April 12
Chicken

April 19
Kielbasa

April 26
Rigatoni

May 3
Italian Sausage

May 10
Rigatoni

May 17
Chicken

May 24
Kielbasa

May 31
Hot Dogs & Buns
Baked Beans
Potato or Mac Salad

June 7
Chicken

June 14
Kielbasa

June 21
Rigatoni
Lettuce Salad
Fruit
Dessert

June 28
Chicken

Action Items:

1.    A discussion was held related to concerns regarding the backdoor ministry..  Fr. Tony to follow up at next meeting

2.    Matt Rossman and Kevin O’Donnell submitted a draft of the Guidelines and Regulations of the Parish Pastoral Council.  Council to review at its March meeting.

3.    St. Malachi Reverse Raffle ticket sales have decreased in the past couple of years. A decision was made to continue the raffle this year and that time re-evaluate its long-term future.  It was suggested that a specific focus for the profits of the raffle, such as the Backdoor Ministry, might generate some interest and involvement in this year’s raffle.  Fr. Tony will take our thoughts to that committee.

4.    Cluster Planning Team:  Fr. Tony and Joe Nagel reported that small sub-groups are reviewing elements of the Cluster Plan.    There is currently a vacancy for a St. Malachi representative on the cluster team.  A requet is being made for a parish rep to fill the void.

5.    Paypal:  The St. Malachi’s Parish website is now ready to begin accepting special donations.  Donations

6.    St. Wendelin’s:  A discussion was held about extending an open invitation to the people of St. Wendelin’s Parish. A letter and possible visit will be developed. The parish is scheduled to close on Pentecost Sunday.  Concurrently, the cluster team is addressing this issue.  Fr. Mark has been in dialogue with Fr. Jerry regarding St. Wendelin’s future in the Near West Side Ministry.

Commission Reports:

Liturgy:  The commission is sponsoring a Scripture Reflection series on Saturdays during Lent for the parishioners in the school building in classroom #2.  A request was made to post the schedule for Liturgical Ministers on the bulletin board in the back of the church.  Mary Jo and Charlene to follow-up.

Finance:  A call for 2010-2011 budgets from commission heads, etc. is in process.

Evangelization:  Representatives from the council have met with the Diocesan Evangelization Office.  The off ice has agreed to make a presentation to the commission (yet to be formed).

Spiritual Development:  On May 19th, the Spiritual Development Commission will once again host a Pentecostal Day of Reflection, at which individuals will have an opportunity to give their personal spiritual witness.

Stewardship:  Members of this commission attended a second training with the Diocesan Office on Stewardship.  The commission will be form sub-committees to implement the process of stewardship throughout the parishioners.  The will be education, ministry assessment, ministry fair and commitment.

Other business:  Sweatshirt sales have been good; approximately 75 shirts have been ordered.

Soup for the Soul is March 13th.  Tickets are available.

Next meeting:  March 21, 6:00 p.m, at the Center

There is an instruction as part of the rite, which reads, in part:

Our brothers here have already begun their preparation so that later they may be called to ordination by the bishop. Day by day they will learn to live the life of the Gospel and deepen their faith, hope and love. In the practice of these virtues they will gain the spirit of prayer and grow in zeal to win the world to Christ. Urged on by his love and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, they have come here to declare in public their desire to bind themselves to the service of God and of humankind.

 John Lee has been reflecting on the Admission to Candidacy and wrote a personal reflection about his journey and what this means to him. He shared it with me and gave me permission to share it with others. What follows is his reflection:

Today is the day.

 “Present!”

 John Lee, a child of God from Korea, will be officially accepted as a candidate for the priesthood.

 When I was in the 2^nd grade, I started to serve Mass as an altar boy. A priest celebrating Mass looks very holy and wonderful at that moment, and it was then that I decided to become a priest. The parish priest was an ideal person to me because he was very faithful to God, smart, handsome, sang hymns beautifully, and played ping-pong very well.

However, today I do not see priests in the same way I did when I was young. Since I entered the seminary ten years ago, I have lived with all different kinds of priests. Most priests are good, but I realized that they are also weak human beings. I saw some priests making mistakes, sometimes neglecting prayers, hurting parishioners’ hearts by their imprudent words and actions, and even falling into clericalism.

Unfortunately, I realized that I myself at times do not do what God expects me to do. Too often, even though I decided to follow the Lord, I expected Him to do my will. What I have to do and want to do always occupies the first place. During Friday morning prayers, we hear the repenting voice of David say, “Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense.”

