Dec 02, 2021

Greetings,

This past week, St. Sebastian was honored to celebrate the funeral Mass for The Reverend Edwin Leonard who passed away on Monday, November 22nd. As they say, “He died with his boots on.” He was preparing to celebrate morning Mass at St. Columbkille Parish, where he was currently assigned, when he collapsed and was unresponsive to efforts to revive him.

Fr. Leonard was assigned as a parochial vicar of St. Sebastian from 2013 to 2017, but it is more than just for that reason that we were honored with his funeral. The Leonard family were parishioners here when he was a young man. One of the things that I enjoy doing when we receive a new priest or seminarian is giving a tour of our parish boundaries and the city of Akron. When Fr. Leonard came, his roots were deeper than mine and it turned out he was able to tell me a thing or two!

One of the hallmarks of his personality was telling “Dad” jokes. In the sacristy, before Mass, he would tell some corny (but funny) jokes to the servers on a regular basis. I learned not to tell him my jokes because they became part of his repertoire and I would be without my paltry cache of two or three jokes. He also loved teaching and in particular heading up the RCIA program, bringing new Catholics into the Church.

As many of you are aware, even when he was with us his health was not great and his various ailments eventually caught up with him. He said to me on various occasions (and I heard from others that he said similar things to them) how much he enjoyed being at St. Sebastian and how being here (and with you) greatly helped to keep his spirits up while facing his medical difficulties, which makes me all the happier that we were able to send him on his journey from this world to the next. God bless you Fr. Leonard. Rest in peace. Please keep him in your prayers.

IN OTHER NEWS:

HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION:  We get to celebrate Mass together this coming Wednesday, December 8, on a holy day of obligation to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the title under which Mary is patroness of these United States. Here is the Mass schedule:

Tuesday, December 7th at 7:00pm

Wednesday, December 8th at 9:00am

       5:00pm (extraordinary form)

       7:00pm

GIVING TREE:  Typically, the Giving Tree would have been up the first Sunday in Advent but because of the upcoming funeral for Fr. Leonard and the space requirements we were expecting, it is going up a week late, which puts your generosity in more of a time crunch. The good news is that this year, advent is at its longest length! Thank you for all that you do.

ADVENT GOINGS ON:  For those who will read this letter early online, the St. Sebastian Parish Choir will be participating in the Advent Lessons and Carols Concert at Trinity Lutheran Church with the Trinity Lutheran Choir this Friday, December 3, at 7:30pm. Also, the Tuesday Noon Advent Adoration and Organ Recitals (about 20 minutes) will continue through Advent. They feature young gentlemen who are organists at local churches. Come support them! The Baldwin Wallace Men’s Chorus Christmas Concert is coming up on December 10.

EXTRAORDINARY FORM:  Please be aware that there will be Mass counts at all of the extraordinary form Masses this month at all parishes where it is celebrated, to assist the bishop in knowing where the greatest need lies

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck