Aug 12, 2026

Greetings,

I kept waiting for the summer to slow down so the rectory could enjoy some relaxed days, but things never did slow down and now we are already looking at our parish school faculty returning to prepare for our new school year on Wednesday of this week. So, all of a sudden, we are gearing up for fall and saying goodbye to some of our summer faces.

We have been very blessed by the presence of our summer interns. It was brought up to me by someone from the diocese that we have really “upped our game” as far as our online presence was concerned. Of course, Bernadette Gibson is doing fantastic at this job, but with the help of the interns, she was able to hit it way out of the park.

So, Mary Sboray and Abigail Hassenzahl, interns whose presence was made possible by a grant from the Lilly Foundation and organized through the Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd Institute of the Diocese of Cleveland, have finished up their work. We had a couple of students from our parish intern at other parishes. I highly recommend this program and invite young adults to keep an eye on it for next year.

Johannes Benninghoff was our seminarian intern, and his internship came to an end last Sunday, though he was around these past few days. John Scantling and Gabriel Kasper, along with Christopher Villarreal of our parish, are wrapping up their free time after this Sunday, along with seminarian Stephen Vavro who lived and worked with us over the summer.

Cathy Sivec is switching offices to head up our early learning program and heading down to the Beringer Center for Early Learning, and Angela Morabito-Conrad will be the new voice of the parish when you call. Please keep all of these people in your prayers, as well as the staff and volunteers who do not get called out as much, but who are nonetheless vital to the success of our mission as a parish.

IN OTHER NEWS:

TOR: Theology on the Rocks is this Monday at 7pm. See more on this event on page 9 of the bulletin or on the Theology on the Rocks Facebook page.

THANK YOU, SISTERS: The Daughters of Divine Charity have sold their building in Highland Square (behind Mustard Seed Market), emptied out its contents and moved. They ministered in Akron for more than 80 years, primarily running an independent living complex. They will be greatly missed.

They did make some gifts to the parish as they departed. Some of the things that you will see immediately are the stained-glass windows now found in the greenhouse, the new table in the narthex of the church, items used in serving the Mass, statues that will appear in the school, and a few other items largely used in administration. Thank you, Sisters! God bless you on your new adventures! Know of our prayers.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck