Pastor's Column

     Please say a prayer for Leonard Young, a member of our parish who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Leonard came to talk to me back in the fall & shared with me the news that he had cancer. He was looking forward to his annual trip to Florida during the winter months with his wife & so I told him I'd be in touch with him while he was away. When I called to say hello to him & to see how he was doing, his wife sadly informed me that he had just passed a couple days before. There will be a funeral for him when she returns to Cleveland in a few months. Though I had just gotten to know Leonard from this one conversation I had with him, I can see how he was a man of deep faith. I'll share more about him when we have his funeral but ask that you keep him and his wife Ann (Erna) in your prayers.

    Please put these others on your prayer list too...Steve Simonik, who recently had some stents put in his arteries, Dennis Badar who had eye surgery, Daniel Staskiews who is in hospice, Jack Habrat & Rich Bunosky who are at Holy Family Hospice Center, Donna Mlady who continues to receive chemo treatments (it was good to see her able to come to church last weekend), and all those sick & homebound people whose names are listed in the bulletin. Out of respect for people's privacy, I am careful to publish here only the names of those people whose permission I have received to mention them in the bulletin. If I did not have a chance to ask them but know they would appreciate prayers, I may include only their first names. I always want to respect the privacy of those who are ill but also want us to remember them in thought & prayer. 

    Next Saturday, March 5th, Bishop Gries will be here to confer the Sacrament of Confirmation at the 4pm Mass. We welcome the Bishop and we pray for those who are completing their Sacraments of Initiation. I'm grateful to their catechists & to all who helped prepare them for this celebration. My cousin Father Dan Schlegel will be providing the meal that will be served to the Bishop and to those who helped prepare these young people for Confirmation. I've eaten his meals before and did not become ill so as long as he can cook without vegetables, he's welcome to prepare something for us. I guess we could call him "Chef Schlegel" but I bet you can't say that 5 times fast. (I know you just paused reading this to see if you could do it...and I was right, right?).