your meal in Lux Hall. Deacon Pat and I will again lead these times of prayer, using various forms of this reflection on Christ’s suffering & death. I am delighted that we were able to arrange for lights to be added this week which will shine over our beautiful mosaic images which make up our Stations which previously just blended into the wall. It took some time & creative effort to get this done but I believe we’ll be very happy with the results.

Pastor's Blog for February 16, 2020

I failed to mention in last week’s bulletin that Deacon Pat would be leading the Catholic Charities Annual Appeal in my absence (as he did last year when I was recuperating from surgery). And I have come to expect that you responded very generously to our appeal for this worthy cause. With so many institutions asking for our financial help, it can be over- whelming trying to choose which causes we wish to support as so many people in many different circumstances are in need. While I believe strongly in the various specific charities we have even here in our own parish of St. Leo’s, such as buying gifts for children at Christmastime or contributing to the baby bottle campaign which we introduced just a few weeks ago, what I like about Catholic Charities is its broad outreach to so many different people and needs, but within our own Diocese of Cleveland here in Northeast Ohio. I never hesitate to commit myself to this local charitable organ- ization and again thank you for considering participating in it according to your means, if you are able. If you did not have the opportunity to be a part of the appeal last weekend, you can fill out an envelope which we will have available in the church as well as in our rectory office.

We offer our sympathy to Diane Buccier, a longtime teacher in our parish school, on the sudden illness and death of her mother, Genevieve Plona, who was 90 years old. Many of our teachers and school staff were there to offer their prayerful support to Diane and we commend her mother Gene to God’s gracious love and mercy.

We also extend our condolences to Brenda Basalla, our Business Manager, and to her mother, Betty Clancy, who works in our rectory office, on the sudden death of their father and husband, respectively. Though Larry Clancy had been in declining health, his sudden death brings great sadness to his family and to their many friends. I had visited with Larry at his home as he and Betty would enjoy watching Michaela for me on my day off and during some vacations. Michaela loved to sit on Larry’s lap and he enjoyed her company as well. Larry was a man I was happy to know and he will be remembered fondly. Fr. Russ Lowe, a relative, celebrated the funeral Mass at Our Lady of Angels and I was present to concelebrate. May God’s peace be with Betty and Brenda as I thank God for their presence on our parish staff.

Congratulations to Kyle and Sara Hunter on the baptism of their son Liam this Sunday. We will also be celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony for Liam’s godparents, Joseph & Samantha Fondriest. May God’s grace be with each of them as they enter ever deeper into a relationship with the one who has always loved us.

The parish office will be closed on Monday in honor of Presidents Day, a civil holiday. And please pray for Archbishop-Elect Nelson Perez as he is installed as the new Archbishop of Philadelphia this Tuesday, February 18th. While I am very sad to lose him as the shepherd of our Diocese, I trust that God’s plan will be for the good of all. As of Tuesday, we will not be praying for our local bishop during the Eucharistic Prayer until a new one has been named by Pope Francis, which is likely several weeks or months away.

Pastor's Blog for February 9, 2020

On January 27th we celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for Betty Ann Maulorico. She, along with her husband Ben of 61 years, had served as an Eucharistic Minister in our parish. Betty Ann was devout in her Catholic Faith which she passed on to her 3 children (she and Ben also had 6 grandchildren and a great-grandchild). Her son Ben offered some beautiful Words of Remembrance for her at the Funeral Mass. May she receive now her reward in God’s kingdom.

It takes several weeks before we know the final results of the Parish Festival in October as all the bills have to be received and paid but I can now tell you that our final profit was $26,887.81, which is quite an increase from years past so my sincere thank you to all who worked the festival in any way, especially to those on the planning team, and to all who participated. It’s not only a wonderful financial boost but even more importantly it contributes to our togetherness as a community as we welcome those in our neighborhood to experience our parish.

I’m grateful to Fr. Vesely who will be celebrating the 4pm Mass this weekend & as always to Fr. O’Grady who will be assisted by Deacon Berigan at the 8am & 11am Masses this weekend. I will be away at my sister’s home in Florida and will also have the opportunity to visit with some friends who live in Fort Myers. While I’m there I will be mindful that it has been one year (on February 11th) since my surgery and I trust that my blood work will still show me to be cancer free when I see my urologist next month. I also continue to be mindful of your prayerful support during that time & I ask the Lord to allow that experience to help me to be a better support for others in the parish who are suffering from any illness, especially from cancer. In fact this past week on February 4th, I was reminded of World Cancer Day which seeks to bring a greater awareness and education to people for the sake of preventable cancer deaths. I still have mementoes given to me at that time from parishioners which remind me of that illness...a statue and a coin of St. Peregrine, patron of cancer patients, a prayer blanket from Padua Franciscan High School, a lap afghan (which my grandmother used to make) and many cards that were sent pledging prayers. All of these serve to remind me of your gracious support and also of my need now to do the same for others. St. Peregrine was scheduled to have his leg amputat- ed because of a cancerous growth. The night before the surgery, he prayed for healing, received a vision of Christ coming down from the cross to touch his leg and was completely healed. A victim of cancer himself, St. Peregrine not only had to accept the reality of his illness, but also the instantaneous healing of that disease through the intercession of Christ. For this reason, he is invoked for medical breakthroughs as well as for those suffering from cancer and other incurable diseases. His feast day is May 4th. St. Peregrine, pray for us.