News

Jun 27, 2025

Greetings,

This week we will be celebrating Independence Day, on which we commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It is to remember the many benefits we have as citizens of this nation and to not take them for granted offer thanks to God.

IN OTHER NEWS:

MASS TIME CHANGE: Mass on July 4, Independence Day, will be at 9am. Consider sporting your red, white and blue clothing for this Mass. Also, due to the holiday there will not be any confessions from 4 -5pm.

OFFICES CLOSED: The parish office will be closed on July 4. Office hours will resume on July 5. Just as a note, during the summer months, the parish offices close at 3pm on Fridays.

THANK YOU: I want to express my gratitude to the many people it took to make our Corpus Christi celebration such a success. Thank you to the Knights of Columbus who carried our canopy, the Knights of Malta who joined us, the seminarians, the musicians, ushers, servers, sacristans, photographers, ministers and especially all of you who were present and joined in the honoring of our Eucharistic Lord.

We have been having solemnities every weekend, it seems, during this month and typically the Feast of Corpus Christi would have ended it. But this year the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul happens to fall on this weekend so we will be sporting the white vestments this weekend once again. I think after that we finally return to the green.

WORK AROUND ST. SEBASTIAN SQUARE: If you are not in the habit, look up when you come into the church. This week the facade of the church was cleaned. Since our 2018 restoration, dark streaks had once again marred the front of our buildings. It seemed about time to have our beautiful building tidied up again. So the Foundation hired a crew to clean

her. Thanks to your generosity to the St. Sebastian Foundation. Now the Mull Avenue face of the church will be as nice looking as the front of Zwisler Hall. You may recall we had some extensive work done on it earlier in the spring.

Work continues on the roofs of the Junior High and Early Learning Center buildings. This crew begins early in the morning and works almost until dark! Due to the construction debris in the courtyard from this project we had to change our typical procession with the Blessed Sacrament as well as the location of Benediction. But I think that it turned out alright. Now, as this is being written to you on Monday, I am offering up a prayer that it will be sufficiently cleaned up for the Jazz Festival on June 26!

SEMINARIAN ASSISTANCE: A member of Serra International will be in the lobby of the church this weekend for two reasons: 1) To collect funds to help local young persons with heavy debt entering a vocation dig out from under their obligations and 2) To seek if you might be interested in becoming a Serran.

THE ST. SEBASTIAN PARISH FOUNDATION: The Annual Legacy Weekend is July 12-13. This will be an opportunity for our parishioners, families, and guests to learn more about the Foundation’s planned giving programs that support our parish for generations to come: The Arrow Society and The Arrow Society Circle. A brief announcement will be made at each mass that weekend and additional information will be available at the tables in the Narthex (Mull Avenue entrance). For more information, please contact Kathy Holaday 330-836-2233 x113 or holadayk@stsebastian.org.

God Bless,

Fr. Valencheck