Dear Parishioners,

As part of our Parish’s 75th Anniversary, we are going to be working on a refresh of our parish website. We launched it almost 10 years ago and it’s been extremely helpful to those who are seeking to learn more about our parish. From there people are able to view our livestream of Mass, see our Mass times, learn about our parish school, view funeral information, and so much more. Though some of you may still rely on some of the more traditional forms of communication such as the newspaper or other print media, I can tell you that most of the younger generation almost exclusively use the internet. We receive hundreds of “hits” every week on our website from both parishioners as well as from those outside of our parish community. Many come to our website to find information or to contact us via email or phone call. One feature that I have found most helpful to myself as well as to those who wish to see me is the ability to make an appointment with me (or with Deacon Pat or Joan Berigan) quickly & easily by viewing our available days and times. There is so much on our website that the most difficult part of running it is trying to make it easy for people to find the information they are looking for quickly. So to that end, we will be working with the company who provides our live-streaming as they have just announced a website service which is specifically for faith communities. We will be porting our information over to them so while the site will look a bit different, it will still contain the information we currently have, but in a format that will be easier for you to find and view. Our website URL or “address” will remain the same (leothegreat.org) & we will let you know when it is up & running but we hope it will be before the end of this year. As always, please let us know what you find helpful or what information you would like available on our website. And know that you’ll still be able to view it on a computer, tablet or even your phone as it will be properly scaled for each device.

This Tuesday I will be attending a priest convocation for all the priests of our diocese at St. Albert the Great in North Royalton. We were told that the Bishop has asked the Presbyteral Council (a group of priests who represent all the priests of the diocese) for input on a document concerning the manner in which Masses are scheduled in the diocese. The priests believe it’s important for the faithful to understand that there is not only fewer priests to attend to the needs of the entire diocese but also far fewer people in the pews due to the crisis of faith that besets all religious denominations in our country and in our world. It becomes more challenging with fewer people to make vibrant celebrations of Mass for the people. A man from the Catholic Leadership Institute will be giving a presentation to us and of course there will be much discussion amongst the priests about this topic. I’ll keep you informed.

I had the opportunity to spend time with the 8th graders of our parish school as they had a retreat day hosted by students from Trinity High School. The retreat day took place at Camp Christopher where I spent one summer after college as a camp counselor. I celebrated Mass for the students there which happened to be on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. It’s always good to see our students hear high school students give witness to their Catholic faith.

In honor of St. Francis of Assisi, Deacon Pat lead the Pet Blessing this weekend on Saturday by our outdoor shrine. I continue to grieve the loss of Michaela and think of her so often as I pray that she, like all dogs suggested in last week’s cartoon posted here, have free entry into the Pearly Gates through the doggy door that is open to them all.

Rev. James P. Schmitz