Pastor's Blog for December 29, 2019

It’s always hard to write these bulletin columns so far in advance of their publication, but the bulletin company needs to print them before the holidays, so I write this on Tuesday, December 17th, almost two weeks before you read it. I’ll do my best to predict the future but I do so aware that I’m guessing a bit here.

So first, I’m going to presume that you enjoyed our Christmas celebrations here this past week. I believe that this is the time of year (besides Easter) when our music ministry really shines. So without yet hearing them, I thank our music ministers in advance for their hard work and the dedication of their time in preparing for our Christmas liturgies. I am particularly thankful for the efforts and gifts that Mickey Stitt, our Music Director (and Michaela’s Granny) puts into this important work. What lifts up our spirits and our praise more than the music and songs of Christmas? To her and to our Associate Musician, Mary Piechowski, who also brings great talent to our music ministry, I say thank you on behalf of the parish. We also acknowledge Rick Wiegand, who directs the choir (and who also cantors beautifully for many of our funerals and weddings). We are also blessed to have 4 young men join us every Christmas for the past few years and who play trumpet & guitar. They are Mark & John Zebro (brothers) and Morgan & Connor Boyle (also brothers). This adds great pomp and solemnity to our liturgi- cal music. They are from the parish where I was Pastor before coming to St. Leo’s. I knew them when they were young men and I’m so proud to see them using the wonder- ful musical gifts God gave them! We are so blessed for their willingness to join us each year and they add so much. Finally, each choir member adds their particular voice to make one beautiful sound that rises up to the Glory of God so to all of them, we offer our sincere thanks. st

A reminder that this Wednesday, January 1 , is the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, a holy day of obligation. Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday at 4pm and on Wednesday at 11am. Let us pray together for God’s blessings during the New Year of 2020. st th

Finally, January 1 marks the end of my 6 year as Pastor of St. Leo’s. I am incredulous at how fast the time has gone. It also marks the end of my 6 year term according to the policy put in place by Bishop Lennon. Since I have not heard anything regarding the renewal of a second six year term, I inquired of my cousin as to the status of my assignment. He requested that I write a letter to the Bishop, informing him of where our parish has been during these last six years and suggesting the direction I would like to go in for the next six years. Though not yet official until I receive a letter in return from the Bishop, I am confident that I will be permitted to stay for a second term. So let me thank you as sincerely as I can for the great joy you have brought into my life and ask your forgiveness for any way I have not ministered well to you. I hope and pray I can continue to serve you as we celebrate the Eucharist as we have for the last 50 years.

Pastor's Blog for December 22, 2019

Though we are celebrating the fourth and final Sunday of Advent this weekend, this bulletin will also serve as our Christmas bulletin. So I begin by telling you how joyful I am, along with Deacon Pat and his wife Joan, to have you here with us as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We are joyful first, because God in His great mercy has looked upon each of us with such great love that He has given us the greatest gift He could possibly give: the person of His Son who has come to share his life with us, to teach us how to share our life with Him and with each other, and finally to offer His life for us on the cross so as to save us by His death and resurrection. How good it is then that we gather to give praise and thanks to God together, as His beloved children.

But we are also joyful because the presence and prayers and support of the parishioners throughout the year are such a welcome gift to us. In addition, we are joyful that many others who are visitors to our parish, or whom we may not see at other times of the year, are home with us, and we welcome each one of you and hope you feel our Christmas spirit. We are glad to have you here and hope that you will return to join us in prayer and to be supported in faith at other times of the year. 

I was able to celebrate Fr. Vesely’s 65 Anniversary of Ordination last Monday at Mount Alverna. Bishop Perez presided at the Mass and gave a wonderful homily, thanking Fr. Vesely and his classmates for their service to the Church. Fr. Vesely offered his well-known Litany of Thanksgiving. On behalf of the parish, I gave him a large basket of many things he enjoys, from gift cards to his favorite candy. We look forward to having him here soon so you can congratulate him in person.

