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
April & May 2025
HOLY WEEK AND EASTER CELEBRATIONS
As we continue to celebrate in the joy of Easter I want to thank all of you for all that you did to help make our Holy Week and Easter celebrations what they were. It was great on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and at the Easter Vigil to see parishioners from both parishes gathered together to celebrate these truly moving liturgies. We had opportunities for our music ministries to work together in leading us in song, Servers from both parishes served at each of our liturgies, and our Lectors worked together as well, so that each day was truly a joint celebration.
As I mentioned in my homily on Holy Thursday, no matter which “team” we might play for on a weekly basis, St. Patrick or St. Vincent de Paul, we all ultimately play for the same team, the Body of Christ. Coming together for events such as our Holy Week celebrations is a way, not of weakening one parish or the other, but rather of strengthening each other through our working together. I understand the worry that might exist when a Mass or an event is not at “my parish,” but when we gather together occasionally such as we did over the days of Holy Week, we make a good thing even better. Sometimes we might say or think, “I wish there were more people here,” and that’s what we were able to accomplish, joining together as one larger team rather than two smaller, individual ones.
While we certainly will not be doing everything together, as the plan is to continue to remain two individual parish communities, we will also continue to look for ways where we can work together and build each other up.
Our Holy Week celebrations next year will again be joint celebrations that hopefully will continue to build upon the foundation of working together that was set this year. We will also continue to look for other opportunities to work together and build each other up, again, not as ways of weakening one parish or the other, but as a way of doing things together that we couldn’t do separately, or doing activities that, perhaps, we could do separately, but that we can do even better and even stronger together.
WELCOME TO OUR NEOPHYTES!
A special word of welcome and congratulations to the newly initiated members of our faith...Morgan, Terry, and Cassidy. What a joy it was at the Easter Vigil to plunge them into the waters of Baptism, seal them with the Sacred Chrism and the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, and welcome them to the table of the Lord din the Eucharist. When you see them around, please make them feel welcome. As I shared with everyone at Easter, the Christian life is a continuous journey of dying and rising. Dying to all in us that is not of Him, all that lease us away from God, all that keeps us from truly living for and in Him, and rising to something greater in the life that the Lord calls us to. Alleluia! Alleluia!
IT IS FINISHED (THE ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH BASEMENT PROJECT)
Those words of Jesus as he hung upon the cross and died are also the words that you and I could echo about the waterproofing and remodeling work of our Church basement. All the work is done and it is finally finished and the early reviews from those who have seen the work are that it looks great and I completely agree! Thank you to all those who helped in any way with this important project!
With the work being finished, the question that has been asked a few times already is, “Are we going to do anything down there?” Now that we have a waterproofed, repainted, and refloored basement, are we going to be able to have events down there? The best answer that I can give at this point in time is, yes, we didn’t have the basement redone to not do anything with it, but the exact plans for the basement use are still in process. Before we open up the basement to general use, the plan is to first expand and develop our current Event Planning Guidelines to include a simple set of guidelines for what and when the basement can be used, along with all the practical details from how to reserve its use, the hours it is available to be used during, keys, set up, clean up, etc. These guidelines shouldn’t be anything overly complicated, but we just want to have a plan in place first before we open wide the doors. Stay tuned for more basement news and if you haven’t checked it out already, be sure to take a peek when you are able!
ETERNAL REST GRANT UNTO POPE FRANCIS
Prayer for the repose of the soul of
Pope Francis.
Eternal and loving God, You called Your servant, Pope Francis, to shepherd Your Church with humility, tenderness, and courage. In his time on earth, he strove to reflect Your mercy, to lift up the poor, the immigrant and the marginalized, to defend the vulnerable, and to lead Your people ever closer to the heart of Christ.
We thank You for his life, his witness, and his faithful service. Now, in Your boundless compassion receive him into your eternal embrace. Grant him rest from his labors, peace from his burdens, and the joy of seeing You face to face. May he be welcomed among the saints and may the legacy of his love and leadership bear fruit in the Church he so dearly loved.
Our Father………..
Hail Mary full of grace……..
Glory be to the Father……….
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. AMEN.
We pray too for the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon the Cardinals as they enter into Conclave to prayerfully discern our new Pope! You are invited to pray and fast for the intercession of the Holy Spirit!
If you wish to read the Homily from Pope Francis' Funeral, you can find it by clicking on this link...https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/special/sede-vacante/sede-vacante-2025/20250426-messa-esequiale-francesco.html
DIVINE MERCY HOLY HOUR
On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27th, Fr. Robert led a Holy Hour and the praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at St. Vincent de Paul. Thanks to Fr. Robert for leading the Holy Hour and to Gerry Mass for the music and to Pete Nunez and Tommy Borawski for serving. An additional thanks to Tommy for all his help in preparing the worship aide for the Holy Hour and also for chanting the Divine Mercy chaplet.
Beginning next Sunday, May 4th, and every first Sunday of the month following, he will also be leading a Holy Hour and the praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00 pm at St. Vincent de Paul. All are welcome!
Jesus, I trust in you!
GO CAVS!
On a lighter edition to this edition of "The Collar's Corner," Angel wanted to let everyone know that she says, "GO CAVS!"
"A FLOURISHING, APOSTOLIC CHURCH"
As we continue our reflections based on Bishop Malesic's recent Pastoral Letter, here is another paragraph that struck me that I wanted to share with you...
"Many Catholics are uncomfortable with being called missionary disciples or being asked to share their faith with others as evangelizers, because, for many of us, it was thought to be enough to simply go to Mass and be a good person. The clergy, religious, and professional lay leaders would take care of sharing the faith with others. The Second Vatican Council reminded us, “It is the special vocation of the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will” (LG, 31). In many ways, it is this very approach of deferring our missionary responsibility to others that has brought us where we are today, with less than twenty-five percent of Catholics attending Mass on weekends, and alarmingly lower percentages for our younger generations of Catholics. The number of sacramental marriages and children being brought for baptism by their parents is also in steep decline. Because of these disturbing trends, every faithful Catholic must take seriously his or her call as missionary disciple. Jesus’ command to go and make disciples demands a renewed urgency. Yet, many will still feel Inadequate and not know where to begin."
(bottom of page 7 & top of page 8)
Every year we have our annual Mission Appeal where someone who has worked and ministered, many times in a foreign country amongst the poor and the forgotten, comes to share their story with us and ask for our support. But missionaries aren't just those who travel to far off lands or who work with the poor, each of us is called to be a missionary without ever leaving the city that we live in.
The Bishop reminds us that we are called to be people, each and every one of us, who share and proclaim the Good News. We can't hand the task off to 'someone else,' we must do it ourselves. If everyone assumes or acts as if it's 'someone else's' responsibility to share the faith, then there will be many who will not hear the Good News that the Lord so desperately wants them to hear. You are able to share the Good News, you are able to share mercy, you are able to share compassion and love with people that 'someone else' might never come into contact with. Our faith isn't simply a "me & Jesus" relationship, it's about "we & Jesus." Who & how is it that the Lord is calling you to be a missionary to?
MAY CROWNING
On Sunday May 4th we'll celebrate a May Crowning at the end of each parishes Sunday morning Mass. As we crown Mary, we give thanks for the ways that she taught us and pointed us to true worship of her Son. May her example and her yes, inspire us to continue to offer a more strong "Yes" to the Lord in the way we live our lives. Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen!
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/