Mar 20, 2026

Greetings,

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday! We are nearing the climax of the liturgical year. We are also drawing near to the Chrism Mass celebration to be held at St. Sebastian on Holy Tuesday, March 31. The entire diocese (including all her clergy) is invited to the Chrism Mass, and that will prove to push our capacity to its limits. For those who are nervous about that prospect but still wish to experience this event, it will be live-streamed from the diocesan website. The link will be in the Angelus Letter.

One thing I would like to point out is that this will not be a St. Sebastian Parish event. This is a diocesan event. Therefore, all the ministers and set-up crews and such will be determined by the diocese. Although our choir is invited to join with the diocesan choir, positions such as servers will likely be filled by seminarians. With so many priests and deacons here there will be no need for extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and such.

That doesn’t mean that your parish is uninvolved. Thank you to those who have volunteered to be greeters, help with parking, set-up and changeover of the hall, work in the sacristy and other odd jobs that will help retrofit a Cathedral event into our parish campus. It’s nice to see so many people chipping in to help make the parish shine for Holy Tuesday. I heard many compliments about the floor in the church, and electricians have been in the church this week preparing it for better lighting fixtures. That is why you may have experienced certain parts of the church blocked off. This is so in the very unlikely event that something should be dropped from the ceiling, nobody would be clunked on the head.

IN OTHER NEWS:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We are in need of some volunteers to carry 11 tables from Z-hall to the church for the Chrism Mass following the 11am Mass on Palm Sunday. We also need volunteers to help spruce up the church on Monday, March 30 after the morning Mass. We
will be organizing and wiping off pews, cleaning glass doors, cleaning out one of the confessionals, and organizing the usher’s room just to name a few tasks.

If you are able to volunteer, please call Cathy Sivec in the office at 330-836-2233 for further details.

SHROUD OF TURIN DISPLAY COMING TO ST. SEBASTIAN: On Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, our Knights of Columbus Council will be bringing Sindonologist (Shroud of Turin expert) David Onysko, to St. Sebastian to give a presentation on the Shroud’s history, science, and deep theological meaning. There’s a talk on Saturday, April 18 at 2pm, with a display that will remain in Zwisler Hall Saturday
evening through Sunday afternoon, enabling visitors to view it before or after all Masses that weekend.

OPERATION RICE BOWL: You may start bringing in your Rice Bowls beginning next weekend. There will be receptacles in the lobbies of the Church.

HOBBITS: Thank you to everybody who helped make the Tolkien talk last Sunday a success. The hall was pretty full and the cookies abundant (I especially liked the round Hobbit doors!). Also, thank you to those who attended.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck