Ohio Bishop News.  As I write this bulletin article on February 12 (due to early bulletin deadlines) nationwide Church news hit our Ohio area.  Pope Francis has appointed Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey to take the place of Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr.  Pope Francis has also named Fr. John Keehner, a parish priest of the Diocese of Youngstown, to become Bishop of Sioux City, Iowa.  Fr. Keehner was a pastor nearby at St. Paul’s, North Canton before becoming pastor of four parishes in Ashtabula.  Please pray for these men as they enter into new avenues of ministry for the Church.

Local Parish News.  If you haven’t heard already, Fr. David Verbsky has been named Chaplain for the University of Akron Campus.  This became effective January 15, 2025.  This assignment is in addition to his assignment here.  He will still be serving here as your Parochial Vicar until June 2026.  Fr. David is excited about this opportunity to serve and has a heart for ministering to young adults.  I truly believe it will be life-giving for him as well as the college students and faculty at Akron U (my alma mater 😊).  What does this mean for us?  Well, Fr. David will be committed to serving at Akron U on Tuesday, Wednesday and most Sunday evenings.  Because of this, his day off has changed to Thursday.  I will be changing my day off to Monday in an effort to maintain coverage here at the parish while he is away.  I will, however, be available for PSR at 7:00 p.m. on Mondays.  At this point, I will maintain our Mass schedule as it is.  In light of this assignment, I was advised to only offer one daily Mass per day.  Be assured that I will take time to prayerfully discern before I make any decision about our Mass schedule.

Thank you for your flexibility with things.  Just when I became comfortable with the last change we made because Fr. Sal was no longer able to help us, another invitation to change came.  I am always excited about these invitations to change because it invites me to ask the Holy Spirit where our next steps should be—that’s exciting!  Thank you for your prayers!  You really need to know that I love you and I really love this parish of St. Francis de Sales.  It is a great place!  I'm so very blessed to be here with you following Jesus, serving others, and being open to His will in our lives.

Peace and blessings,
Fr. Jeremy