Oct 19, 2023

Greetings,

ALL HANDS-ON DECK! As you should be aware by now, a significant relic of St. Jude, patron saint of desperate causes, is coming to St. Sebastian on Thursday, November 2. We called the parish that had the relic this past week to see what kind of response they had. They reported over 3,000 people visiting the relic in one day and they were the third parish in their diocese to host the relic! The priest accompanying the relic said that this was a record so far and so we are not expecting quite that many, but we should be expecting quite a few.

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN: We will definitely need all of the volunteers that were recommended to us. If you can cover multiple hours, it would be greatly appreciated. There are all kinds of roles to fulfill from lifting heavy items to greeting people at the door. Sign-up sheets are located at the altar rail by the Blessed Virgin statue. You may also call the rectory office to sign-up.

If you are a DOCTOR or a NURSE, your presence is requested to assist in minor incidences during heavy hours if needed. Please call Cathy Sivec at (330) 836-2233 to let us know if you are available. The Knights of Columbus will also be contacted to see if you can help particularly with load in and load out and parking if needed. Please spread the news and pray for the success of this endeavor.

IN OTHER NEWS:

OCTOBER COUNTS: Every year, the diocese requests that we count the people who are in attendance on two different weekends of October to compare from year to year. This year our ushers informed us that we had an average of 916 people over our past two weekends. Last year we were slightly up from that at 930. We also had an average of 98 views on our live-streaming.

WELCOME BACK: Next week we will welcome back home Christopher Villarreal, member of our parish who has been assigned here for Priesthood Sunday to encourage men to consider the priesthood and for the rest of us to pray for vocations.

EXTRAORDINARY FORM NEWS: Next week will be the final 1pm Mass at St. Sebastian. This weekend we welcome Fr. Christopher Zerucha and some representatives from St. Mary Parish to welcome, encourage and answer questions. Father will briefly speak before Mass and will be available following Mass for those who have questions.

Starting in November, the only extraordinary from Mass in Akron will be at St. Mary. The Mass will be at 1pm in order to make it possible to bring in priests who otherwise have other parishes to cover. There will be a familiar lineup of clergy: Fr. Bede OSB, Fr. Justin OSB, and Fr. Pfeiffer.

We are currently assessing what articles will go over to St. Mary such as the hymnals which will be delivered after the final Mass here. Our ushers, Dick Spangler and Tom Reiderman have already gathered up much of the photocopied papers that many find helpful and will be taking them over. Other articles will depend on their storage and need. There will be more news in the Angelus Letter and in next week’s bulletin.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck