Thank you again for your consideration of the Annual Catholic Charities Appeal from last weekend. If you weren’t able to be with us, you can still participate by filling out an envelope that will be in your pew this weekend & then place it in the collection basket or give it to the receptionist at the Information Desk in the vestibule after Mass. You can also do this online by going to our website, leothegreat.org, and clicking on the “Donate Here” button. I am proud of your generosity which has always allowed us to reach the contribution goal set for our parish by the Diocese.
This weekend we welcome Bishop Martin Amos who will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation for a number of our young people during the 4pm Mass on Saturday. We pledge our prayerful support and our example of faith to these students who are receiving the sacramental gift of the Holy Spirit. May they live with courage and commitment the faith they choose to embrace now, a faith passed on to them by their parents when they were baptized. May the same Spirit continue to help each of us to witness to Jesus in everyday life.
This past Friday I celebrated the funeral Mass for Jeanne Karasek. Jeanne was a wonderful woman who has been in the nursing home for quite some time now though she could be seen (and heard) at the 8am Sunday Mass every week prior to that. I say she could be heard because she would say hello to me from across the church & let me know how much she appreciated being at Mass & learning about Jesus. She spoke in such a way that she had a song in her voice, and indeed she had a song of faith in her heart too. I am deeply grateful to Mary & Rick Riccardi who took such great care of her when no one else was available to do so, especially during Jeanne’s time in the nursing home. I know they would not want this attention to their charitable works but I feel the need to thank them for their great example of living the faith in this way. May God reward them and Jeanne for a faith well lived .
This Wednesday, March 2nd, we begin the holy season of Lent with our celebration of Ash Wednesday. You are encouraged to join us at for the 8:30am parish school Mass or for the 7:00 Mass in the evening. We will also have a Liturgy of the Word Service at Noon with the Distribution of Ashes for those who might find that time more convenient. Please see the bulletin for guidance regarding fasting (on Ash Wednesday & Good Friday) and abstaining from meat (on all Fridays of Lent). We will also have Stations of the Cross each Friday during Lent at 7pm, following our weekly Fish Fry (where we will finally be able to sit down to enjoy the meal with fellow parishioners & visitors again). Information about all of these things will be available in our bulletin & on our website.
I heard that Rose Pelley, a longtime parishioner of ours who has been living with her daughter in Pennsylvania in recent years, just turned 100 years old last week. Happy Birthday to her! I know that she thinks of us often & we just wanted to let her know we continue to think of her as well & keep her in our prayers. May God bless this new centenarian!
We also wish Deacon Pat Berigan a belated Happy 69th Birthday. We continue to appreciate his diaconal ministry & the ministry of his wife Joan here at St. Leo’s. They are a great help to me and a blessing to our parish community. May the Lord give good health to them both so that they can continue to serve here for a long, long, long time to come.
Pastor's Column for February 20, 2022
I spoke with someone regarding our speaker situation in the church. We both agreed that the system we currently have is working pretty well for us, though we will be adding a small speaker that faces the sanctuary (altar) area so that Deacon Pat & I can hear better as all the speakers are currently facing the nave where the people sit. He made a couple of adjustments to my wireless microphone so that it won’t cut out (there was interference with something else) & raised the volume a little bit. But it seems that lectors, cantors & musicians are not always speaking close enough to the microphone or projecting their voice sufficiently as the feedback I received from several people was that most of us can be heard loud & clear but that some people have a voice that is on the softer side. So I’ll just ask the cantors & lectors to speak a bit louder & closer to the microphone but also ask you to give them some feedback (excuse the pun) if you are finding it difficult to hear or understand them.
I received a good response from people regarding the open positions we have for workers in the parish and believe we now have the people in place who will make good additions to our rectory and school staff. I just received an email from the Finance Office of the Diocese letting the priests know that they are aware that many of us are looking to hire more employees and offering their assistance so this is something commonplace in parishes throughout the Diocese. I do ask however that you also consider volunteering in the parish if you have a gift that you think would be beneficial for the community. It can be anything at all that you believe you are good at or that you enjoy doing. Just let me know what you may be interested in contributing & I’ll be happy to keep a list for future reference. We hear in the Scriptures that God gives everyone certain gifts and talents for the sake of the building up of the community. What a wonderful thing it is for me to hear someone say that they would like to contribute in some way, based on what God has given them. So please keep that in mind.
Last week I celebrated the funeral Mass for Irene Venesky, a long-time parishioner of St. Leo’s who has lived away from the parish in recent years due to her health. Irene was a very gentle soul who would help out with socials when we had First Communion and Confirmation celebrations and for other occasions. She donated several of the statues we have in our church in memory of her sister Catherine who died some years ago. May she now rest with the saints in God’s heavenly kingdom.
We welcome three of our parish school students who received the sacraments of initiation at our Monday morning Mass last week: Alexandra, Andrea & John Tehoke. They were all baptized, confirmed and received their first Holy Communion during that Mass on Valentine’s Day, a good day to celebrate the love God has for them and the love we strive to have for God and for our neighbor. We are happy to have them as part of our Catholic Faith and as members of our parish community here at St. Leo’s.
Congratulations to the parents of Mila Rogers who is being baptized this Sunday after the 11am Mass. We also rejoice in her new relationship with Christ and the Church and ask God to bless her parents who will be her first and best teachers in the ways of faith.
This weekend we have our annual Catholic Charities Appeal. I can’t stress enough how important this is to the many needy people in our own Diocese who will benefit from our financial help. Thank you in advance for your generosity in meeting the needs of our neighbors.
