Due to the pandemic, it has been almost a year & a half since I have met with either the Parish Council or the Finance Council. These are advisory groups to the Pastor who help set the direction of the parish in both temporal and spiritual ways, working with the Pastor to form a vision for the financial and spiritual health of the parish community. Neither Council makes decisions regarding the parish but provide valuable insight to the Pastor in his ministry to the people. I am deeply grateful for those who have been part of these councils since I have been here at St. Leo’s. They have brought your questions to my attention and have allowed me to share with them my vision and plans for our parish community. We normally take the summer off from our meetings so I thought this would be a good time to begin preparing for new council members which would begin to meet in the fall. Though the Diocese recommends that we have a regular turn-over of council members (i.e., term limits), I realize that we have had many of the same members serving on these councils for several years. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to release our present council members from this responsibility and to ask other parishioners to be members of these councils. I am currently making a list of people whom I would like to ask to be a member of either the Finance or Parish Council. So if I ask you to consider doing this, you’ll have some background as to why I am asking. The time commitment is very manageable and the only qualification is a desire to be of service to the parish in this way. The Finance Council meets quarterly, about 4 times a year. The Parish Council meets monthly, except during the summer months. No other time commitment is asked of you, and you will not be asked to engage in any other ministry just because you are a member of either council. We keep the meetings to no more than one hour long. We will limit the number of years that someone would be a part of either council (e.g. to 2 or 3 years) and of course if you can’t make a particular meeting or need to be removed from council for some reason, that is very acceptable. The Principal, along with Deacon Pat & Joan Berigan are part of the Parish Council “ex officio” or by virtue of their office or ministry at the parish so they are automatically members of the Parish Council and will at times attend Finance Council meetings as well. So again, my sincere thanks to all those who have served on either council and thank you in advance to those who will willingly serve on these councils beginning in the fall.
We have had several people express interest in the position of being Coordinator of our Parish Center so we will once again be opening this space up for rentals in the very near future. For now, please call the rectory office if you are interested in using this space for a one time occasion or for regular gatherings. Priority is always given to the parish’s use of this space. We will provide more information in the near future regarding rentals and we are glad we can offer this location for meetings, family celebrations, etc.
Pastor's Column for June 20, 2021
We express our sympathy to Joseph, the only son of Ann Vidovic, whose funeral Mass we celebrated here last Week. Ann was a faithful Catholic her whole life and attended Mass & prayed the rosary regularly. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was prayed for her while she was dying and we trust that the mercy of Christ will indeed be with her and all those who have gone before us in death. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest In Peace.
We don’t have too many big projects this summer though we are looking into better signs for our buildings, but there are many (expensive) options out there & I want everything to enhance and not distract from the appearance of our property. While looking for a company to install some new windows in the school building, we learned that while many of the restrictions of COVID are behind us, it continues to reek havoc on supplies & materials & the ability to get things done. But we will take it as it comes & see how it works out for us. One thing we can always count on though is the generosity of the Rosby family who once again this year donated mulch to us (a lot of it!) and it looks great as it really enhances the looks of our property so thanks again to them! The landscaping of the church looks especially good this year as you may remember that last year we had a landscaper who did a lot of work planning and planting and we are now seeing the fruits of that work. As the gospel reminded us last week, we plant the seeds but God does all the work underground so thanks be to God for the beauty of his handiwork. But we also thank Debbie McGiver who has done such a great job with our landscaping and who continues to make sure that our property is something we can enjoy during these summer months.
On occasion I notice that someone who is not familiar with our Catholic faith, especially our beliefs regarding the holy Eucharist, take the host offered to them at Holy Communion and does not consume it. We have even found what we believe to be consecrated hosts on the floor or some other place in the church. Of course I trust this is done due to naïveté but as we believe that the consecrated host has become the real and sacred Body of Christ, we want to guard against this behavior at all costs. When I or a Eucharistic minister notices that someone has not put the host in their mouth after receiving it, we will do our best to reach out to them immediately & ask them nicely to please consume the host or give it back to us. However we may not always see someone walking away without consuming the host first so if this is something you see, please say something to them nicely & ask them to put the host in their mouth or to give it to you so that we in turn can dispose of it properly.
We are very interested in re-opening our Parish Center again for people to rent for various occasions, though parish use always takes precedence. However we are in need of a coordinator who can schedule events, answer questions for people interested in renting the space, etc. If you are interested in this paid position, please let me know or ask them to get in touch with me. We already have several people interested in using this space and we want to make it available to people as soon as possible.
Happy Father’s Day to all of those whom we look up to as a father-figure. May you reveal to us the love and dignity of our Heavenly Father as you imitate him in your life.
