Dear Parish Family,

  Fr. Spisak and I are incredibly grateful for our time on retreat towards the end of October and for your prayers for us. Please know that we also prayed for you! A retreat is a time of deep connection and renewal with the Lord, a check-in with the deepest reality of God's order. On our retreats, our days are structured around hours of prayer, Mass, and spiritual direction. This rhythm of retreat offered me a wonderful experience of God's love for me, the gift of my priestly vocation, and a recentering of my life in Christ's embrace of love. I am truly grateful for the Lord's gifts to me and to Fr. Spisak on retreat. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, instead of asking us how our retreats went, why don't you tell us six months from now! The effects of grace will need this time to really begin to blossom.

   Anointing of the Sick
  This weekend we celebrate Anointing of the Sick at our parish Masses. Those eligible to receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick include those who are seriously ill in body, mind, or spirit; those preparing for surgery; those diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses or awaiting a diagnosis for one of these illnesses; and those who are experiencing the general frailty that comes with age. If you have only a minor illness that does not fit into one of the above categories, please know you are in our prayers as a Church even if you are not a candidate for Anointing of the Sick at this time. If you or your loved one is in need of anointing, please bring yourself and them to one of our Masses. If you are unable to attend Mass this weekend, please reach out to our parish office to schedule a time for Fr. Spisak or me to anoint you or your loved one.

On a related note, please know that Anointing of the Sick is one of the three Sacraments included in the "Last Rites" which includes Confession, Anointing, and Eucharist. If and when you or a loved one is in need of Last Rites, I cannot stress enough how important it is to contact a priest well ahead of time to celebrate these Rites with you and your loved ones. Planning ahead in this way will allow you to schedule a time with the priest to be present with you and your family and friends for these prayers, allow full participation of the sick person to receive these Sacraments, give the sick person time to receive the fullness of grace given through these Sacraments, and also avoid waiting until the last minute where it may be difficult or impossible for a priest to be available in a pinch. Last Rites do not need to be administered again if performed within a few weeks or months of the sick person's life.

  The bottom line is that God is so good and merciful to us in our weakness, and we should strive to share in the richness of His grace as soon as we possibly can rather than waiting until the last minute to bring Him in sacramentally.

Synod on Synodality
  You may or may not have heard about the Synod happening in our universal Church. A "Synod" is a gathering of people who are open to sharing and listening. Think of our parish "Listening Sessions" that will be happening this month as a type of Synod (shameless plug: if you haven't registered for a Listening Session, you can and should do so at https://calendly.com/fatherscott/ listening-sessions). People gather at a synod in order to share, listen, and come to a deeper understanding of the topics discussed. More than listening to one another, the Church understands a synod as a generous openness to listening to the Holy Spirit. The relevant topics of this synod will be communion, participation, and mission.

  Before we can really appreciate the topics that this synod hopes to address, I think it's crucial to note that this particular Synod in our Church is on Synodality itself. In his October 17th homily at the opening liturgy for our diocesan synod, Bishop Malesic said, "Synodality is a word we don’t use often, but it is a concept we understand. Synodality expresses the idea that we must walk together. After all, we go together on the journey of faith. We are a pilgrim people – not just individuals walking alone. Synodality, a call to move together toward the goal of salvation, is in the nature of the Church."

  Did you catch that? Synodality is integral to the meaning of belonging to the Catholic Church! Our universal Church needs a Synod on Synodality at this time precisely to rekindle what it means to be Catholic, to learn once more how to listen generously and generatively to the Holy Spirit as the first disciples once learned! I will provide more information on how we will participate as a parish community in this Synod in the months to come. Until then, I encourage you to welcome the opportunity this Synod will bring in welcoming the Holy Spirit into every nook and cranny of our Church life. The purpose is not to change teaching or tradition, but rather to rediscover how the Holy Spirit is inviting us to take these gifts of Christ's truth and life to a world most in need of Him.

  You can learn more about the Synod in our diocese You can learn more about the Synod in our diocese at https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/synod.