Dear Parish Family, This weekend our Church celebrates Priesthood Sunday! We've all been blessed by priests who serve us and deepen our faith and participation in the life of Christ especially through the Sacraments. I invite you to pray the prayer for priests in today's bulletin to thank God for the gift of our priests and to ask the Lord to continue to guide and call our priests and those discerning priesthood. Fr. Fabian, Dc. Anthony, and I will share below a bit about our own call to priesthood and what we love about priesthood.
We are celebrating a Mass of Remembrance this coming Saturday, November 2 at the Vigil Mass for all the deceased of our parish from this past year. Family and friends of the deceased have received invitations to celebrate this Mass with our parish family. If you have loved ones who have passed away this year, you can come and pray for them at this Mass in a special way, even if they weren't buried from our parish. May our beloved dead rest in the peace of Christ.
I am excited to announce that our new rectory construction has been approved by the diocese! We are finalizing legal agreements and permits at this time and hope to begin construction later in November. I will keep you posted when construction will commence. It’s providential that I get to announce this to you on Priesthood Sunday! The new rectory will greatly bless the priests and seminarians who serve our parish, and by extension, our parish community as a whole. Thank you for your support and prayers for this monumental undertaking.
Fr. Scott Goodfellow, Pastor I first felt the Lord's call to priesthood as a gentle tug when I was 17 years old. I went on a teen retreat and met a seminarian who opened my eyes to the possibility of the call. With the death of one of my best friends later that year, the Lord showed me how precious life is and how meaningful it can be when we surrender and say YES to Him. The Lord's gentle nudging prompted me to apply to seminary in my senior year and formalize my time of discernment. My seminary years were filled with great memories and friendships as I was being formed by the Lord and the seminary faculty for priesthood. I can truly say we have a wonderful presbyterate here in Cleveland and I am proud to be a Cleveland diocesan priest! I love celebrating Mass, preaching, hearing confessions, and leading people closer to Christ. I celebrated my 10th anniversary of priesthood this year and am so grateful to have served the people of St. Patrick's and St. Mary’s the past three years!
Fr. Fabian Han, Parochial Vicar Like other priests, I was a kid who served in the parish and went to PSR. But, when I had my first communion, I first thought that I wanted to be a priest. That was the first time I thought about becoming a priest and living for God and God’s people. The seed of the priesthood vocation was sown in me at this time. I responded YES to the call and entered a high school seminary in 2009 in Korea. When I graduated from the college seminary in 2018, my archbishop wanted me to study in the United States. I felt God was giving me a unique opportunity, and I said YES to my archbishop’s request. Then, I completed my graduate studies in the Diocese of Cleveland and became a priest last year. I believe that the priesthood is a journey that responds YES to the Lord’s call at every moment. My first year as a priest was a blessing because I had a good pastor, staff, and parish family. I thank the Lord that I am His priest and your priest.
Dc. Anthony Donatelli, Transitional Deacon The first time I felt called to the priesthood was when I was a sophomore in high school. I remember walking out of Sunday Mass with my family when all of a sudden, a seminarian from my home parish stopped me and asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a priest. At that moment I felt like an arrow went through my chest! For the first time in my life I was awakened to the reality that God desired me all for Himself. After running away from God, it wasn’t until I was twenty years old that I finally surrendered to Jesus. Surrendering to Jesus was the best decision I have ever made in my life! From that point on I fell in love with Christ and just wanted to do whatever He wanted me to do. After falling in love with Christ, I trusted Him, I trusted Him enough to finally respond to His invitation for me to enter seminary. Now, I am a deacon and am seven months away from being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cleveland! I am so happy now and cannot wait for the adventure that God has in store for me in priesthood!
We are yours in Christ, Fr. Scott Goodfellow, Fr. Fabian Han, Dc. Anthony Donatelli