Jan 16, 2020

Greetings!

Happy Feast of St. Sebastian! If you still have the St. Sebastian Devotional Booklets we passed out last year during our 90th anniversary celebration, this would be a great time to get them out once again. There are also more prayer cards available at the St. Sebastian Chapel and by his icon.

This year we are celebrating the 90th anniversary of our school! As part of that celebration, you will find a display in the church in the narthex commemorating the 90th anniversary as well as the St. Sebastian paintings in the church.

Please consider offering this prayer for the parish:  Dear Commander at the Roman Emperor’s Court, you chose to be a solider of Christ and dared to spread faith in the King of Kings, for which you were condemned to die. Your body, however, proved athletically strong and the executing arrows extremely weak. So another means to kill you was chosen and you gave your life to the Lord. May Our Parish always be as strong in our faith as our Patron Saint so clearly has been. Amen.

IN OTHER NEWS:

POT LUCK:  For those of you reading this on line, our St. Sebastian Day Pot Luck dinner is on Saturday at 5:30. Please refer to the website or last week’s bulletin flyer for more details.

THANK YOU:  Consider where you are reading this. Whether in the bulletin or online, it took resources to get it to you. Everything you see when you come to church springs up from the ground from this community. The varnish on the pews, the priest’s vestments, the parking lot stripes, the flag on the pole, everything, even the very host that is turned into the Body and Blood of Christ is made possible because of your generosity and I just want to thank you and tell you how amazed I am with this great community.

We voluntarily come together every week and make this great thing happen. And it is not only for ourselves but for the greater community: the beautiful grounds, the concerts and programs, the subsidy to the school so that our students can afford tuition, and the great amount of charity that flows from the doors of this church. Just for one example, the money that you give to St. Vincent de Paul, directly or through the POOR BOX, goes to help 15 to 20 persons/families per week within our parish boundaries (not necessarily Catholic). There are those who need help with rent or utilities or other necessities and we try to assist them in getting out of their predicament.

There is no other secret source of resources. We don’t receive checks from the Vatican or the White House or from a magic wand. It all comes from you and from your brothers and sisters who call St. Sebastian Parish home. On this, our feast day, I just wanted to say thank you to you and to all of our volunteers who works so hard to make this a great place to call home.

EXODUS 90:  A couple of times I’ve written an invitation, in this letter, for men to join a program called Exodus 90 which began on January 13th. As an update I thought you would like to know that there are about 25 men enrolled right now whom I’ll bet would appreciate your prayers.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck