I was just trying to think of something scary to begin this column with, given that it’s Halloween weekend. But then I just received a text message from someone telling me that a very good friend of mine was just held up at gun point. Thank God he is OK. But the gun was literally held to his head. I couldn’t even image what that would be like. This man is in his 40’s & lives in San Diego, CA and I’m his confirmation sponsor. Living in today’s world is such a scary thing. So much violence and crime, sin & evil. Sadly this has always been the case in human history, which is why we turn all the more in thanksgiving (especially next month) to the God who was willing to enter our sinful world, and even become victim to the worst of violence imaginable at the time…torture and death by crucifixion. To me, these are the thoughts that need to come immediately to our minds when we hear of such tragedies in our lives so that we begin to see God in everything that happens to ourselves and to our loved ones. We continue then to pray for all victims of violence…abortion, murder, sex trafficking, racism, sexism, and everything else that seeks to do harm to the God-given dignity of every living thing on earth. We do so again at the very end of this month of October, a month set aside as “Respect Life” month and a month when we ask for the intercession of Our Lady who gave birth to the Author of Life himself.
Monday, November 1st, is the feast of All Saints, a holy day…but because it falls on a Monday this year, it is not a holy day of obligation this year. But you are welcomed and encouraged to join us for the one Mass that we will have at 8:30am, along with the children of our parish school (half will be in attendance in the church & the other half will be watching from their classrooms via livestream). This is a wonderful time for us to again celebrate with thanksgiving all those holy men & women whose praises are sung in the scriptures and who have been shining examples to us throughout the history of the Church. Remember to ask your patron, the person(s) you may be named after, to pray for you on this day. Remember to seek the intercession of our parish patron, St. Leo the Great, of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Anne, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Joseph, St. John Vianney and of all the other saints whose statues in our church or on our property remind us that we are not alone in our journey of faith, on our journey of holiness, on our way to God’s kingdom. Did I miss any one in that list? May they all pray with us and for us that we may draw close to God as they did.
On Tuesday, November 2nd, we celebrate the feast of All Souls, or more accurately, the feast of All the Faithful Departed. We will list the names of all those who have died from this past year on our website and in the church, where you can include in a book, the name(s) of those deceased whom you would like to be remembered in the month of November during all of our Masses. A basket containing the envelopes you have filled out with the names of deceased will also be displayed by this book. Let us pray for all of these men, women & children who have died & who await the fullness of joy, of holiness, of glory and of eternal life as God readies them for his kingdom.
Pastor's Column for October 24, 2021
Every year the Finance Council of the Parish reviews the Financial Report from the previous fiscal year as well as the budget for the upcoming fiscal year as prepared by the Business Manager and the Pastor. We also share this information with you so in next week’s bulletin we will include the Summary Report which is required by the Diocese to be published to the parishioners. This will be for the fiscal year which began July 1, 2020 and which ended June 30, 2021. I would like to highlight some items for you.
Despite several months when Mass was not celebrated publicly due to the Coronavirus in 2020, and though our attendance has dropped over the last several months during the pandemic as parishioners take advantage of the live-streaming technology we implemented, our yearly contributions have continued to remain very steady. In fact, during the 2020-21 fiscal year, our offertory collection actually increased by 1.13%, or about $5000. In most parishes, there is typically a decline of 3-4% each year. I attribute this to your constant support of this parish, even during a pandemic, which allowed us to keep paying the bills, and I am very grateful to you for that. I still remember how so many of you dropped off your contribution envelopes to the rectory office when Mass was not celebrated here publicly for several months. And I know how many of you signed up for our online giving program called WeShare, in order that we may receive your donations even when you are not able to be here. I am so grateful for your financial support and I thank you for your understanding and generosity during the last couple of years which have been difficult for so many of us due to the pandemic.
As I hope you can see when you are here for Mass or some other parish event, we continue to maintain our buildings and to enhance our property as we are able. The parking lots are in very good shape after several years of slowly working to replace several sections that were in very poor shape. We continue to enhance the landscaping which is quite a challenge given the large size of our parish property. The school building continues to see updates and renovations, such as a new tile floor in the main hallways which will be much easier to clean and maintain, and which really modernizes the look of the building. We also have completely updated the school bathrooms with new toilets, sinks, urinals, stalls and floors. The classrooms in the basement have been cleaned out and refreshed after being used as storage rooms for many years, to make room for our ever-growing enrollment. And most recently, you will notice new awnings on our buildings (they should be installed in November) which will provide some cover from the rain & snow but more importantly will identify the buildings and entrances on our property. Again, your generous contributions to our Capital Improvement Fund of over $20,000 during each of the last 2 fiscal years have helped us to keep our buildings and property in good order and appearance. We also received over $15,000 in donations over the year which have been used for capital improvements inside & out. I’ll share a few more highlights in my column next week when we also include the Summary Report for the 2020-21 Fiscal Year.
I will be taking a few days off starting this weekend as I try to get to the errands that I have neglected recently, like renewing my expired driving license and passport! Gratefully there is a grace period for the driving license as I wouldn’t want to have to do a driver’s test after almost 50 years. But I trust you will welcome the missionary priest who will be praying with you this weekend.
