Announcements

Last weekend, Fr. Sill spoke about The Appeal and explained how any donations that exceed our parish goal are returned to our parish, tax-free. Due to your generosity, we have received a rebate each year for the past twelve years, and we hope to this year, as well.

This year we hope to pay off the remaining $56,000 on the school kitchen remodel and start banking significant rebate dollars for the main cafeteria remodel. 

Additionally, we will add our rebate to what we have left over from replacing the sanctuary lights, and we will earmark that money for repairs of the damage from frozen pipes last winter and in previous winters.

Frozen pipes have been an ongoing concern, and, while we’ve identified some issues already, we need to open up more walls to find the roots of the problem and to solve this issue for good. We hope to start this work early this summer. While insurance will cover some of the expense, we will have to pay the majority of it. The good news is that while we are fixing the areas that we will have to open, we can rebuild them in a more aesthetically pleasing manner. We have been working with an architect and will have drawings on display in the Gathering Space soon.

To make your pledge online, go to our website, https://stmatthew.net/, and look for the link under “Quick Links.” We also have envelopes available in the pews and in the parish office.

We thank you and God bless you for your generosity in supporting our parish and diocese so that our parish can continue the great works of Jesus in our place and time.

Dear St. Matthew Family,

Happy Easter! May the joy of the Resurrection be with you today and always! 

This Easter Sunday, we hear Jesus’ words in the Acts of the Apostles, challenging us to share the truth of the Christian life: “He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead” (10:42). In light of this instruction from our Lord, I am excited to share with you a new mission for our parish, one that will give us all tools to follow the directives of Jesus’ commission to go into the world and make disciples (Mt. 28:19).

Last summer, with the support of the Diocesan Office of Evangelization, several staff and I attended a conference sponsored by Divine Renovation, an organization that helps parishes “move from maintenance to mission.” This conference led to many conversations about where we’re succeeding as a parish and what we can do better.

I want to be clear that our parish as it is now is doing well. We are financially healthy, and we have many thriving ministries. We intend to maintain and expand these ministries. Just maintaining the status quo, however, is not enough. Our parish, like all parishes, exists to evangelize. Our mission is to introduce people to Christ, not only people who are sitting or have sat in our pews every week, but also the people who have never attended church. 

In the past few weeks, I have formed a leadership team of staff and parishioners to advise me in this mission to expand our vision. We have developed a vision statement that will guide the future of our parish for the next few years: to make disciples who love Jesus and have a passion to worship, serve, and evangelize.

Based on this vision and on conversations with the leadership team and staff, we will be focusing efforts on hospitality, evangelization, and discipleship. We want to create a culture of invitation in our parish, where visitors and new members are not only welcomed, but expected. While we are only in the beginning stages of this process, you will start to see changes in the parish, some minor, others more noticeable. I ask that you greet these changes with a spirit of openness and charity, knowing that all is being done to bring others to the love of Christ.

Easter proclaims victory and renewal for Christian life. Easter also calls for our response to the Lord’s command to make disciples. Therefore, we do not rest in a life of status quo. We are called to be more, to go out into the world. I hope you will join me in this mission. Together, we will witness even more amazing changes that the Holy Spirit will bring to our parish in the coming years.

Alleluia! He is risen!

 

View a PDF of this letter here.

February 28, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  

Peace be with you! As Catholics, we are committed to protecting the sanctity of human life no matter the circumstances or stage of development. We live this out by, among other things, accompanying the poor and needy, refugees and immigrants, prisoners on death row, young mothers, and children.  

In Ohio, the dignity of life in its earliest stages is threatened by groups proposing an amendment to Ohio’s Constitution for the November 2023 ballot that would enshrine and expand abortion at the expense of protections for preborn children and women. The Church must not be silent and cannot remain on the sidelines when confronted with such a clear threat to human life. This proposal demands a response, and we strongly encourage Catholics and all people of good will in Ohio to work against including the proposed amendment for the November ballot and, if it appears on the ballot, vote against the amendment to prevent countless deaths of preborn, innocent children.

Our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us that “Our defense of the innocent unborn … needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development” (Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 101). Our commitment to protecting and promoting life includes providing resources and accompanying women during and after pregnancy through our numerous social service agencies, schools, and parishes. This commitment also includes rejecting abortion expansion, which only perpetuates a throwaway culture that does not value human life.

The Catholic Conference of Ohio will be collaborating with statewide organizations, and diocesan respect life offices will be seeking volunteers to help coordinate a campaign at every parish. More information and materials will become available as we mobilize to oppose the proposed amendment on the November 2023 ballot. We, the Catholic Bishops of Ohio, stand with you, our faithful, in our commitment in the name of the Lord of Life, to each human person from conception to natural death. Let us unite in fasting and offering this prayer:  

God our loving Father, grant wisdom to those who govern us, compassion and courage to those who work to defend human life, and safety and care to every human being. For you alone who formed us in our mothers' wombs, and who call us home to heaven, are God, for ever and ever. Amen.

With you in Christ Jesus,

Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Most Rev. Edward C. Malesic, Diocese of Cleveland
Most Rev. Michael G. Woost, Diocese of Cleveland
Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas, Diocese of Toledo
Most Rev. Jeffrey M. Monforton, Diocese of Steubenville
Most Rev. J. Michael Botean, Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton
Most Rev. Earl K. Fernandes, Diocese of Columbus
Most Rev. David J. Bonnar, Diocese of Youngstown
Most Rev. Bohdan J. Danylo, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma

The obligation to abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent is an important element of the Church's observance of the penitential nature of this holy season.

This year, March 17, the Friday of the Third Week of Lent, corresponds with Saint Patrick's Day, traditionally an occasion for joy-filled celebrations in this diocese, especially among those of Irish heritage.

Bishop Fernandes, taking into consideration both past practice and present circumstances, has granted to the faithful of the Diocese of Columbus, as well as to any visitors or travelers who may be physically present within the territory of this diocese, a dispensation from the obligation of abstinence from meat on March 17, 2023, provided that the member of the faithful taking advantage of this dispensation, undertakes one of the following works:

1) makes a pilgrimage or visit to any church in the Diocese of Columbus named in honor of St. Patrick (Columbus, London, Junction City);

2) assists at Mass at any church, chapel, or oratory on March 17th;

3) prays the “Breastplate of St. Patrick,” attributed to St. Patrick;

4) engages in some pious devotion such as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, or Eucharistic Adoration; or

5) performs an act of comparable penance (such as abstinence from meat) on some other occasion during the Third Week of Lent.