FATHER BACEVICE’S 40TH JUBILEE

On Sunday, January 15^th, Father Bacevice will celebrate his 40^th Anniversary as a priest. On that day, we will have one Mass at 10:00am (bilingual) followed by a brunch in our upper hall (gym). We invite everyone to join us that day at Mass and at the brunch. There is no cost for the brunch but we ask you to notify Loretta Gudenas at lgudenas@yahoo.com (or drop a note in the collection basket) by January 5^th to let us know if you are attending and how many people are coming from your household. Even if you forget to respond, please know that you are still welcome to come to the brunch.

PASTORAL COUNCIL

Father Bacevice has appointed Ingrid Civinskas to a two year term on the Pastoral Council effective immediately. We thank her for her willingness to serve on the Council. The Council’s first meeting of the new year will be on Tuesday, January 3^rd, at 7:30pm in the Rectory Conference Room. At this meeting, we will elect the officers for the coming year.

ALTAR SOCIETY

The Altar Society thanks everyone who donated for Christmas flowers and helped decorate the Church. Because of your generosity ($1,001 was collected), they were able to purchase quality plants and purchase other items for the Church. They also remind everyone that their 5^th Annual “Soup for the Soul” fund-raiser will take place on the weekend of January 28-29.

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who worked to make our Christmas celebration a beautiful and spiritually uplifting experience. We thank those who decorated the church, those who planned the liturgical celebrations, our liturgical ministers and music ministers who all contributed to make our celebration of Christmas truly meaningful. God Bless all of you!

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

January 6^th is the First Friday of January. That day after the 7:30am Mass, we will have our monthly Holy Hour from 8-9am in the Church. On Wednesday, January 11^th, we will have our Eucharistic Adoration from 6-9pm. We invite everyone to stop in and spend some time in quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. If you are able to make a commitment to be present in the Church for adoration, please sign up in the Book Room.

       Around this time every year since we opened in 2009, I have shared my reflections with you about our parish and how we are fulfilling our mission as a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Cleveland.

     As I look back on 2016, I would say we have had a challenging year. Finances remain a problem for us. Our offertory collection was down over $10,000 from the previous year and our fund-raising has not been as successful as we had hoped. In 2014 we borrowed $226,500 from the diocese and as of today, we have repaid $90,600 and still owe $135,900. Our concrete repairs were costlier than expected: we had budgeted $35,000 and the work cost $51,000+. We found additional work that will need to be done on the steps to the Church and Rectory buildings, as well as concrete work in the tunnel between the two parking lots. We have been notified that the Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance requiring an inspection of all buildings over 75 feet in height. This year, our inspection will cost $2,500 and we will have to make immediate repairs on any deficiencies found. Although we are able to pay our bills, making necessary repairs will continue to be a problem for us. Our “Giving Tree” donations decreased for the first time since we started the program to help needy families. Though we helped the same number of families as last year, we cut the gifts by more than 10%. 

     In spite of our financial worries, we continue to grow as a parish. Since summer, we have had six new families join the parish and have lost only one active family. We continue to have Eucharistic Adoration twice each month. Last April, we were one of only two parishes in our Diocese who promoted and showed the Documentary Film on Divine Mercy. We drew people from all over the diocese to watch this amazing film.

     Our challenge going forward is to continue searching for new ways of increasing both membership and participation in the life of our Parish. Too few of us are willing to commit our time and talent to serve the Church, and because we rely so much on the same people to do everything, those volunteers are getting “burned out.” So we continue to discuss and search for new ways to bring more families back to our Parish, reaching out both in our neighborhood and to the Lithuanian community throughout the area. We have met with some success, but I know we can do better.

     As we begin 2017, let us all commit ourselves to work closer together to build up our parish community, to reach out to the alienated, and to pool our time, talent and treasure to make both the physical and spiritual sides of our parish vibrant and something that all of us can look to with pride.

     Wishing all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

God Bless!   Fr. Joe Bacevice

CONTRIBUTION STATEMENTS

Parishioner contribution statements for 2016 will be sent out on request. To request a statement, drop a note with your name and envelope number in the collection basket or call us during office hours (Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm). Statements will be sent in the mail.