Pastor's Column for October 17, 2021
I had a funeral service for Renata Germanotta last week. She had 2 daughters and 2 grandsons. Please keep her and her loved ones in your prayers, especially during this month of October when we ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for us “now and at the hour of our death.”
During October, we also dedicate this month to Respect for Life. Of course at the heart of this value we again find Mary having a profound respect the Author of Life itself whom she bore in her womb. And so again we ask Our Lady of the Rosary (a feast we also celebrate during October), to pray for expectant mothers and for all those who may be considering an abortion, that they may seek other options if they are not ready or able to care for a child themselves.
Though I write this column before our Parish Festival takes place, I thank you in advance for your support of this annual event, especially in it’s modified form this year due to the pandemic which we had all hoped would be behind us by now. I am especially grateful for your efforts to sell the raffle tickets which make up the lion’s share of our festival profit. Last year we “lost” several thousands of dollars due to the modified festival and that will be our fate again this year however we must accept what we cannot change, while trying to change what we can, as the serenity prayer says. But again I am grateful to all those who worked at the festival in preparing and serving the take-out orders and for those of you who showed up to support us buying dinners to take home with you.
I would like to remind you again that your support of our gift card program is also very helpful to us. By buying gift cards for places where you shop anyway (or by buying them as gifts for others), we are able to make a small profit on each card we sell, even though you are still able to receive the full amount of the goods purchased through a gift card. They are always available in the rectory office and I hope that our more popular ones will be available for purchase soon in the vestibule of the church at our Information Desk. I’ll let you know when that has reopened.
I really enjoyed the retreat that I was on last week and thank you for your prayers as some of my brothers priests and I took some time to reflect on our ministry to you, the People of God whom we love. We were reminded that the Lord enters into the narrative or story of our individual and unique lives in order to keep calling us to greater intimacy with him and to greater service of his people. The Jesuit Retreat House on State Road in Parma is such a great place to make a retreat or a Day of Recollection and there are many opportunities for both throughout the year, including lay people as well as priests, deacons and pastoral ministers. They have enlarged the retreat center with an additional wing which contains more rooms, a second chapel and areas designed for presentations and individual counseling & spiritual direction. They also have a great walking path which leads to a cemetery on the property where many Jesuits have been buried. It is the oldest surviving retreat center in the country, having started in the late 1800’s. So you may want to check out their website for more information on what kinds of opportunities they provide for you to retreat from your daily life, even if for a day, in order to be renewed in spirit.
Pastor's Column for October 10, 2021
Though I will be on retreat from Sunday through Thursday this week, I will still celebrate daily Mass Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at 8:30am. We’ll be at the Jesuit Retreat House on State Road so I’ll be close enough to be there by the time of the first conference at 9:30 each day. Again I appreciate your prayers during this time.
Next weekend is our festival which again will be modified due to COVID. But our take-out system worked very well last year, especially with the option to use a credit or debit card so please stop by to get some great food and thank you again for selling raffle tickets as this is the largest piece of the fundraiser for our festival. I hope to see many of you there and thank you again for your understanding of our adjustments during the continued pandemic restrictions.
We recently had our first Parish Council and Finance Council meetings after several months of not meeting due to COVID. Again I am very grateful to all those who served on these councils in the past and to those who have agreed to participate in these now. I will be updating you on the parish finances in the next week or two and will publish our Annual Financial Summary sheet here in the parish bulletin. We will also communicate with you our discussions in the Parish Council and hope that you will pray for us as we meet for the good of the whole parish community.
From time to time parishioners call or come to the rectory office requesting a sponsor certificate. This is a required document for those who have been asked to be a godparent for the Sacrament of Baptism or a sponsor for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be celebrated either here or at another parish. While it is an honor to be asked to be a godparent or sponsor, it is also a serious responsibility. A person invited to have this relationship with someone being baptized or confirmed is meant to be first and foremost an example of the Catholic faith to the one receiving the sacrament of initiation. This responsibility, and this relationship, therefore requires that someone be qualified to act in this role. A sponsor certificate is a document given to the priest who will be celebrating the sacrament which assures him that a person is in good standing with the Church and acts according to the demands of faith. So the first requirement is that someone be a registered member of a parish community. They must also be at least sixteen years of age and must have received all three sacraments of initiation themselves, namely baptism, confirmation and Holy Communion. If they are married, it is expected that their marriage have taken place in the Church, before a priest (or deacon) and two witnesses. Finally, it would only make sense for someone to be a sponsor if they themselves are practicing their faith by participating at Mass weekly. Unfortunately, many people who have been asked to be a godparent or sponsor do not qualify to act in this role, and therefore a sponsor certificate cannot be given to them. We do deal with every request on an individual basis and can make exceptions if there is evidence that someone is willing to make changes which exemplify their commitment to faith, but we take this seriously and cannot give a sponsor certificate to someone if there is not enough time for this change to take place. I try to publish these requirements in this bulletin so that prospective parents or sponsors may be aware of them prior to asking someone to be in this role or prior to accepting this honor if not qualified. Please contact myself or Deacon Pat or Joan Berigan before asking someone to be a sponsor and well enough in advance if you have been asked to be a sponsor.