Thanks to John & Jeannie Sabol, we have a new poster board and some different pictures in the display case in the vestibule of the church which shows the parish celebrating Christmas in past years. One of the pictures even shows the church on December 24, 1969, the first day that Mass was celebrated in the “new” church. The inside of the church has seen some changes since then as the tabernacle has been moved from the center and the communion rails are no longer in place and the green carpet has been replaced with a beautiful marble floor. But the faith of the people of St. Leo’s has remained in place and we continue to give thanks for the beautiful church and for the beautiful people that make up our parish.

As we celebrate 50 years of worshiping God together, we will give you some chocolate and an ornament for your Christmas tree. The chocolate is for eating, the ornament is for hanging. Don’t get those mixed-up.

Pastor's Blog for December 15, 2019

We are very happy to have Father Vesely here this weekend to celebrate the 4pm Mass on Saturday when we will present him with a gift on behalf of the parish. He is celebrating his 65th Anniversary of Ordination (which is Wednesday, December 18th). We are very grateful that he has served the Church so faithfully over 65 years, and we are especially happy that he has served the people of St. Leo the Great for many years in his retirement. Bishop Perez will be celebrating Mass at 9:30am this Monday at Mount Alverna where Father Vesely lives and I will be there to concelebrate along with his classmates. Though seating is limited, I know of some parishioners who will be there as well. May he have many more years!

Before some people ever see the inside of our church, they visit us first on our parish website, leothegreat.org. Many people today look for information on websites before calling or visiting a certain place, and that includes church- es. So Google reached out to us (as St. Leo the Great is easily found through Google Maps which is on millions of smartphones as well as on the internet), and offered us the option of taking professional pictures of the inside of our church. These pictures were then stitched together by Google to provide 360° views of the inside of the church and they provide a wonderful “tour” of our beautiful worship space. Google then gives us the rights to use these pictures and views as we wish. So we will be updating our website with these as well. (Since they took these pictures while our shrines were being worked on, they will come back now that they are finished & take new pictures of the shrines which are completed).

We also have access to the analytical information which details how many visitors we get to our website as well as details on what they are looking for and even how they found us. So you may be surprised to learn that in the last 30 days, we have had 2,115 visits to our website. 1,321 people found us through a search engine (such as through Google), 663 came to us directly (by typing in leothegreat.org) and 111 found us through social media. Our home page received 1,002 page views, our parish bulletins had 683 visits, and 212 people had looked at our page about our school staff while 201 were looking for school information and forms. Finally, 1,126 people viewed our website using their mobile device (smartphone), 834 on their desktop browser and 155 on their tablet (such as an iPad). I share all this technical information with you to show how important our website is for providing current information about our parish commu- nity and our parish school. Again, it is the preferred way for many people to find us, contact us and get information about us. So if someone asks you about our parish, please suggest that they visit our website (the “URL” or Internet address is found on this bulletin you are reading). We are also working on a new website for our parish school which will be linked from our homepage and will let you know when that is live.

Pastor's Blog for December 8, 2019

Today would normally be our celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation for us in the United States since she is the patroness of our country under that title, but the 2nd Sunday of Advent takes precedence over all other feasts. It has been transferred to this Monday, December 9th, but while it is still a holy day, it is not a day of obligation so we will have our usual Monday morning Mass at 7:30 but there is no obligation to attend Mass.

We have some other special celebrations taking place in the next week too. First, Fr. Vesely will be here for Mass next Saturday, December 14th. Thursday, December 18th is his 65th Anniversary of Ordination and on Monday, December 16th, Bishop Perez will celebrate Mass at Mount Alverna for Fr. Vesely and his classmates so please remember him in your prayers.

