Pastor's Column for April 1, 2018

Father Vesely and I wish all of the parishioners of St. Leo the Great a very Happy Easter, along with those who are visiting with us today. We hope that the beauty of the music, the flowers, and especially of God’s people gathered together for worship, will encourage you to keep joining us through- out the year. Every Sunday we celebrate Easter for every Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. It’s not just a miraculous event that happened many years ago. It is a promise that we too will be raised to share eternal life with God and one another. It is the permanent sign of God’s love and mercy. It is the Father’s answer to the sacrifice of Christ to the Father and of his self-giving to us. In a word, it is everything. Nothing else would matter much without that historical event and all that it means for humanity. How could we possibly celebrate that on just one Sunday a year?

Every funeral I celebrate here is also a sign of Easter for the grieving members of our parish. On March 22nd we had the funeral Mass for Wanda Leciejewski who was a member of our St. Leo’s Seniors. She celebrated her 90th birthday last August and has been driving (even to church) up to the time she suddenly took ill. Her 3 children and some other family members were present when I anointed her and when we prayed the Last Rites for her in the hospital. She left this world surrounded by her loved ones. May she now be surrounded by the saints whose intercession we called upon in the hours before her death.

Anna Tulenew also lead a very full and useful life. Her funeral Mass was on March 23rd. Her daughter Olga wrote a very beautiful eulogy and her family honored her with roses placed on her casket and they expressed their thanks to her and for her. I had also anointed Anna and prayed the Last Rites for her while she was in the nursing home so she too received the prayerful support of the Church. Anna was known as “Babsa” and was revered by her family. May she and all of our departed parishioners celebrate forever the Easter that is eternal in heaven.

Several parishioners and staff members have been visit- ing Father Vesely at Mount Alverna and he thanks you all for your cards and prayers. His therapy is hard work and as many know, the progress seems slow. So please keep supporting him as we wait for him to return to us.

By now you should have received our Spring edition of the News & Views Newsletter. John Sabol and his crew have done another fantastic job as they interviewed some members of the parish (and Church), new and not so new (I’m quite the diplomat). We also have a digital copy online at our website. Thanks to all who contributed to this latest edition. 

Pastor's Column for March 25, 2018

Mary Loar has been in a nursing home since I’ve been pastor here at St. Leo’s so I did not know her personally. But at her funeral Mass on March 16th, we celebrated Mary’s long life of 94 years. She was also married for 67 of those years and when her husband Glenn was baptized and con- firmed at St. Leo’s about 18 years before he died, they also had their marriage blessed here. Mary loved to come to church & so we need to pray for her who prayed with us. She has 3 children & several grandchildren who honored her memory. May she rest in God’s peace.

Don’t forget about our annual Pancake Breakfast which will be available in Lux Hall between the 8 & 11am Masses on Sunday. Just be careful the pancakes don’t make you too drowsy during the 11am Mass or I’ll have to scream at the pulpit to wake you up.

Though I still have the taste of corned beef in my mouth from St. Patrick’s Day, I still think about the great food served at our Fish Fry’s this Lent & express my gratitude to all who worked hard to make them possible, especially those behind the scenes who set up, worked in the kitchen or at the carry-out in the cafeteria, and of course those who served at the line. God bless you all for allowing us the opportunity to enjoy a good meal and each other’s company again this year.

Last Saturday we celebrated the 65th Wedding Anniversary of Giovanni (John) & Irma Zappitelli at the 4pm Mass. Yes, we blessed these two Italians on St. Patrick’s Day! But they are wonderful people (aren’t all Italians?) who were born in Italy & came to the United States after they were married. We are very blessed to have them as members of the parish for many years and their presence is enjoyed by the members of the St. Leo’s Seniors. God’s blessings on them!

If you would like to take advantage of the gift of God’s mercy before Easter, we will be hearing confessions this Tuesday at 11am and this Wednesday at 1pm. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be at 7pm on Holy Thursday and the Solemn Celebration of the Lord’s Passion will be at 3pm Good Friday. We will also have the student’s Passion Play on Friday at Noon and Stations of the Cross Friday evening at 7pm. Please note that our Easter Vigil Mass will be an hour and a half earlier this Holy Saturday, beginning at 7:30pm (and of course there will be no confessions or 4pm Mass on Saturday afternoon). The Food Blessing will take place at Noon on Holy Saturday. We will be adding an additional Mass on Easter Sunday so Mass will be at 8am, 9:30am and 11:00am. We look forward to having you join us for the great feast of the Resurrection. 

Pastor's Column for March 18, 2018

Jerry Bresnahan and his wife Gail were married for 53 years, had 5 children & 20 grandchildren. I visited with them at their home and anointed them about 3 years ago and found them to be delightful people. I have since learned that they both worked in our school for several years as they wanted their children to attend Catholic school, and they were both active parishioners in other ways as well. Jerry, whose funeral Mass took place last Monday, was a Eucharistic Minister for 26 years so it was fitting that we would remember him and pray for him while celebrating the Eucharist that he both distributed and received when he was healthy and when he was ill. We extend our sympathies to Gail and to their chil- dren.

I have been having Mass at Mount Alverna on Tuesday mornings, substituting for Fr. Vesely while he is in rehab there, and he was able to concelebrate this past Tuesday. He is doing very well but the rehab is taking longer than what we originally thought (isn’t that always the case?). So please keep praying for him that he may return to us soon.