Pastor's Column for June 13, 2021
Linda DeBaltzo & her husband Gerry have been attending daily Mass since I arrived at St. Leo’s. Sadly, Linda passed away after 53 years of marriage to Gerry. I was able to pray the last rites for her in the hospital and how appropriate it was for her family and loved ones to celebrate her Funeral Mass as celebrating the Eucharist is what she and Gerry did every day. I learned that Linda had converted to Catholicism before she was married to Gerry at St. Boniface and she lived her Catholic faith well. Linda was the first female letter carrier in Cleveland and that is how she & her husband met. They had 2 children, Larry & Lisa, and then grandchildren and a great-grandchild as well. I pledged the prayerful support of the parish to Gerry so please keep him and Linda in your prayers.
Our school children had their last day on Wednesday of last week. And so the summer officially begins. I look forward to joining my family in Florida next month & hope you are able to take advantage of the nice weather and find time to relax & enjoy these summer months.
We’ll be having another discussion of the book “Forming Intentional Disciples” using Zoom this Monday, June 14th from 6:30-7:30pm. Our discussions have been interesting & informative and you are welcomed to join us, if only to listen in. We still have some (free) books available for you if you are interested in reading it so please stop by the rectory office to pick one (or more) up. You can connect with us on Zoom using the link that will be on our website (leothegreat.org).
Thanks to John & Jeannie Sabol who have updated the archives display in the vestibule of the church. It reflects the summer season and includes news clippings mentioning St. Leo parish. There’s an interesting article which mentions St. Leo’s as one of the first locations in the county to offer the Salk Polio vaccine…certainly a relevant topic for us these days. It is from the year 1955. Do any of you remember getting the polio vaccine? I remember getting the TB shot when in elementary school because my mother had tuberculosis when she was in high school (her father died from TB at the age of 42). Thank God for scientists and those in the medical profession who have learned how to protect us from such things that can kill so many.
I failed to mention a couple weeks ago that it was Deacon Pat’s anniversary of ordination on May 20th. So please congratulate him and thank him & Joan for their presence and tremendous help to me and to the parish. It is a real pleasure to have them back at St. Leo’s & for me to minister with them. And Deacon Pat thought he was going to retire…
I want to resume offering the opportunity for you to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation but I’m looking at how we can make it more convenient to you. Saturday afternoon confessions came about in the days before there were any Vigil Masses on Saturdays. It may be inconvenient for you to come to confession on Saturday if you attend Mass on Sunday, and I like to have time to visit with people before each of the weekend Masses. So for now, I’ll hear confessions from 3pm until 3:30pm on Saturdays and from 10:00am until 10:30am on Sundays. You can always ask me to hear your confession before or after Mass so please don’t hesitate to do so. We’ll try this for now & then adjust the schedule accordingly.
Pastor's Column for June 6, 2021
Our Memorial Day Mass at our Marian Shrine worked out very well last Monday. Though it was early in the day (9am), and only about 60 degrees, there was no wind so it was quite comfortable, though people brought jackets just in case. We had a nice group of people there & I wanted to let you know that besides some benches that are always there, we have chairs available in the Parish Center which we can use if you are unable to bring one yourself. We have a wireless microphone & speaker setup so everyone could hear well over the 480 traffic so plan on having more civil holiday Masses out there in the future, especially for the July 4th & Labor Day Masses when we can expect warm weather. We are even able to live-stream the liturgy outside so you can always join us remotely if that works better for you, but of course there’s nothing like actually being there.
As of this past week, all COVID restrictions put in place well over a year ago have been lifted, with the exception of receiving the Blood of Christ through the Communion Cup (but as you know we receive the full presence of Christ through the sacred host alone). Though masks are no longer required, they will remain available at the doors of the church for those who wish to wear them, and we will respect your choice to do so. The pews that were taped off have been cleaned of the dust they collected & so you may sit wherever you wish. The cry room is now opened again as well. While we will have the Sign of Peace, it is recommended that you shake hands only with the people of your own family or household, which isn’t a bad practice anyway during cold & flu season. New music books have been ordered & we hope to have them back in the pews soon but by all means, sing away if you know the words to the songs we will be using. We continue to remember & pray for all those who did not escape the effects of COVID. Thank you again for your wonderful cooperation during the time of restrictions and especially for your continued financial contributions, which are always very much appreciated so that we can continue our mission as a community of faith. Welcome back to all those who are joining us again, and please spread the word to those who are sick or homebound that live-streaming of our liturgies will remain in place for those who can’t be with us physically for any reason.
We welcome Bailey Milcinovic who has been teaching in our Preschool this past year but has also been updating our Facebook, Twitter & Instagram accounts. She will now be in charge of updating & publishing our parish bulletin each week so her name and email address can be found on the front cover of the bulletin under the title of Social Media Manager. We welcome and encourage you to send her any pictures and/or videos you have taken at parish or school events so that they may be shared through our social media. As we thank Mary Lou Hauck for her work as Office Manager these past few years, we also thank Betty Clancy, Mary Lynn Haldi, Amy Mackey & Cindy Kosiba, all of whom will be sharing the responsibility of answering phones and taking care of those who come to our rectory office.
Congratulations to Nara Lin Elizabeth Manson who will be receiving her First Communion this weekend & Congratulations to the parents of Logan Kirby who will be baptized on Sunday. May God continue to bless us all.