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Around this time every year, 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 2018, I would say we have had a challenging
year. Finances remain a problem for us. Our offertory collection was
down almost $24,000 from the previous year and our fund raising has
not been as successful as we had hoped. Back in 2014, we borrowed
$226,500 from the diocese and as of today, we have repaid $135,900
and still owe $90,600.
A donor approached us to repair the handicapped entrance to the
Church building and donated the money to fund the project. We still
have approximately $100,000 worth of work that needs to be done to
the front of the Church. Though we are able to pay our bills, making
necessary repairs will continue to be a problem for us.
Our “Giving Tree” donations decreased again this year and we
needed to help more families than before, so the “gifts” were much
less this year. Our parishioner numbers are stable with new members
replacing those who have died. We continue to have Eucharistic
Adoration twice each month.
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 2019, 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 took to with pride.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
and
God Bless! Fr. Joe Bacevice |
REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS
 We
ask you to remember in our prayers the soul of Vytas Tamulis and Pearl Curtis who died recently and were buried from our
Parish. May they be at peace forever in the blessedness
of heaven.
NEW
YEAR’S MASSES
Tuesday,
January 1st,
is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, a holy day of obligation. Masses
to fulfill this obligation will be celebrated on Monday, December 31st
at 5:30pm (English) and Tuesday morning, January 1, at 11:00am
(bi-lingual).
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OFFICES
CLOSED
Following the example of the central administration of our Diocese, beginning
this weekend, our parish business office will be closed until Monday, January 7th.
Our Mass schedule and other planned activities remain the same.
THANK YOU
 Thanks
goes 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
4th is the First Friday of January.
After Mass on that day, from 8-9am we will have our monthly Holy Hour in the
Church. On Wednesday, January 9th, we will have our
Eucharistic Adoration from 6-7pm also in the Church. All are invited to stop
in and spend some time in quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
PASTORAL COUNCIL
 The
first meeting of our Pastoral Council will take place on Tuesday, January
8th, at 7:30pm in the Rectory. We ask all new members of the
council to read our Parish Council Constitution which can be found on our
website. At this meeting we will select the officers for the coming year.
Our Council members for 2019 are: Nancy Anzlovar, Anthony Bacevice, Dana
Cipkus, Ted Egan, Loretta Gudenas, Giedre Jesmantas, Judy Kowalski, Faye
Roth, Gerald Thompson and Albert Yevchak. We thank them for their commitment
and willingness to serve.
PROTECTING GOD’S
CHILDREN
The Diocese of
Cleveland’s “Protecting God’s Children” program is a continuing effort to
instruct and inform everyone about the protection of children from sexual
abuse. To report any past or present suspected inappropriate behavior toward
children by priests, deacons, religious, lay ecclesial ministers or
personnel associated with the Church, contact the Diocesan Response Service
Office at 216-334-2999 or email at:
response_services@dioceseofcleveland.org
You are also asked to immediately inform local authorities about
inappropriate behavior.
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As we begin 2019,
let us resolve to live according
to the words of
the prophet Joshua –
“…but as for me and
my house,
we will serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:15) |
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Lietuvi