Pastor's Column for February 13, 2022
It is sometimes difficult for me to hear what is being proclaimed by the lectors, cantors or Deacon Pat when they are at the pulpit, mostly because we have one speaker facing the music area of the church and only two speakers facing the nave where you are seated. I am looking into the possibility of installing a speaker facing those of us in the sanctuary (altar area) and possibly installing a couple of speakers in the rear of the church for those of you who sit in the back pews (though it would be more difficult for you to sleep back there). I would appreciate any feedback you could offer me…can you hear the lectors, deacon, organists, cantors and myself clearly and loudly, or could we improve on that? Of course everyone has different hearing abilities but I want to make sure everyone can hear without difficulty so please let myself or Deacon Pat know if what we have is sufficient for you or if you think additional speakers would be helpful.
John & Jeannie Sabol have changed the pictures in the display cabinet located in the vestibule to show photos from the parish’s 40 anniversary so take a look when you’re able. They reminded me that we are celebrating our 75th anniversary next year in 2023 so we’ll need to start preparing for that milestone this year.
We certainly have had our fair share of snow recently, making up for a non-white Christmas when the angels were suppose to sprinkle just enough snow to make for a nice Christmas celebration. Somewhere the communication was lacking. I believe that was Deacon Pat’s job. Anyway, I appreciate your accommodations in dealing with the parking lot & sidewalks after it has snowed so much. We have a new company that plows this year as the people doing it in previous years moved to Florida (can’t blame them). So it always takes time to make the necessary adjustments when working with a new company.
Like so many other companies & institutions, we are struggling to find and hire people that we really need to work at the parish. Specifically, we are looking for at least 2-3 people to add to our maintenance staff as we only have 2 full time and 1 part time person presently, and we need maintenance personnel to work in the school as well as in the rectory, church and parish center. All of our buildings are used on a regular basis and need to be cleaned with so many using these facilities. It’s been quite a struggle to keep up. We are also looking for some housekeeping help and for a part-time cook (with the promise that no vegetables will be harmed in the making of meals). We can always use more help in the rectory office as well. We pay a fair wage and offer benefits (health insurance and pension) to full time employees and we like everyone to enjoy what they are doing, to see how important their work is, and to know they are working with others who enjoy having them as part of our parish staff. So please, if you know of someone who needs a job, full or part time, please mention our needs to them and have them contact me so I can give them more information. Anyone who is high-school age or older can apply for we have a variety of positions available right now. If you need or want to work, even for a limited number of hours per week, and aren’t sure where you can fit in, feel free to come in & talk about where you might be needed. I want to keep our buildings & grounds as clean and attractive as possible and to make our parish responsive to your needs but it takes a lot of workers to aim for these goals in our active parish. Please spread the word.
Pastor's Column for February 6, 2022
On Friday, January 28th, I celebrated the funeral of Dorothy Kaminski, the mother of Tracy & Kelly and the grandmother of Quentin, who graduated from our parish school here at St. Leo’s. His grandmother, whom he called Nana, was very proud of him and was able to celebrate his 21st birthday with him. “Dottie,” as she was called, worked as a bus driver along with her husband Roy. She loved spending time at the bus garage with her friends, but eventually she was diagnosed with MS and could no longer work. We pray that she may now be free from all the limitations of our human condition in order to enjoy the life of God’s heavenly kingdom.
The following day I had the funeral Mass for Shirley Ferraro whose death was sudden and unexpected. Fr. Ned Weist, former pastor of St. Leo’s, joined us for the celebration of her life. I would greet Shirley and her husband Richard (of 57 years) as they entered the church for Mass each week and Shirley would always greet me with a smile. I met their 3 daughters, all of whom attended our parish school. Every night Shirley would text them and her grandchildren to remind them of her love for them. Shirley was a Eucharistic Minister at our parish and prayed the rosary daily, so we trust that Mary prayed for her, especially at the hour of her death. May she now know the Lord whose Body she distributed to others. Miriam Fontaine was also a long time and faithful member of the parish. I first met her when her husband Marty died during my first year here at St. Leo’s in 2014. They had 2 sons and were happily married for 59 years.
Miriam would always sit in the first pew in front of the tabernacle & she would be the first one I would see and greet before the 4pm Mass. Miriam sang in our parish choir and loved different types of music. For several years she also sang in our resurrection choir which would sing during our funeral Masses. She also loved working in her garden, planting roses and flowers of every color. As a member of the Golden Ager’s Club here at St. Leo’s, she made many friends with the other senior members of the parish. We trust that her friends in heaven, especially the Virgin Mary, St. Ann & St. Gerard, will now welcome her to God’s house.
This past Tuesday we gathered to remember the life of Joseph Mackey who leaves behind his wife Judy and 3 children, William, Bethany & Amy. Though Joe was not Catholic, he supported the Catholic education of his children. Joe’s obituary was filled with beautiful remembrances of his meaningful life as he built a family and a circle of friends who were like family to him. He was a man of service to others in many different ways…as a coach for high school bowlers, as a scout and neighborhood block captain for safety and as a worker who enjoyed not only his job but the people he met along the way. His obituary ended with these words: “Joe’s impact will be felt by many for a long time to come. The relationships he had became friendships he cherished. His legacy carries on in the character and work ethics instilled in his children, those he mentored and in the example he set for those who knew him.” May he find a rich reward in God’s kingdom.
Finally, Fr. Tom Dragga, a former parochial vicar here at St. Leo’s, celebrated the funeral Mass for Mark James, whom he knew during his time here. We extend our sympathies & promise our prayers to Mark’s wife and family as they also mourn one who served the community well.
Deacon Pat and I will be happy to bless throats after the Masses this weekend in commemoration of St. Blaise whose feast we celebrated this past Thursday.