Pastor's Column for October 29, 2017

This Tuesday we will be having a Parish Council meeting (we generally meet once a month). As with the Finance Council, you are welcomed to ask any questions or make any suggestions to any of the council members, whose names can be found in the parish bulletin.

This Wednesday is the Feast of All Saints, a holy day of obligation. Mass will be at 8:30am (school Mass which all are welcome to attend) & at 7pm. Please join us as we cele- brate these holy men and women throughout the ages who inspire us in our faith and who pray for us who are still on our journey.

This Thursday is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (more commonly known as “All Souls’ Day). We pray in a special way for all our loved ones and parishioners of St. Leo who have died, confident that our prayers assist them on their journey to God. Mass will be at our usual time, 7:30am Thursday morning. The month of November, especially All Souls’ Day, is a traditional time for visiting the graves of loved ones.

This weekend a seminarian will be visiting St. Leo’s and will be speaking briefly after Holy Communion. As Bishop Perez noted to the priests earlier this month, the Diocese of Cleveland is known nationally for our large fraternity of priests and for the support we offer to one another. This is due in large part to the College and Major Seminaries that we have had in our Diocese for many years and which are located on one campus in Wickliffe. So at this time of the year we try to remember the seminarians who are discerning and preparing for ordained ministry in the Church. We welcome Ryan Arto, a seminarian at Borromeo College Seminary in Wickliffe, who will share with us how he became interested in the priesthood. As you know, every week we publish the picture of a seminarian or novice (someone preparing to enter a religious order) along with their name and parish so that we might pray for them as they discern and prepare for this spe- cial life in the Church. Perhaps you can even cut out that little part of the bulletin each week & put it in your pocket or purse as a reminder to pray for them during the week. I’ll let Ryan tell his story but I will say that he started to think about priesthood when he was in the eighth grade (same as myself) when he attended St. Francis de Sales in Akron. Again we welcome Ryan and pledge our prayers and support for him as he seeks to do the will of God in his life. 

Pastor's Column for October 22, 2017

Included in this bulletin is a Financial Summary Sheet which every parish in the Diocese is required to make available to the parishioners each year. There is also a letter from myself which gives you an overview of our financial situation from this past fiscal year (July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017). We were able to operate under budget while taking care of the many repairs and improvements that are required on our property and in our buildings. I acknowledge in the letter your continued faithfulness to our common financial responsibility for the upkeep of the parish and for the many services we provide to you and to others throughout the year. It always seems that because we have made so many repairs and improvements, a time will soon come when we can go through a year without the need to budget so much for future repairs. But as you know from the management of your homes and cars, that time never seems to come as there are always things that need our attention and financial commitment. The letter that accompanies the Financial Summary Sheet outlines some of the more major repairs that have been completed, are in progress, or scheduled for the future. Of course our biggest repair is to our church and school HVAC systems so next year at this time we will show a loss of about $200,000 which has been set aside for that major work. In examining the arches of the church which have cracked over the years due to moisture, it was necessary to look at the roof of the church where we discovered large areas of water which are causing damage to the arches and to the roof itself. We are currently waiting for estimates on what will likely be another large expense. It is unknown at this time if the roof can be repaired or if it will be necessary to replace it. Despite the discouraging news of these expensive repairs, I am grateful that we have the necessary funds to take care of these important needs and I’m hopeful that we will be able to recoup our savings. Please feel free to see me or any of the Finance Council members (whose names are published on the financial report in this bulletin) if you have any questions pertaining to our financial status.

Every month I see a bus parked in our Rectory Office parking lot ready to transport many people to some interest- ing place or event. These bus trips are published in our bulletin & are open to anyone. They go to casino’s, Amish country & so many other interesting & enjoyable places. I’m always hoping to join them myself but my schedule doesn’t always permit me to go. I just wanted to let you know that there is no age requirement so if you’re free to take a day trip, be sure to inquire through these bulletin announcements. 

Pastor's Column for October 15, 2017

We had many people show up for the Blessing of Pets last Saturday in remembrance of St. Francis of Assisi whose feast was October 4th. Pictures of the event can be found on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & website. Everyone took a great picture...even the humans who held them. We had dogs, cats, a rabbit & even a 35 year old turtle! How is it that a turtle, who lives such a “sheltered” life, can outlive our more active & affectionate pets buy so many years? I remember having a turtle when I was young. All it did was sit underneath this plastic green palm tree. Of course you can’t teach a turtle how to sit or fetch, but they learn “stay” & “play dead” pretty quickly.

At the doors of the church and in the Rectory Office you will find little booklets that describe in more detail the “Reflections of Italy” trip that I will be taking with some parishioners next October. Some were asking me questions I wasn’t able to answer yet but you can join us on Tuesday, October 24th, for a little presentation on the trip (the time will be in next week’s bulletin). We will be going to Rome, Assisi, Florence, Venice, & Milan. Please let me know if I can plan on seeing you at the meeting. No commitment is required yet. We just want to provide information & answer any questions you may have.

