Aug 26, 2026

Greetings,

Blessings upon all of our parishioners returning to studies in all of your varied places and situations. May you enjoy a year of growth and joy in the Lord and go beyond merely coming to know things, but also to grow in His Wisdom.

A special word of welcome back to school to our Parish School students. Welcome, Terriers new and returning! We have the largest student body we have had since before I came to St. Sebastian Parish. We consider ourselves full and will only accept students in special situations (such as Catholic parents moving to Akron for work) where there is room.

If you get the chance, take a look at our new playground, which was blessed on the first day of school. I really liked our old playground, but it was well past its expected lifetime and quickly reaching the point when it could no longer be repaired economically. Thank you to everybody who helped make this project possible. This playground gets used hard daily by about 400 students, as well as neighborhood youngsters who like to visit our beautiful grounds. How blessed we are to be able to offer our young our best and safest.

IN OTHER NEWS:

ORGAN: The great hope was that our organ would have been repaired in time for last weekend’s Masses after a power surge fried a computer board. But a part we have been waiting for did not make it in on time. My hope is that you will be hearing it again this weekend.

BISHOP MALESIC: There was a diocesan meeting in Zwisler Hall with the parishes that are involved in Wave One of the Diocesan Capital Campaign. I was given the opportunity to welcome everyone to St. Sebastian Parish, introduce the Bishop and invite those who were in attendance to visit the Green House (where the Night Blooming Cereus was going to bloom that night) to see the Cutting Garden and visit with St. Christina. To tell the truth, I didn’t expect that many people to take me up on the offer. The meeting went until about eight in the evening and I imagined people just wanting to get home. But I was surprised that quite a few took me up on the offer.

There were many compliments on our grounds and mildly shocked reactions to the news that it is all done by volunteers. A good number of people spent some time in the Green House watching as the Cereus slowly opened its four remaining blooms. The last person left a little after ten. Thank you to everyone who helps make our parish grounds so inviting, interesting and inspirational.

BISHOP MALESIC 2: We received a letter last week from our Bishop thanking us for reaching our Catholic Charities Campaign goal. I join him in expressing my gratitude for your care of those who need our assistance within the Diocese. As Bishop Malesic has said, “There are some things that we can do better together than alone.”

POOR BOX: Located at the back of the church under the ushers window near where St. Christina is, there is a POOR BOX. The money donated here goes directly to our parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society to take care of those who are in need of our assistance who live within our parish boundaries.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck