Louise Horvath was the 93 year old mother of Judi Krahn who is a member of our parish. Judi would ask me to come over and anoint her mom from time to time and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have done that, the last time not being too long ago. We also prayed the last rites for her as she had been bedridden for some time in her home. Judi took great care of her mom and truly honored her by doing so during Louise’s last years. Fr. Josh Cochrac from St. Charles parish was kind enough to celebrate her funeral Mass in my absence while I was away in Florida. May Louise now rest in eternal peace.
I visited with Michael Coffman and his wife Jeannette shortly before I left on vacation. He told me about his struggle with cancer and how good his wife of 42 years had been to him through that illness. I anointed him and gave him Holy Communion. I had hoped to see him again after my vacation but he passed away shortly after I returned and we celebrated his funeral Mass on Saturday, July 24th. Mike was a man who loved his wife and two children, Michael & Michelle, and who loved life itself. He was a man of faith who was devoted to his patron, St. Michael the Archangel. We thank God for the good care he received from Hospice & from his family. May God now take good care of him on the other side of life.
Congratulations to Christina Giangrande & to James Hafner Jr. who are being wedded this weekend (Saturday, July 31st). I have enjoyed getting to know them. Christina’s parents John & Maria are active members of the parish whom I also got to know well during our trip to Italy a couple of years ago. Congratulations to them & to Jim’s parents as well.
The new editor of this parish bulletin is expecting her first child the last week of July which is when I am writing this column since she needs to have the bulletin for this weekend done before she goes into labor. So first, we congratulate Bailey Milcinovic & her husband on the birth of their child. Bailey has been doing a great job with the bulletin and with all of our social media as well as with her work as one of our Preschool teachers. But secondly, due to bulletin deadlines, including when I was on vacation, I failed to mention in last week’s bulletin that Pope Francis said he established a new World Day of Grandparents & Elderly for 2 major reasons: because of the neglect and isolation so many grandparents and elderly experienced worldwide during the COVID-19 health crisis and because of the important role they play in society. He designated the fourth Sunday of July—July 25th this year, which was last Sunday—for this new commemoration. He chose this date because of its close proximity to the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. The pope also said, “I was called to become the bishop of Rome when I had reached, so to speak, retirement age, and thought I would not be doing anything new” (the pope, who is 84, was elected when he was 76). “The Lord is always…close to us with new possibilities, new ideas, news consolations…he never goes into retirement.” So that is why we prayed for all grandparents & for the elderly last weekend. May they all know that the Lord is close to them & always doing something new in their lives. You can read more about this on the website for the Diocese of Cleveland (dioceseofcleveland.org).