Dear Parish Family,

   I can't believe we're heading towards the end of summer already! School has already begun for some of our families. In fact, this Monday is the first day of school for our St. Mary School students and teachers. We warmly welcome them back and look forward to the life and joy they bring to our parish.

  These past two weeks, I was also able to meet a few college students who were home for the summer before they headed back to college. We have some very faith- filled young people in the parish! Please pray for the safety and education of all youth as they begin a new year of formation.

   First Day of St. Mary School: On this first day of school, I will offer a short prayer service for our school community at 2:00 p.m. this Monday in the church. Parents have been invited to attend as well. After the prayer service, the students will return to their classrooms to receive a special treat from Mrs. Winterstellar, Fr. Spisak, and me. Meanwhile, parents are invited to spend some time in the gathering area for refreshments and a meet-and-greet with me.

   School Mass Time:  Please also remember that the School Mass time has been changed to Fridays at 1:30 p.m. this year. We will continue to celebrate Mass as a parish at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

  Prayers for Deacon David Verbsky: I want to ask you to especially pray for a son of our parish, Deacon David Verbsky, who is in his transitional deacon year at St. Mary Seminary in Wickliffe. God willing in May 2022 he will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cleveland. I remember how much I was upheld by my parish community during my formation time in seminary, and it would be a ggreat gift from us to Deacon Dave to pray for him intentionally this year as he prepares for priesthood.

  Scam Messages: Please be vigilant about respondingh to phone calls, texts, social media messages, and emails you receive from numbers or addresses you don't know. I've already heard from parishioners regarding 'emergency' requests they've received from a phone number or email address purporting to be 'Fr. Scott Goodfellow.' Scammers can be clever. They fish for information, use fabricated email addresses like [email protected], and make the requests sound like an emergency you need to respond to immediately. Neither I nor anyone on our parish staff will ever solicit you by text, phone, social media, or email. If we have a professional business item to discuss with you, we will call directly from the parish phone line or from our email domain systems (@ stmarychardon.org or @stpatrickthompson.org).

   Respect during the pandemic:  As we continue to deal with COVID, I find myself ministering to a wide array of good and holy people who feel strongly one way or another about the pandemic. In a reminder letter from August 10 of this year, Bishop Malesic wrote, "It is inevitable that people will make different choices about masking and other public health recommendations. Everyone is reminded to show kindness and respect to one another, especially those who may be taking an approach different from their own. Individuals and families must decide for themselves how best to respond to the current situation taking into consideration information from credible health authorities while following our Lord's command, 'As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.' (John 13:34)".

  In that vein, let's look at the days ahead as opportunities to learn to love one another. We live in a culture of convenience, but relationships are seldom convenient! Hence why love thy neighbor comes across as a command from our Lord! As Jesus in the Gospel today gives the disciples freedom to choose whom they will follow and serve, so must we decide in freedom whether we will follow the Lord in the often inconvenient discipline of love or follow the convenient compulsions of our fallen nature.