I come to St. Vincent de Paul and St. Patrick parishes as a Senior Parochial Vicar, ordained 45 years next month. When the retirement age was increased From 70 to 75 “Senior Parochial Vicar” was created to cover the extended time until retirement. I have had a variety of assignments, including campus ministry and parishes in city, inner-ring suburbs, suburbs, exurbs, and country settings.

We are now entering the final week for you to pick up your Summer Raffle Tickets. Tickets can be found in the envelopes at the doors of the church. Raffle tickets with cash are due in to the Parish Office no later than Sunday, August 9th. The drawing of the raffle tickets will be held virtually on the Parish's Facebook page (St. Vincent de Paul and St. Patrick WP) on Tuesday, August 11th at 12:00 Noon.

Join us on Sunday, August 2nd at 3:00 PM for the Divine Mercy Eucharistic Holy Hour, and experience His love and mercy. In order that we may continue this devotion which includes singing, this event will be held via LIVE-STREAM ONLY. It can be viewed by clicking the headline of this story, or by going to svdpcleveland.org/facebook.

This weekend, and for every weekend in July, you will be able to pick up your tickets for our 50-50 raffle at the doors of the church. This raffle normally takes place at the parish picnic, but because of everything going on this year, we are not having the picnic, but we are still having the raffle. Tickets are $2 each & can be dropped off either in the collection basket at Mass or at the Rectory office. Tickets are due in to the Parish Office by Sunday, August 9th.

This Sunday, July 5th, is the First Sunday of the Month. Our First Sunday Divine Mercy Eucharistic Holy Hour will take place at 3:00 PM, and will be available ONLINE ONLY. Simply go to svdpcleveland.org/facebook

Due to some electrical work being done that requires the power of the building to be shut off, there will be no weekday Mass on Wednesday, July 1st. Weekday Mass will be held on Monday, June 29th and Friday, July 3rd this week. Weekend Masses will be at the normal times.

 This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day and so I certainly want to take the opportunity to wish all of our fathers a Happy & Blessed Father’s Day! Thank you too for the continued prayers for my father, at this point he continues to do well and so we are grateful for that. Here in church, we enter once again into the liturgical season of Ordinary Time in a time that has been pretty much anything but ordinary. These past months have certainly changed us, our Church, and our world in so many ways. Right now we are living through a time that is pretty much no way an ordinary time.

Over the last few months, we've heard words such as "cancelled" or "postponed" or "rescheduled" many, many times due to the coronavirus pandemic. We too have had to cancel or postpone a number of different events. Our year-long parish mission, for example, is on hold & I am in touch with our planned speakers to figure out when we want to try giving that a go again.

Unfortunately with everything going on right now, this year’s Parish Picnic is CANCELLED. We will look at either doing something later in the year or celebrating big next year.

Due to rumors of planned protests on W. 130th this afternoon we will be closing the parish office @ 2 this afternoon, 6/2. We will wait to see what transpires before deciding about 8:30 Mass & office hours tomorrow, 6/3.

Following the guidelines given by the Diocese of Cleveland, Fr. John and the parish staff have created a list of guidelines to ensure a safe environment for all parishioners while attending Mass. With this said, it is also announced that Daily Mass to the public will resume at SVdP Parish on Wednesday, May 27th at 8:30 AM. We will resume our normal Mass schedule on that day. The first public weekend Masses will be held on May 30th-31st, 2020, the Solemnity of Pentecost.

As announced, churches in the Diocese of Cleveland may open for Daily Mass beginning on Monday, May 25th, and for weekend Mass on May 30th-31st. Click the title of this article to watch a video from Fr. John explaining the guidelines that we must follow.

This weekend, we celebrate Mother’s Day. There will be a special blessing given to all the moms at the conclusion of Mass. Also, immediately following the final hymn, we will pray a decade of the Rosary and crown the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We invite you to join us LIVE on Facebook @svdpcle22.

The schedule for the livestream of the Mass for this weekend, May 2-3. Saturday, May 2: 4 PM at St. Vincent de Paul Church, and Sunday, May 3: 10 AM at St. Patrick Church WP. The broadcast will begin approximately 5 minutes before the Mass begins, and each Mass will be broadcasted on each parish's Facebook page.

The Catholic Bishops of Ohio extend the temporary suspension of all publicly celebrated Masses/liturgies ending on May 29th, with the hope of publicly celebrating together the Solemnity of Pentecost on the weekend of May 30/31. Each of the bishops of Ohio, once again, dispense the Catholic faithful who reside in their respective dioceses and all other Catholics currently in their territories from the obligation of attending Sunday Mass during this time. We ask for the cooperation and adherence of all the faithfulto the governor’s directives during this period.

The second speaker in our year-long speaker series, Trapper Jack, who was scheduled to be with us at St. Vincent de Paul on Monday, May 11th, has decided with myself in light of the uncertainty of everything right now, to postpone this Mission until further notice. He will still be coming to speak and share with us at some point, and we will be setting the dates for the rest of our parish mission as well. I will keep you updated as I know more.

The schedule for the Live-Stream of the Mass for this weekend (4/25-26): Saturday, April 25 @ 3:55 PM from St. Patrick's W.P. Sunday, April 26 @ 9:55 AM from St. Vincent de Paul.

This Sunday, April 19th, is the Second Sunday of Easter. It is also known as "Divine Mercy Sunday". Join us on Facebook LIVE at 3:00 PM on Sunday, as Deacon Ken Hill will lead us in the Recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and Benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament.

   Hello everyone. I am Father Don Oleksiak, Diocesan Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.   The rapidly evolving crisis involving the coronavirus and the consequent directives from governmental health officials have all of us on edge as the routine of our daily lives has changed dramatically in the past week alone. As people of faith, we are deeply saddened by the changes to our worship and sacramental life brought on by the outbreak. Masses have been suspended and liturgies cancelled.

On April 2, Gov. Mike DeWine extended his executive statewide stay-at-home order through May 1 as the coronavirus continues to impact Ohio. In addition, the Catholic bishops of Ohio extended the temporary suspension of all publicly celebrated Masses/liturgies at least through – and including – Sunday, May 3. The bishops said their move was made “out of deep concern for the common good, as well as the physical and spiritual well-being of all the people of Ohio.”