The Collar's Corner
St. Patrick and St. Vincent de Paul Parishes
Two Parishes, One Faith
Becoming alive in Christ, called to bring Him to
life in the world
March 2025
PRAYERS FOR OUR OCIA ELECT
On Sunday, March 9th, the now OCIA Elect for the Easter Sacraments from St Vincent de Paul and St Patrick’s gathered this afternoon with Bishop Malesic, Bishop Woost, & other Elect from throughout the Diocese for the Rite of Election. At this prayer service the Bishop formally called Terry, Morgan, & Cassidy to the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, & Eucharist. Over the next 3 weeks we'll celebrate with them the 3 Scrutinies as they make their final preparations to become one with us in faith.
Please keep our Elect in your prayers as they journey towards Easter! If you see them around at Mass, please help them to feel welcome. I know their excitement is growing as we get closer to Easter and may our excitement to welcome them grow as well!
CONFESSIONS
We have 2 opportunities to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession over the next few weeks outside of our normally scheduled Confession times.
First, on Wednesday, March 19th from 5:00 pm-8:00 pm both St. Vincent de Paul and St. Patrick's, along with pretty much every other parish throughout the Diocese will be open for Confessions as a part of our annual Diocesan wide Evening of Confessions.
Second, on Monday, March 31st at Our Lady of Angels at 7:00 pm we will celebrate our Lenten Communal Penance Service. We'll have a short communal prayer and then there will be a number of Priests available to celebrate the Sacrament of individual Confession.
END YOUR MONTH WITH THE LORD
There are a few more end of the month Holy Hours left for the year. Please join us for some time of quiet prayer and reflection before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
HOLY WEEK AND EASTER
As we draw closer to Holy Week I wanted to draw your attention to our Holy Week & Easter Mass schedules. As this year's schedule is a bit different than we’ve been used to over the last few years.
This year, rather than having a separate Liturgy on each day at each parish, we will gather together for the Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil Liturgies. This year Holy Thursday Mass will be celebrated at 7:00 pm at St. Vincent de Paul. On Good Friday Noon Stations of the Cross and the 3:00 Service of the Lord’s Passion will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s. On Holy Saturday, our Noon Food Blessing and our Easter Vigil at 9:00 pm will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s. Easter Sunday Mass will be celebrated at each parish using our normal Sunday Mass schedule.
Which parish hosts which Liturgy on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil will rotate in future years, but joining together for these moving Liturgies will enable us to celebrate with a larger community rather than as two separate, smaller communities and will enable us to enter into these Liturgies in a more moving way. Ministers from both parishes have been invited to take part in all of the Liturgies and we’ll be incorporating traditions from both parishes into each Liturgy so these are truly meant to be joint celebrations where we come together as two separate parishes, united in one faith, entering into these holy days with our Lord and with each other. If at all possible, I’d invite you to join us as we walk together in this upcoming Holy Week.
**NOTE THAT THERE WILL NOT BE A TUESDAY EVENING MASS ON THE TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK, APRIL 15TH AS FR. ROBERT AND I WILL BE DOWNTOWN JOINING THE OTHER PRIESTS OF OUR DIOCESE FOR A DAY OF REFLECTION AND THE CHRISM MASS THAT EVENING WHERE THE NEW HOLY OILS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR WILL BE BLESSED AND CONSECRATED.
MARCH 300 CLUB WINNERS
Congratulations to the February winners of our 2025 300 Club Drawings....
1). Raymond Warmuth
2) Sean Kelly
3) Anita Brinza
Our next drawing will be held the first weekend of April, April 5th & 6th Good luck and we hope that you'll be a winner!
"A FLOURISHING, APOSTOLIC CHURCH"
If you heaven't had the opportunity yet to read and reflect on Bishop Malesic's Pastoral Letter, I would invite and encourage you to check out the letter. This isn’t a letter intended just for Priests or for those in leadership, it is meant for every member of the faithful in the Diocese and lays out the Bishop’s view for our Church and our Diocese going forward. The letter, entitled, “A Flourishing Apostolic Church,” is very easy to read and can be found on the Diocesan website….(www.dioceseofcleveland.org/a-flourishing-apostolic-church/overview). Over the next few "The Collar's Corner's" I hope to share with you some parts and quotes of the letter that I've found meaningful and inspiring. Here's one to start with:
"I have already mentioned above that I encourage every Catholic in the diocese of
Cleveland to spend at least fifteen minutes in prayer each day. It may not sound like much, but carving out fifteen minutes during which one puts aside everything else and dedicates that time to one’s relationship with God can be life changing. Again, if we compare our relationship with God to our other relationships, we know that we make time for the people whom we love most, and the people who love us most make time for us. The same is true in our relationship with God."
Whether it be in a straight 15 minute block or broken up throughout the day, the Bishop reminds us of a very important reality, we make time for those we love and they make time for us. It is so true, when we mean something to someone and they mean something to us, we will not just take the time, we will make the time to spend with them. These Lenten days are a great opportunity for us to examine our prayer lives. Where does quiet time with the Lord fit on our calendars, does it fit on our calendars? When we pray do we spend more time talking or listening? How might we be being called to grow in and deepen our prayer?
Don't forget to check out our websites for more information, ministry schedules, the parish calendar, etc.:
St. Patrick: https://stpatrickwp.org/
St. Vincent de Paul: https://svdpcleveland.org/