Mar 11, 2021

Greetings,

This coming Sunday night, March 14th at 7PM will begin our Lenten Mission, “REVIVE US!” with Mr. Keith Johnson.  The title is inspired from the Biblical passage, “Will you not revive us again that Your people may rejoice in You?” psalm 85:6.  Marking the one-year anniversary of when COVID really started wreaking havoc on our community, this Lenten season is a great time to seek Him and ask for Him to Revive Us!

Our mission will be available to you in two locations.  For those open to it, the Mission will take place in the church at 7PM Sunday through Tuesday.  If you are not ready for in person gatherings, the Mission will come to you wherever you are!  It will be live-streamed to you from our YouTube channel.

IN OTHER NEWS:

CHANGE IN THE ADORATION SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK:  Tuesday there will be the typical all-day adoration, but the Mission will replace our usual schedule beginning at 7PM.

BAND OF BROTHERS:  Also, this Sunday afternoon, the Band of Brothers, a group of young men discerning how to live their Catholic faith (for approximate ages of 16 to 20) will meet.  For more information, please contact Mr. David Beatty at djbatey02@gmail.com.

CONCERT:  The Koto Ensemble will be performing in our church on Sunday, March 21st at 4PM.  The Koto Ensemble was part of the much larger concert series that we have every year at St. Sebastian, but which was cancelled due to COVID.  This ensemble was to perform as part of the Word Music Series, the part of our programming that features music from all over the world.  The members of the Koto Ensemble contacted Lynn Steward, our director of music, and expressed their strong desire to push forward with the concert.  Their performance does not involve singing nor does it involve wind instruments, which seems to be among the primary concerns in the spread of COVID.  Further, in our church space, we have a lot of room, the pews are at half capacity for social distancing and we are not going to advertise this concert to the extent that we typically would, in order to control the audience size.  Further, masks will be absolutely required.  The performance will also be live-streamed. 

The Koto Ensemble performs traditional Japanese music in authentic Japanese dress.  This performance is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

DID YOU GET THE WHOLE STORY?  Did you know there was a Thursday email sent out to all parishioners during COVID?  The information sent is typically different from what is found in the bulletin letter in order to make both a more interesting read for you.  If you are not receiving the Angelus Letter (which will continue during COVID) and would like to, please call the rectory office (330) 836-2233.

PHONE HELP NEEDED: Looking for a short-term ministry for the parish that you can do from home?  Cathy Sivec in the rectory office is looking for volunteers to help make another round of COVID phone calls in order to check in with all of our fellow parishioners. The season of COVID is lingering on much longer than I ever dreamed it would and it seems time to revisit some of the initiatives we did so many months ago.  If you are interested, please call Cathy at (330) 836-2233 or stop by the rectory.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck