Tonight, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Richard Lennon, came to St. Leo Church on Broadview Road in Cleveland to perform Confirmation for forty people. It was also the day when the closing of various churches in our Diocese were announced to the affected. Before Mass, Father Lowe, our Pastor, announced the decision of the Bishop. Our church and two others in our cluster will remain in their present state. Two other churches will merge. They are both on Pearl Road in Cleveland. I will let my non-area readers do the research on their own. This move was the one that I was expecting at the beginning of the process. However, the cluster's planning committee proposed that the two churches be folded into St. Leo's. A problem could have occurred as a result. If no Masses were added, we would probably have an overcrowded church for each Mass. The good news is that Father Lowe should be more visible at St. Leo's after the merger because he is also Pastor at one of the two churches involved in the merger. (You will figure it out if you do the research.) There may be discussion about other churches that will be closed if it affects any church mentioned previously in this blog.
You would have expected Bishop Lennon to discuss this issue during the Mass. However, he aimed his message to the Confirmandi. I guess that he wanted to keep the focus where it belonged. Also, since there will be no obvious changes at this time, there was no need to discuss them, although it would have been very interesting to hear what he had to say about the cluster's situation. In addition, with so many changes in other clusters happening in the near future, confusion with other scenarios could be a problem. We will see how things go as the months progress.
It was a very nice Mass. Bishop Lennon was very gracious when he mentioned that our parish was where his first official event as Bishop of Cleveland occurred almost three years ago. Father O'Donnell relayed Father Lowe's appreciation for the Bishop's presence during this part of the service (Father Lowe was at his other church revealing the merger plan, by then.). Unfortunately, he was very hard to hear. By the way, Bishop Lennon came in loud and clear. After Mass, Bishop Lennon and Father O'Donnell greeted the parishioners. I bypassed Father O'Donnell and greeted Bishop Lennon. I welcomed him back to St. Leo's. It was a real privilege. Regretfully, I didn't greet former Governor Richard Celeste when he spoke to one of my classes in college. I also didn't greet the now deceased Ted Stepien (One time Cleveland Cavaliers owner about 20 years before Lebron) (Interestingly, his wake was at the same place and time as my Aunt Loretta's wake in September 2007.) when he spoke to another one of my classes in College. It was my loss.
In closing, speaking of college, my Alma Mater, Cleveland State will be going to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament this week for the first time since 1986 when we reached the Third Round and narrowly lost to Navy when David Robinson was playing. I hope that we show the NCAA and the USA what a fine team CSU has. Go Vikings!!
Also, the Cavs also won the Central Division of the NBA for the first time since 1976. We deserve a championship NOW!! The drought in the big three sports has existed in Cleveland since 1964.
GO CAVS!!!!!!!!!!!!
