Jul 16, 2020

Greetings,

We need some good news. And actually, there is a lot of good things to recognize. It is just that there are so many pressing matters that are the barking dogs of news that take up our greatest attention. But there are still things to acknowledge and feel good about.

Here’s one:  There will be new altar candles on our high altar thanks to the great generosity and hard work of a parishioner and his team. Most people are unaware, as I was for most of my life, that great churches often did not buy their candlesticks out of a catalogue so that someone could look at them and say, “Oh! We have those same candlesticks at our parish!” The sanctuary appointments might instead be designed by the architect and be unique to the parish. This is great for the employment of artisans and uniqueness of a parish. It is more challenging when, for some reason, a candlestick needs to be replaced. There is no just going to the catalogue and ordering a new one. Such was the case at St. Sebastian.

The candlesticks, tabernacle, sanctuary lights and the great crucifix are all original designs made by the architect specifically for St. Sebastian church. A young Robert Kraus (Sr.) told the story about how his father, who was the architect for all of our buildings, allowed him, as a young man aspiring to be an architect himself, to design the flower pot stands (now in the narthex) following the design for the parish.

Following Vatican II, the forward altar was installed at the parish. For many years, new candlesticks that sat on the mensa were used. At some point (if you know, let me know) the candlesticks on the high altar were reworked to a different scale in order to be used at the forward altar. Matching candlesticks that were intended for the much smaller side altars were then used in their place on the high altar.

There are some guidelines that are to be observed for candlesticks (imagine that) which the much smaller candlesticks were not fulfilling. So a trip or two was made to Henningers, where items from closed churches were kept, to see if we could find some candlesticks that were more appropriate in size and would match our architecture. As you might suppose, there was nothing even remotely matching our current furnishings but they suggested the marble candlesticks to which you have become accustomed over the past decade or so. With the varying types of marble in our church and the slanted nature of them that somewhat match the design of the altars, they seemed to fit the bill well enough.

During our restoration, one of our parishioners took it upon himself to restore some of the brass fixtures that were not part of the original job scope but were on the wish list. For example, take a look at the sanctuary candle holders. They were quite dull. But he shined them up and restored them to this beautiful state. More recently he took it upon himself to create more of the smaller candlesticks including our “trademark” fan design so that all of the candles on the side altars would match. But even more exciting, this weekend you should see new reproductions of the large candlesticks on the high altar, restoring it to its original design and beauty. Not only that, there are also new processional candlesticks that also match (which we never had before!) bringing unity of design and beauty to our parish.

Please say a prayer for those who made this project possible. The generosity and thoughtfulness exhibited is awesome. Thank you.

IN OTHER NEWS:

GARDENS:  If you need to get out, take a stroll around our beautiful grounds that our awesome volunteers have been doing a wonderful job keeping up during a challenging season. As you do so, take a gander at our cutting garden (that keeps the church in flowers during the warmer months) that is just bursting with beautiful flowers and the school garden (located next to Byrider Hall) that is just gorgeous. Thank you everybody.

VACATION:  Just a heads up that Fr. Simone is on vacation this week.

CONCERT CANCELLED:  This week would have been the Akron Pops outdoor concert on our grounds had it not been COVID season. Ah well. St. Sebastian, patron saint to invoke against pandemics, pray for us.

STAY STRONG:  Are you tired of hearing that “these are challenging times”? Yet they are. But it is always the challenging times that produce the most saints. Stay strong. Stay positive. Be part of making a dark time brighter. Be remembered for being a point of hope in a world of desperation and fear. Turn to your Father Who has every intention of catching you as you pass through your trials and grow in Him and thereby lead the way for others. That is what it is to be a child of God.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck