Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Traditionis Custodes Last week Pope Francis issued what is called a motu proprio. It is a legislative document that makes a change to current church law (known as canon law). The pope issues this on his own initiative with the authority he has as pope. This has nothing to do with infallible statements of dogma. A pope can never issue a motu proprio in order to make an eighth sacrament or to change the church’s moral teaching.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, What a Success! Thank you to everyone who volunteered to host the potluck last week - it was a great success! There were well over one hundred people there. There were a number of people who stopped me and said they wanted to be there but could not make it, so there would have been even more! We had new as well as long time parishioners, young and old, and people making new connections and reconnecting with old friends. We prayed, we ate, and we had fun. There was good food, a lively atmosphere, and I even played euchre with some of young adults. I can’t wait until we do it again!

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, New Parishioner & Welcome Back Potluck Thank you to all who are attending the Potluck this weekend. Hopefully many are able to come. It is a great opportunity to reconnect with fellow parishioners and also to meet new ones! As we navigated through Covid we tried to stay connected with people as safely as possible. Also, we adjusted our Sunday schedule adding the 9:30 Mass, which has been a great help to many people in the wider area. A good number of these folks are registering with the parish and looking to be involved. I hope today’s potluck is a success in acquainting new people and building up the bonds that make us St. Paul Parishioners!

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy Independence Day! God bless America! I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday and making a special effort through prayer and works to show appreciation for those who have died to defend us. Also, we thank all who serve in the military, police, and first responders. We should not forget too “the little guy” - those who are honest, hard-working, and persevere to help their local community - often unseen or recognized by the media. What makes a country great is the majority of people humbly serving God and neighbor.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Thank you Ladies Guild! Wow, what a great Rummage sale the Ladies’ Guild hosted two weeks ago! Thank you to all the ladies who helped (and I think a few men showed up too) putting many hours of hard work into a great event for the parish and the whole community. Especially since we did not have the sale last year due to covid, this year the PAC was full of items. It was well organized with patient and friendly people giving good witness to Christ and to our parish. I am so proud of what they did. I do not know the exact amount, but I heard the earnings were around $4300! Thank so much for your dedication to our Lord and St. Paul Parish!

We are planning a “Welcome Back Parish Potluck” to get together, enjoy a meal, get reacquainted with fellow parishioners, and meet and greet new parishioners. For planning purposes, we would like to have an idea of how many people will be attending our Parish Potluck on Sunday, July 11, 2021, from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. The parish will provide the meat for the meal. Please fill out the information in the bulletin and put it in an envelope marked “Potluck” and drop it in the offertory basket or you can email the info to stpaulakr@sbcglobal.net. Thank you for helping us out and we look forward to an enjoyable event!

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy Father’s Day! A child’s dad is the person who images God the Father to his sons and daughters. When our dads fulfill their role as loving protector, guardian of the family, self-sacrificing provider, and spiritual head of the family then they image God the Father to their children. While only our Heavenly Father is perfect, He has seen fit to gives us earthly fathers, who even if not perfect, have great potential to convey God’s grace. May we honor our fathers today and thank them for their sacrificial love and example. In this month when we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pray for our fathers to grow in their relationship with Christ and to love as He loves with a Father’s heart.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Corpus Christi Procession Video Last week I hope you were able to join us for the Corpus Christi Procession after the 11:30 Mass. Those who did participate may have noticed a few people with cameras. Well they were there to record the event, and our parish intern, Hanna Lidderdale, has edited a video for those who missed it. Check out our YouTube channel to see it!

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!! Please join us on Thursday, June 24 at 6:30 PM in the PAC for the FIVE GRAND JACKPOT DRAWING! Light refreshments will be served. Come and see if you are the lucky winner of one of our fantastic prizes! YOU MUST CALL THE_RECTORY 330-724-1263 BY JUNE 21ST TO LET US KNOW YOU WILL ATTEND! This will help us plan for refreshments. Winners do not need to be present to win. All winners will be notified by phone if not present at drawing. 

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy Corpus Christi Sunday! The Lord has gifted us with so much! He has given us life and dignity being made in His image. He humbled Himself to take on our human nature that we might be able to become adopted as children of God. He has given us the further grace of redemption through His Death and Resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit descends on the Church so that the gift of faith is given to people through the centuries and throughout the world received through the sacrament of baptism.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Parish Pastoral Council Nominations Due TODAY! Be sure to fill out the form to nominate yourself or fellow parishioners to sit on Parish Pastoral Council. The forms are in the church narthex, or you can get it from our website. Or even just call in and give the name over the phone. The form explains the details of the requirements and expectations of council members.

In the beginning of May, Tessa Zellefrow , celebrated her First Holy Communion. May the blessings of Christ be upon you always!

As the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days begins the weekend of June 5,6 we will be ending the weekly use of our live stream of the Mass. Sunday May 30th @ 11:30am the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity will be our last weekly live-streamed Mass. The use of live stream will continue for special parish events, adult faith formation, special feast days and masses that will come in the future. We thank you for your support, for more information check out Fr. Pfeiffer’s bulletin column and if you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact Fr. Pfeiffer at the rectory 330-724-1263.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy Feast of Pentecost! What good news! The restrictions we have had to endure for over a year are finally coming to an end. Well sort of. At the time of this writing, we are still waiting on the details from our bishop about covid related guidelines going into the future. It is pretty safe to assume that social distancing will not be required, nor will masks be required at Mass. Other details like reception of Communion, signs of peace, cleaning of pews, etc. are still forthcoming.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy Feast of the Ascension One of the interesting oddities of embracing both liturgical forms of the Roman Rite happens this weekend. In the Ordinary Form Calendar, Ascension is still forty days after Easter meaning it always lands on a Thursday. But in our country, the decision is left to the local bishop to decide whether to celebrate it on its traditional day or to transfer it to the following Sunday. In the Diocese of Cleveland for as long as I can remember the feast has been transferred.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ the Lord lives! Indeed He is Risen!!! St. Paul’s Parishioner Begins Internship Congratulations to Hanna Lidderdale, a lifelong parishioner, who will intern at our parish for the summer to help with her requirements to graduate from University of Akron. You have seen Hanna around. She graduated from our school and has been a diligent and faithful server at the altar in the past. More recently she has been part of our live-stream team and also has served on pastoral council. She starts this week with duties to help grow our “digital presence” and utilize media to help our parish evangelize more effectively.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, He is Still Risen! Indeed He is Risen!!! May Crowning on Mother’s Day Weekend Immediately following the 4:30 Mass on May 8 we will celebrate the crowning of our Mary statue in the Church. Tessa Zellefrow, who recently received her first Holy Communion will bring forward the crown. Also at all the Masses will be a blessing for Mothers on their special day.

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, He is Still Risen! Indeed He is Risen!!! Sacrament of Confirmation The following young people received the Sacrament of Confirmation this past week. Some celebrated it at St. Francis de Sales Parish with Bishop Gries and one person received the sacrament from Cardinal Burke in Cleveland as his Eminence was in town to celebrate a Confirmation Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Congratulations to them all as they have completed their sacraments of initiation and are now equipped by God’s grace to remain faithful and fight the battles necessary to usher in the Kingdom of God.

Imagine my delight when, as a music director, Don sent me a link to his new book:  "A Collection of Catholic Devotional Hymns to St. Joseph". 

Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, He is Still Risen! Indeed He is Risen!!! Fr. Needs your help for ten minutes!! The Diocese of Cleveland is seeking our input on how we are being formed as disciples. This is a great opportunity for all of us to see where we are in our Catholic Faith especially as we are (hopefully?) transitioning out of covid mode. Please make the time to take this quick survey, and I am sorry to be pushy, but of course there is deadline, next Monday, April 19. The survey takes less than ten minutes.