Secondly, December 12th is the 100th birthday of my step mother, Mildred. We will be celebrating with a luncheon in her honor this weekend. My dad is a mere 92 1⁄2 years old. It’s nice to have a centenarian in the family, though it would be nicer if she was my own flesh & blood so that I could have inherited her genetic makeup for longevity. The scripture says, “Our life is 70 years, 80 if one is strong.” Well Mildred far exceeded that so we are grateful for how strong she is and pray she may continue to bring great happiness to my dad in the years to come. By the way, prayers for my dad would be appreciated as he is in the hospital as I write this with some internal bleeding, possibly from an ulcer. So thank you in advance for that.

Just a reminder that there are little Advent meditation books called “The Little Blue Book” available at the doors of the church. Please be sure to take one (or more) as they contain a short reflection for each day of Advent.

This is also the week when we make homemade ravioli’s and noodles for our chicken soup, both of which are the highlights of our Christmas dinner. Last year my cousin Fr. Dan Schlegel helped but I think he ate more than he actually made, and now has the secret family recipe. So I’m not inviting him to help this year and will be curious to see if he posts pictures of these on his Facebook wall. If I see them there, I’ll have to take legal action to have them removed for copyright infringement. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. For now I have to concentrate on the family duty to provide for a great Christmas dinner.

While you’re doing your Christmas shopping, make it easy on yourself and buy someone a great gift while helping out your parish at the same time. You can purchase a Sweepstakes ticket or gift cards from us by seeing the receptionist at the Information Desk in the vestibule of the church after Mass or by coming to the rectory office today or during the week.

Pastor's Blog for December 1, 2019

We are saddened by the death of Bob Zarko, a longtime parishioner of St. Leo the Great along with his wife Rose. Bob has had trouble breathing the last few months but his death came about shortly after he suffered a heart attack last weekend. Bob and Rose were regulars at the 4pm Mass on Saturday as well as at daily Mass in our chapel. Both have been active members in St. Leo’s Seniors as well. Bob was often seen with a smile on his face and a good sense of humor. He and Rose have been married over 50 years and were very dedicated to each other and to their family. We extend our sympathy to Rose and her family and assure them of our prayers & support. Bob’s funeral Mass was celebrated on Saturday, November 23rd. May he and the faithful depart- ed of our parish Rest In Peace.

Congratulations to the parents of Zaiden Hruby who is being baptized this Sunday. May they rejoice in the gift that God has given to them.

I want to thank our Office Manager, Mary Lou Hauck, for doing such a great job with our bulletin every week. She really designs the pages in such a way that they’re easy to read and highlights information that is especially important. I wanted to draw your attention especially to the little “blurb” that is included every week which gives a very brief synopsis of the Scriptures readings that we will hear for Mass that particular weekend. It’s a great way to prepare yourself to hear those readings with attention to the main message that is being conveyed. Please also note the names of the people listed every weekend for whom prayers are requested. You can pause for a quick moment when looking at them & prayerfully commend them to God for healing. Finally, each Mass has an intention that is offered as the Mass is being prayed. So for example, we could be praying in a special way for a person who is either living or deceased (those who are deceased have a + in front of their name). While we pray for everyone, again living & deceased, during every Mass, we also remember individuals for whom the Mass is being offered. Finally, you will see listed in today’s bulletin a number of opportunities to help people during the season of Advent. For example you’ll see information for helping the homeless as well as our annual Adopt a Child program. These are great ways to prepare for the coming of Christ!

Now that our Thanksgiving dinners have been enjoyed, we mark the beginning of a new liturgical year as we begin this weekend the holy season of Advent. This time marks our preparation for both the second coming of Christ at the end of time as well as his first coming to us in the little town of Bethlehem. This year the 4 week season of Advent will be a bit cut short as Christmas is only 3 1⁄2 weeks away. So let us make good use of this time of preparation by trying to focus on the eternal significance of the events we are antici- pating.

Here’s something I read recently and was reminded of on Thanksgiving: “I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs. I hear they have to pick up their own food if they drop it on the floor.”