A couple weeks ago, the people attending the 8am Mass were greeted by an usher at the door who had to unlock the door of the church for them. We’ve had this strange thing happen on occasion where there is some kind of vacuum created in the church which causes all the doors of the church to stay open when someone comes in & the doors do not close on their own as expected. Well the mystery has finally been solved after I inquired with the people working on our church heating system. When the temperature outside is cooler than inside, but the inside temperature is too warm to be comfortable, the blowers in the system turn on, bringing the air in from the outside instead of using the air conditioning which would be less economical. But that extra air has to escape somehow & so when a door opens the inside pressure keeps it from closing. The original doors of the church were made of a much heavier material than the ones they were replaced with a few years ago which I suspect are aluminum, so these light doors don’t have the right tension to close on their own. Hence, the problem with them staying open under these conditions. The solution is either to turn off this economical feature or to keep a door open so that the air has a place to escape. Now how many of you thought you would learn about such things by coming to church here today? 

Pastor's Column for October 8, 2017

I was not able to attend the dinner & Mass with Bishop Perez as planned this past week. A couple weeks ago I started to get the familiar pain that comes from kidney stones, as those at last week’s 11am Mass know. By the grace of God I had no pain whatsoever while visiting my sister in Florida. But a day after I returned to Cleveland it returned. Maybe that’s a sign I need to move to Florida! The X-ray that I took showed a large stone that needs to be blasted through lithotripsy but I need to wait to have that procedure done until this week or next. So a little prayer will be appreciated.

We received a letter from Bishop Perez which says, “The past month has presented us with a seemingly unprecedented number of natural disasters. The toll on human life, property, livelihoods, and faith communities is immense and the full extent will not be known for some time.” After expressing his appreciation to the faithful of the Diocese for their generous support in our recent emergency collections for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, he asks us to continue to help those also affected by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in central Mexico. If you’re in a position to make yet another donation, you can make a check payable to St. Leo the Great with a note in the memo section of the check that says, “2017 Calamities.” We will be very attentive to this memo space so be sure the mon- ey from that check is given fully & specifically for this cause, and is not part of your donation to the parish. The parish will then send a single check to the Diocese for this recovery as- sistance. Again, your concern for our brothers & sisters who have felt the pain of these natural disasters is very much ap- preciated.

This Monday I will be celebrating a Mass with the PSR (Parish School of Religion) students and their teachers. We have many parishioners who volunteer their time each week to teach the faith to our children. This is in fulfillment of the command of Jesus that we “teach the Gospel to all so that they may be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” I am always inspired by those who are will- ing to give of their time and effort for this opportunity to plant seeds of faith in our children and on behalf of the whole parish, I thank them all. We also encourage the parents strongly to let that faith be nourished by bringing their children to Mass on the weekends since that is at the heart of who and what we are as Catholics. There would be little fruit to speaking of the gift of the Eucharist to the children without their experience of it on a regular basis. 

Pastor's Column for October 1, 2017

I was not able to attend the dinner & Mass with Bishop Perez as planned this past week. A couple weeks ago I started to get the familiar pain that comes from kidney stones, as those at last week’s 11am Mass know. By the grace of God I had no pain whatsoever while visiting my sister in Florida. But a day after I returned to Cleveland it returned. Maybe that’s a sign I need to move to Florida! The X-ray that I took showed a large stone that needs to be blasted through litho- tripsy but I need to wait to have that procedure done until this week or next. So a little prayer will be appreciated.

We received a letter from Bishop Perez which says, “The past month has presented us with a seemingly unprecedented number of natural disasters. The toll on human life, property, livelihoods, and faith communities is immense and the full extent will not be known for some time.” After expressing his appreciation to the faithful of the Diocese for their generous support in our recent emergency collections for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, he asks us to continue to help those also affected by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in central Mexico. If you’re in a position to make yet another donation, you can make a check payable to St. Leo the Great with a note in the memo section of the check that says, “2017 Calamities.” We will be very attentive to this memo space so be sure the mon- ey from that check is given fully & specifically for this cause, and is not part of your donation to the parish. The parish will then send a single check to the Diocese for this recovery as- sistance. Again, your concern for our brothers & sisters who have felt the pain of these natural disasters is very much ap- preciated.

This Monday I will be celebrating a Mass with the PSR (Parish School of Religion) students and their teachers. We have many parishioners who volunteer their time each week to teach the faith to our children. This is in fulfillment of the command of Jesus that we “teach the Gospel to all so that they may be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” I am always inspired by those who are will- ing to give of their time and effort for this opportunity to plant seeds of faith in our children and on behalf of the whole parish, I thank them all. We also encourage the parents strongly to let that faith be nourished by bringing their chil- dren to Mass on the weekends since that is at the heart of who and what we are as Catholics. There would be little fruit to speaking of the gift of the Eucharist to the children without their experience of it on a regular basis.