September 27, 2020
St. Vincent de Paul
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a voluntary organization in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1833 for the members to be able to be in the service of the poor. The association was patterned after the Confraternities of Charity which was the service to the poor that St. Vincent de Paul started in 1625.

At St. Cecilia and St. Margaret-St. John we have a St. Vincent de Paul conference that helps those in our parish and community. I always feel very well supported by this group of people that are willing to help out others in so many different ways. Each month we take a collection for our St. VdP chapters and I am always so grateful for your generosity. We have had parishioners that have really felt the support they needed to get through rough patches in their lives from our St. VdP conferences. Your gift to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul brings peace to those who are overwhelmed with life’s burdens. Below is a witness that I would like to share. It is a witness given by one of the members of the SVDP conferences in our region.

Father Jamie

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Pastor's Ramblings

Special Message from Fr. Jamie
For those of you who might not have heard, there was recently an advertisement that ran in The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Cincinnati Herald paid for by some members of St. Anthony Parish. The signers of the ad expressed their unhappiness with my pastoral care and leadership of their parish. The ad led to a few news articles that basically reiterated the content of the ad. This has been time consuming and taxing for me and for those who work directly with me. Through all of this, I want you to know that I have deeply appreciated the prayers and support of so many of you. The underlying problem seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Church, her teaching and her structure. We are not a congregationalist church with teachings and liturgy tailored to personal taste or group consensus. The Holy Spirit protects the Church from that tendency and has certainly helped me as Pastor in our whole region to be faithful to my mission despite sometimes hurtful criticism. In all of this, I am certainly sorry for the hurt that this situation has caused my family and our regional parishioners. While these events have taken much time and attention on my part, I pray it has not been a burden for any of you. Throughout this I have diligently striven to ensure that my pastoral activity treats all of our three parishes equitably. I am grateful for the members of the St. Anthony parish council and other parish leaders throughout the region who are working together to faithfully build up the Body of Christ. I am also very grateful to our archbishop who has always supported me and encouraged me in my work.

The statement the archdiocese released regarding the situation: “Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr fully supports Fr. Weber in his ministry as pastor of St. Anthony Parish. Fr. Weber has worked closely with the parish council for the last four years and has been faithfully fulfilling his pastoral duty to teach, sanctify, and gov-ern the community entrusted to his care. Chief among the responsibilities of every pastor is providing the faithful with the Mass and the other sacraments. The sacraments are a gift entrusted by Christ to the Church, not to any one individual or group, and so they must always be celebrated in accord with the Church’s tradition and laws. Archbishop Schnurr is grateful to Fr. Weber for his dedication in celebrating the sacraments with and for his parishioners in communion with the Church.”

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FAMILY OF FAITH. We kicked off the year with our Family of Faith program on Sunday and it was a huge hit! Our parents, students, staff and teachers left so energized by this wonderful new program we are offering in our region. Please check out the site to read more about and sign up.

REST IN PEACE. Kimberlee Hembree, wife of William Hembree, daughter of long time parishioners Ken and Marie Evans, had a Mass of Christian burial on Weds., Sept. 16.

REST IN PEACE. Marilyn Klein had her Mass of Christian Burial at St. Cecilia on Sept. 18.