Father’s Column 4/30/2017

Posted on April 30, 2017 View all news

Laudetur Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Jesus Christus! Sia lodato Gesù Cristo! Praised be Jesus Christ!

I would first ask for your prayers for the repose of soul of Helen Zix, a long time parishioner, who passed away this past week. Please pray for the comfort of her family, especially her husband of almost 75 years, Charlie Zix. Helen was buried from Old St. Mary’s on Thursday. May she rest in peace!

I would like to thank everyone who helped in any way to prepare for the Archbishop’s visit and Mass of Thanksgiving. The day was a nice celebration for Old St. Mary’s, and hopefully a sign of continued blessings on our parish. I thank all of those who helped with the preparations in the Church, from the flowers, to cleaning, music, sewing the vimpa, and building a throne for the Archbishop. Thank you to everyone who assisted with the party, from food, to decorations, and cleaning up. Everyone came together to help make this a special day, thank you very much! The Archbishop and our guests were very impressed with not only our parish, but the spirit of our parish.

The next few weeks will continue to be busy before we move into our usual summer slow down. There are many feasts remaining for which we must prepare, including the second most important feast of Pentecost. First Communion will be on May 7 and May Crowning will be on May 14. Please keep our First Communicants in your prayers. This year’s First Communicants are: Liza Amalraj, Daniel Hull, Sarah Steiden, Philomena Sieverding, Conner Dwyer, Hope Sammons, Oliver Horstman, Robert Angelo, John Paul Voss, Lily Tenhundfeld, Sandy Breadon, Jill Matherne, and Joshua Mourer.

I would also like to thank our catechists this year, for all of their labor to help educate our children in the faith. If you have the opportunity, please thank them. Our Catechists are: Miss Mary Nerswick, Sr. Marie Cecile, Mrs. Amy Bockrath, Mrs. Caroline Hofmann, Mr. Scott Voss, and Mr. Wendell Hull, along with all of the speakers who spoke to our adults. Thank you to each of them for their work this past year. The last day for Catechism will be May 9 with Dr. Erwin Erhardt, Professor at the University of Cincinnati, speaking on St. Philip Neri. It should be a good one!

As we do prepare to move into summer, please remember the importance of keeping up with your spiritual lives. Regular attendance at Mass, daily prayers, frequent confession, and continued growth in the faith. We will continue with our Tuesday Holy Hour and confessions, so please take advantage of this, even without weekly Catechism. If you are going on vacation, plan out your Mass plans in advance. In the midst of vacation, it becomes easy to miss. Perhaps you can use some of the extra time we gain during summer as an opportunity to read a spiritual book, maybe the classic the ‘Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas a Kempis.

There will be some summer opportunities for parish time. The big event is on July 3, the actual 175 anniversary of the parish. We will have Mass at 6:00 p.m. that evening, followed by a parish reception. Our children’s catechism week will be July 10-14. Our parish picnic is schedule for July 23. Please mark these dates down so that you don’t miss them.

Thank you again to all who have been so generous with their time for the parish! May God reward each of you, and have a blessed week ahead!