Category: Uncategorized

FATHER ABEL’S COLUMN – OCTOBER 30TH, 2016

christ-the-high-priest-icon-902Today October 30th is Priesthood Sunday, Its an opportunity to celebrate the great gift of priesthood in the Church and an opportunity to invite young new to consider the priesthood. Please pray for an increase in all vocation in the Church.

I am happy to inform you that in preparation for the upcoming presidential elesction, we will have the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours in our Chapel for nine consecutive days from October 30th to November 7th. Every person spending time with our Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament will be asked to pray the Rosary and a special that will be provided for you. Pray for the Spiritual success of this endeavor.

Finally, please pray for our seminarian Ikena who will be ordained a transitional deacon, Saturday November 7 at 10:30am followed by a reception in the auditorium.

Rev. Kevin P. Abels
Pastor

FATHER ABEL’S COLUMN – OCTOBER 23RD, 2016

Years ago, Bishop DiMarzio asked that every parish form a parish Council, which serves as a advisory board to the pastor. The role of the Parish Council is to bring the parishioners concerns or ideas (your concerns and ideas) to me as pastor. I am grateful to all the past and current parishioners who have served time on the council. I truly do value your input! Our current Parish Council is made up of members representing the major groups of the parish: English community, Spanish community, Korean community and Filipino community.

When I arrived here as pastor two years ago I created other smaller councils. I created a Spanish council and a Korean council. The role of these councils is to plan and suggest ideas for these communities, so the Korean and Spanish councils plan events and raise issues pertaining only to the Korean and Spanish communities.

I am happy to inform you, that now that we have assigned a Filipino priest to the parish, I have recently formed a Filipino council which will work with me and Fr. Joey on issues within the Filipino community.

When I came back as your pastor, I promised that I would do my best to make sure at every group felt welcome and that all ideas would be considered. That being said, I want to let you know that I will be holding a General Assembly meeting, for our English/Anglo community,. In other words, any parishioner who is not Korean, Hispanic or Filipino is invited to gather with me on Sunday, November 13th at 2:30pm in the school auditorium. The purpose would be to suggest ideas and / or plan events for the American community. Please know that the reason I am only asking to meet with this group is because all other major groups of the parish (Spanish, Filipino, and Korean) already have some kind of representation. Please don’t be offended! I am just trying to do my best to make everyone feel welcome. We have Irish, Polish, Italian and Indian communities (to name only a few) that I want to reach out to as well. Please help me!!

Rev. Kevin P. Abels
Pastor

FATHER ABEL’S COLUMN – OCTOBER 16TH, 2016

pentecosteridToday after the 1:15 pm Mass, all of our Filipino groups will be having a pot luck welcome for Fr. Joey as he begins his ministry here at St. Sebastian. At this gathering we will start to plan other events and activities for our Filipino community during the year.

Please know that I added two more handicap parking spots in our church lot. Please only use if you or someone in your car is disabled in any way.

Also, a reminder that the first row directly in front of the pulpit is reserved for anyone who might find it difficult to make their way down the middle aisle of the church. Please feel free to take advantage of this.

This weekend we will have religious articles for sale to help support the work in the Holy Land. This group comes each year and they always have beautiful items for sale. I hope you enjoy.

Next weekend is our Annual Life in the Spirit Seminar sponsored by our Charismatic Prayer Community. It’s a wonderful opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to stir our hearts so we can be his instrument in the world. Please see the bulletin for the complete schedule.

Rev. Kevin P. Abels
Pastor

FATHER ABEL’S COLUMN – OCTOBER 2ND, 2016

st-francis-assisi-prayer-card-641wy9-clipartTuesday, October 4th, we will have the blessing of animals at 3:30 pm in our School yard. It’s an opportunity to ask God’s Blessing, through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, upon our pets.

This weekend we will be hearing about our Landings Ministry outreach to those who have wandered away from the faith. Please take flyers that have been made available to you and invite someone you know to give Landings a try.

This coming Thursday, Bishop Vitold, one of our newest available Bishops, will confer the sacrament of confirmation upon 97 of the young people from our community. Please keep them in your prayers.

Next Saturday, October 9th, the Sisters of Mary Immaculate will be selling religious articles to help poor children in our city. Thanks for your generosity. Also next weekend, Bishop DiMarzio has asked that a special door collection be taken up to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Italy.

Thanks for your support.