Pastor's Letter for the November 15, 2020 Bulletin

Welcome to Fr. John Fischer, who is a Comboni Missionary and who is serving as a representative of the Cross Catholic missionary outreach ministry. He has personal experience of serving many years as a missionary in Kenya. May the Lord bless you for helping us to continue to be connected with the Church throughout the world!

Don’t be surprised if you see very substantial work being done on the trees in and around the school playground.  A closer examination showed that they might not fare well with the freezing and thawing over this upcoming winter.  So, for improved safety two of them will be removed and a third substantially pruned. At the same time, please know that we are working with the local tree commission to help us obtain one or more advanced seedlings as replacements and to restore that much-needed shade in the playground and the habitats those trees provide. 

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we will be welcoming back Deacon Jeremiah Hahn. He will be residing here as he concludes his fall semester remotely.  The seminarians from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit have remained on campus essentially this whole semester without the usual fall midterm break.  Like many colleges and universities, they will conclude the semester remotely.   

And, please note that Deacon Jeremiah is planning a faith formation presentation open to the parish as one of his course requirements.  So, please stay tuned because we get to be part of his classroom experience!

This year’s Turkey Trot is drawing closer, just two weeks away.  Please see the advertisement for registration.  Plans are taking shape to help maintain a safe experience, likely including staggered starts with smaller groups of people.  I will likely doing a bit more “trotting” than running this year!  Hopefully this will prompt getting in better shape in 2021!

Finally, please note that in light of Governor DeWine’s emphasis on improvements for indoor gatherings of 10 or more, we might have some changes upcoming in the next week or so in how we conduct Holy Communion and how we take up collections.  For example, Fr. Bob and I would walk between the rows to distribute Communion rather than having people walking forward to the front.  The purpose would be to minimize movement within our churches during Mass and other gatherings and to minimize overlapping of our “breathing spaces”.  We will also continue thorough use of our electro-static sprayers and airing out our church buildings, when necessary, between Masses. 

May the Lord continue to bless us with joy and peace as disciples of Jesus and to help us to be always ready for the gift of eternal life!