Once again Lent seems to be flying by so fast. Next Sunday is Palm or Passion Sunday and that begins Holy Week. Please be sure to pick up some palms as you enter the church. We will bless them at the beginning of Mass & then you can take them home. You usually see them behind a crucifix on the wall. And according to ancient tradition, we have a wonderful Pancake breakfast in Lux Hall on Palm Sunday every year so please plan on joining us for that as well. Our last Fish Fry will be this Friday, March 23rd as we do not have a Fish Fry on Good Friday which will be March 30th.

Remember our other wonderful tradition of collecting items for children through our Have a Heart, Lend a Hand Lenten opportunity. You can bring the items to the School Cafeteria next weekend.

One last call for our Trip to Italy this October. The registrations are due in April so if you would like to join the 10 people from our parish who are already registered, please be sure to see or call me for more information.

We’re hoping to give the church floor a good cleaning before Easter. You’ve heard the expression, “This floor is so clean you can eat off of it!” Well, we know many of you will be bringing Easter baskets of food to be blessed on Holy Saturday. You’ll probably be tempted to eat it off the church floor it will be so clean. But don’t do that. We want to keep it clean for Easter Day. 

Pastor's Column for March 11, 2018

Margaret Neff was a very active and outgoing parishioner who served as a Eucharistic Minister and then received Holy Communion at home when she could not come to church. Her funeral Mass was celebrated last Monday and we express our sympathy to her 3 children. Margaret really lived her life helping others and being present to them and so stands as a reminder to us all of our call to do the same. May she receive her reward from God.

This weekend Bishop Gries will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation at the 4pm Mass for several of our young people. We welcome him and congratulate those who will be receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit who will guide them in their lives of faith. Thanks to all those who have been responsible for their religious education and especially their preparation for this final sacrament of initiation into the Catholic Church. Please pray for these and for all of the young people of our parish.

Fr. Vesely is currently at Mount Alverna on State Road for physical therapy and should be returning to us soon. A couple weeks ago his knee was swollen and a visit to the hospital showed that it was caused by arthri- tis (and gratefully, nothing more serious such as an infection). But he is in need of therapy before he comes home so please say a prayer for him that he may heal quickly.

Both of my girls had a trip to the vet last week for a dental exam and cleaning. They needed to extract one tooth from Abby and two from Michaela but they have nice white teeth now and don’t need doggy dentures. When we arrived at the vet I put Michaela on her leash & she was so excited to get out of the car & sniff around outside but as soon as I opened the door to the vet clinic, she suddenly realized where she was & the tail went down quickly and she looked at me with those sad eyes as if I had betrayed her. I had to even walk with her to the back room as she wouldn’t budge when the nurse took hold of her leash. Abby was in a little carrier so she was easy to deal with but she wasn’t too happy when they took her out or when they tried to put her back in. But the ride home & some food quickly took care of her bad mood. Food usually does that for me too. 

Pastor's Column for March 4, 2018

The Fish Fry’s have been wonderful so far. True to the tradition, the food is delicious & the prices very reasonable. This is the report I hear from many who travel to different Fish Fry’s in the area. It’s great to see so many parishioners working so well together every year for this event. I wish I could say this to each one personally but at least here I say it to you all: thank you for your time and effort in providing our parish and local community the opportunity to enjoy a good meal & the companionship of one another. This past Friday we had the option to enjoy a lobster dinner which re- ally rivaled that of local seafood restaurants. And we’ll be having another one in a couple of weeks so be sure to see the bulletin for details so you can order your ticket in advance.

As you are reminded by the special logo on our bulletin cover & on our website, we are celebrating our 70th Anni- versary as a Parish this year. I’ve asked John Sabol, who is our parish archivist, if he could assemble some pictures from our history that would be enjoyable to view throughout the year. He has not disappointed! He and his wife Jeanne have set up this wonderful display in the vestibule of the church (the display case was donated by my dad who is thrilled we can use it to good purpose here at the church). There is a large picture over the display which shows parishioners building the first temporary church so that Mass could be celebrated here on the new property. Then there are interest- ing pictures displayed in the glass case which are described on little cards next to them. These pictures will be on display all year but will be changed with new ones periodically. You can enjoy them especially when we offer coffee & donuts in the vestibule but please stop by there anytime before or after Mass & take a look. I’ll try to mention some of the highlights in this column. Our thanks to John & Jeanne for their great work on this!

You’ll begin to see our Holy Week schedule in the bulle- tin. I want to point out that Bishop Perez has changed the time we are permitted to begin the Easter Vigil on Holy Sat- urday evening from 9pm to 7:30pm. I hope this will allow more people to join us for this most important Mass of the year as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We do not have anyone being baptized at our parish this year but we will still join with all those being made members of the Church throughout the Diocese and the world as we celebrate this wonderful liturgy. I also want to mention that as we did last year, we will add a Mass on Easter Sunday at 9:30am in order to accommodate the people who will be joining us for the great feast of the Resurrection. So the Easter Vigil will be at 7:30pm on Holy Saturday evening, and Mass will be at 8am, 9:30am and 11am on Easter Sunday.