Our long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Land is finally upon us. There will be 35 of us making this trip so please keep us in your prayers for a safe, enjoyable and spiritual journey. I’m sure there will be pictures and stories to share upon our return. I’m also anticipating a trip to Rome next year so keep that in mind if you’re interested in the history, beauty (and food) of the Eternal City.                                

      Our Holy Father Pope Francis has announced that Father Michael Woost, a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, will be ordained as an Auxiliary Bishop for our Diocese on August 4, 2022 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. I was in the seminary with Bishop-Elect Woost and also know well his two brothers, Father Thomas and Father David, who are also priests of the Diocese. Father David Woost celebrated the funeral for my aunt a couple of months ago and is the Pastor of Divine Word in Kirtland. Father Thomas Woost was still in elementary school when I was in the major seminary but is now Pastor of St. Brendan Church in North Olmsted. I also knew their mother well as she was a member of St. Mary of the Falls Church in Olmsted Falls where I was first assigned after my ordination. So I am happy to congratulate Bishop-Elect Woost on his upcoming ordination. An Auxiliary Bishop is one who assists the main Bishop of a Diocese, in our case, Bishop Malesic, who is called the “Ordinary” bishop of the Diocese. We are also blessed to have Retired Bishop Roger Gries, former Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery and Retired Bishop Martin Amos, former Bishop or “Bishop Emeritus” of Davenport, Iowa, who also generously assist Bishop Malesic, especially by celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation at the many parishes of our Diocese. So we are very blessed by these generous men, each of whom are well respected by the clergy of the Diocese.                                                

      Speaking of Confirmation, I have been talking to Deacon Pat & Joan Berigan, as well as to Macrina Dodson, a longtime teacher in our parish school and pastoral minister, and to Joann Deranek, our PSR Coordinator, on how we might adjust our sacramental programs to make them more “evangelical.” I have spoken about this before but many in the Catholic Church have come to see that we have been very good about catechizing or teaching the Catholic Faith to our children, but often times without the necessary evangelization that necessarily goes with it. To evangelize means to introduce and invite others into a relationship with God, especially through a friendship with Christ, who has revealed God our Father to us and sent us the Holy Spirit so that we might have the wisdom and grace to be in a loving relationship with the Father and the Son. The book review that we did over Zoom during the COVID months was called “Forming Intentional Disciples,” and emphasized again the need for the Church to not just teach the faith to others but to evangelize or help others to enter into a relationship with the God whom we are teaching about. So these ministers and I are discussing ways in which we can better include this dimension of evangelization into our religious education and sacramental programs. This would include a focus especially on preparing the youth of our parish for the Sacraments of the Eucharist (First Communion) and Confirmation, typically received in the 2nd & 8th grades, respectively. We will be sure to share more of this plan with you in the coming months but it will likely mean that we take a different approach to how we prepare the young for these sacraments. We need to stress the importance of not just learning facts about the Catholic faith but of developing a personal relationship with God through Christ. Both are equally important and you can’t really have one without the other. Both catechism and evangelism need to be integrated together if one is to live out their religious faith in a way that is lifelong and which can be practiced in this life for preparation for the eternal life to come. This is needed not just for our young people but for all the disciples of Christ in our parish community. Pray that, as leaders and servants of the parish, we might be guided by the Holy Spirit in this important endeavor.