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At 4:00pm,
on Saturday, October 24,
2009, the hour of First
Sunday
Vespers, St. Casimir Parish
in Collinwood was born. It
was the first new parish
created from the Vibrant
Parish Life initiative. The
two Lithuanian Parishes in
our Diocese - St. George and
Our Lady of Perpetual Help -
came together to form a
unique parish that would
serve the Lithuanian
community in the Diocese
along with those in the
neighborhood who would want
to be members here.
A lot has happened in
the five years since St.
Casimir opened. We formed a
Pastoral Council, appointed
a Finance Council,
encouraged the continuation
of our Lithuanian cultural
groups, formed new parish
organizations - the Holy
Name Society and the Altar
Society - organized a Parish
School of Religion (PSR),
and welcomed new families
and individuals into our
parish community. In five
years, we have doubled in
size as we welcomed new
families from the
neighborhood and reached out
to Lithuanian families.
In addition to
developing the community, we
have spent nearly a half
million dollars on capital
improvements as we erased
more than $400,000 of debt,
brought religious women back
into our convent, and school
children back into our
school building. Church
bells now announce all our
Masses, toll for our dead,
and peal for our joyous
occasions.
As the pastor, I can’t
say that this was all easy,
nor can I say it was all
fun. But, as the pastor, I
can say it was worth the
effort. St. Casimir’s is a
parish all of us can be
proud of.
As we celebrate our 5th
birthday, we can rest for a
moment and take in all that
we have done. But, as a
parish, we need to remember
that there is still more to
do. We need to continue to
grow our community, increase
our commitment to the
Catholic Faith, and we need
to continue improving our
facilities and growing our
investments to insure our
future.
I feel that last five
years was quite a
challenging journey for me
and I’m sure it was for so
many of you. The future is
ours to make. I invite all
of you to continue this
journey, to continue to grow
in our faith and to live our
faith every day.
Happy Birthday,
St. Casimir’s Parish!
God Bless!
Fr. Joe Bacevice
PRIESTHOOD SUNDAY
 This
Sunday is
National Priesthood Sunday,
a time to pray for and to recognize the priests who serve in
our parishes and in different ministries in the Church, and
to pray for and support vocations. The Serra Club of
Cleveland has provided prayer cards for this purpose. They
can be found on the tables near the bulletins at the
entrances to the Church. Please take
them home and say the prayer on them.
We at St. Casimir
Parish are blessed to have two men studying to become
priests. Last weekend, a son of our parish, Lukas Laniauskas,
SJ was ordained a Deacon, the final step toward his
ordination to the priesthood next spring. Christian Raddell
is now in his second year of studies at Borromeo Seminary.
Please keep them both in your prayers.
NOVEMBERFEST
Borromeo Seminary’s Annual Italian Dinner will take place
Saturday, November 8th from
5-8pm at the Center for
Pastoral Leadership, 28700 Euclid Ave., Wickliffe. In
addition to the dinner (adults $10, children 6-12 $5, under
6 free), there will be a 50/50 Raffle and Basket Raffle.
Proceeds benefit the activity fund for the college
seminarians.
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ALL SAINTS DAY AND ALL SOULS
DAY
 Saturday,
November 1st is the Feast of All Saints. This
year, because it falls on a
Saturday, All Saints day
is not a Holy Day of Obligation. Sunday, November 2nd,
is the Commemoration of All Souls, the day we remember our
dead. The weekend Masses will be the All Souls Day Masses.
There will be no evening
commemoration of All Souls this year. However, an All Souls
Day envelope is included with the offering envelopes with
space to include the names of the dead you want to be
remembered at the Mass and in prayers during the entire
month of November. Please return your envelope by November 2nd.
PLEASE PRAY
 Remember
in your prayers the souls of Jonas Balbotas and Marian Koeth
who died recently and were buried from our Parish. May they
have eternal rest in the peace of God’s kingdom.
CONSIDER SERVING ON THE
PASTORAL COUNCIL
 Consider
getting more involved in your parish and serving on our
Pastoral Council. Application forms are available in the
Book Room. The application deadline has been extended
until November 2nd. Any
member of the parish, age 16 and older, with a few
exceptions, is eligible to run for a seat on the Pastoral
Council. We invite you to seriously consider serving on this
important council in our Parish.
WOMEN’S RETREAT
Join young adults and those
gifted with years to pray, ponder and rediscover the wise,
witty and wonderful women of Scripture and women of faith
like us. Hosted at the homelike Bethany Retreat Center in
Chardon from Friday, Nov. 14th 7:00pm to
Saturday, Nov. 15th at 7:00pm. Cost is $75, with
a limited number of scholarships available. For information
and to register go to
www.lifebalanceenterprises.com or contact Sr. Kate Hine
at khine@ndec.org
or
440-476-6094.
ALTAR SOCIETY
The Altar Society congratulates St. Casimir Parish on its 5th
anniversary and donates the flowers for the altar this
weekend. Ad multos annos!
PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Our next pancake breakfast will
take place on Sunday, November 9th, from
8:30am to 1:30pm.
Come enjoy the best pancake breakfast in all of Collinwood.
Tickets are now available at the usual places. Save $1 by
purchasing your tickets in advance.
CATHOLIC WAR VETERANS
Our Catholic War Veterans Post
613 is having a Reverse Raffle on
Saturday, November 8, 2014,
at the Lithuanian Village Hall, 877 East 185 St., beginning
at 6:45pm.
The main prize is $2,000. Tickets are $50 per person; they
include an open bar, dinner, music and dancing. Extra dinner
tickets are $25. For more information or tickets, contact
John Milikas at 216-486-0254.
TIME CHANGE
 Next
Sunday, our time changes back to Standard time. Next
Saturday, Nov. 1, be sure to set your clocks BACK one hour
before you go to bed. Otherwise, you will be an hour early
for Mass next Sunday. |
Lietuvi