Jeanne Slezak, whose funeral Mass we celebrated last Saturday, had been known as “Jinx” her whole life. But as I spoke with her family and saw so many people here to celebrate her life and to pray for her in death, I can see what a wonderful blessing she was to so many. May she who lived 90 years in this life know eternal life in God’s kingdom. I also celebrated a funeral service for Maria Pawloski, who was blessed with 95 years of life. From her 3 children she also gained many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We extend our sympathy to all of them and assure them of our prayers for the repose of her soul.
I want to thank Bill Rosby, a member of our parish, for once again donating 50 yards of mulch (that’s a lot of mulch!) to our parish, as he does every year. That is a very generous act and it makes such a big difference in the appearance of our property. Hopefully those of you who may do business with him can also express your thanks to him for being so kind to our parish.
By now both of the parking lots should be sealed and re-striped which not only protects the asphalt from cracking but makes the large areas appear uniform and neat in their appearance. Coupled with the landscaping that has been done as well, I’m happy to walk the property with Michaela, enjoy- ing the gift of this space which we call home. Our statue of St. Francis of Assisi has arrived and hopefully will be in place by this weekend if we have determined the best place for this saint who was a lover of God’s creation. Thanks again to all those who donated generously toward our landscaping efforts this summer!
As I mentioned last weekend, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has named Bishop Edward Malesic as the 12th Bishop of Cleveland and he will be installed as such on September 14th. As I watched the announcement of his assignment and his first Mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist last week on TV, I was impressed with his characteristic gentleness and kindness. Besides coming to us from our neighboring state of Pennsylvania, he also attended a seminary in Ohio. The number of Catholics and priests in our diocese is five times as many as the Diocese he is coming from but we’ll try not to let that overwhelm him. We look forward to having him officially as our new Shepherd in September when we will begin to pray for him by name in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass.
For those who are watching Mass at St. Leo’s from their home, I wanted to let you know that although the audio is very clear now, if you would like the assistance of closed captioning which shows text on a television or video screen which transcribes the audio being spoken, this is generally available to you as you watch Mass being celebrated. It should always be available if you watch the on demand videos but we’re trying to make it available as the Mass is being live-streamed as well. Just click on the cc (“closed caption”) symbol in the lower right hand corner of your device to view this text. It is not 100% accurate as it is computer generated, but it will do a respectable job transcribing the audio.