 Priests and seminarians are called to holiness. To be good priests, we need to change our words, hearts, and actions day by day. At this special moment as I step forward toward the priesthood, I ask God again to have mercy on me as I renew my decision to follow the Lord. At times that means carrying my cross.

 During the afternoon, I will walk the Stations of the Cross and reflect on the way the Lord accepted his sufferings. When the evening ceremony’s excitement begins, I will keep my mind on faithfully following the Lord and bearing my cross. Please, congratulate my classmates for accepting their vocations on this special day, and pray for them also to bear their cross faithfully.

 Although it has been almost 35 years since I was admitted to Candidacy for ordination, reading John’s reflection stirred my own memories of youthful dedication and idealism necessary and appropriate for preparing for ordination. It is a vivid reminder that any vocation – marriage, vowed religious life, priesthood, diaconate, lay ecclesial ministry – is both a calling from God and also one requiring personal choice and ongoing commitment.

 A church vocation especially is also the call of the community. Let us support John, his classmates (both here and in Korea) and all who are preparing for ministry with our prayers – and the example of faithfully living our Christian vocation. Let us also keep our young people, who are called to discern their vocation in our prayers.

 The place was holy ground because the Lord was present in that place. This is the same reason churches have always been considered holy places, because they are “the house of God.” Throughout history, people have entered God’s house with reverence and respect. The traditional practice of genuflecting to the tabernacle on entering a church is the equivalent of “removing your sandals” – acknowledging the greatness and holiness of God truly present in the Eucharist and expressing reverence and humility before God.

 One of the major complaints of those who have been critical of the liturgical changes is the perception of “a loss of the sense of reverence” at Mass and in church. People dress more casually, enter church informally, greet others and speak with them before Mass begins.

 To an extent the change in behavior reflects a change in understanding and spirituality. People come to church more conscious of their identity as members of the Body of Christ, and, therefore already being in the Lord’s presence. Gathering together, greeting one another is a genuine part of the preparation for liturgy. Liturgy is a celebration, an active and joyful act in which the whole community plays an active role, rather than passively sitting and remaining quiet.

 However, I wonder whether there is something to the perception that we have lost a degree of reverence, that we lose awareness that in church we are “on holy ground” in the presence of the Lord. In talking with the people around us (and I have often experienced concelebrating priests sitting together in church before a special Mass, such as a priest’s funeral, doing the same thing), do we get so caught up in socializing with each other that we forget the presence of the Lord? By talking (before or after Mass), do we make it difficult for those who are praying? Would it be better preparation for liturgy to greet each other briefly and then spend time with the Lord in quiet reflection and prayer?

 How do you “remove the sandals from your feet” because you are on holy ground?

He is a priest of the Eastern Rite (Byzantine) of the Catholic Church.  For 27 years he was associated with St. Gregory the Theologian Byzantine Melkite Catholic Seminary in Roslindale, Massachusetts, as teacher, spiritual director or acting rector.  Formerly a lawyer and a university educator and the rounder and original directory of the Program for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent Conflict Resolution at the University of Notre Dame.  He was also a co-founder of Pax Christi-USA.  For over forty years he has directed educational programs and conducted spiritual retreats though out the world on the issue of the relationship of faith and violence.  He was the key note speaker at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee for the 25th anniversary memorial fo the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., at that motel.  He is the author of three books:  Christian Just War Theory:  The Logic of Deceit; August 9/ and All Things Flee Thee, For Thou Fleest Me!:  A Cry to the Churches and Their Leaders to Stop Running from the Nonviolent Jesus and His Nonviolent Way.  He has also authored innumerable articles on the subject of violence and religion.

His audio/video series on Gospel nonviolence, Behold the Lamb, is universally considered to be the most spiritually profound presentation on this matter available in this format.  The writings of Fr. McCarthy on Christian Nonviolence may be found on the website of the Center for Christian Nonviolence at www.CenterforChristianNonviolence.org.

The retreat is co-sponsored by St. Patrick, St. Coleman, St. Wendelin and Pax Christi.  As well as Cleveland Catholic Worker and CAIR (Council on American/Islamic Relations).

Cost is a free will offering.

Just as the Transfiguration revealed the full identity of Jesus, Lent calls every Christian to consider the question “who am I?” seriously.

Thomas Merton expressed it this way:

If you want to identify me ask not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. Between these two answers you can determine the identity of any person. The better the answer he has, the more of a person he is. (sic)

Merton continues, reminding us that the process of realizing one’s true identity, becoming “who I really am” is the effort of a life time:

… I am all the time trying to make out the answer as I go on living. I live out the answer to my two questions myself and the answer may not be complete, even when my life is ended I may go on working out the answer for a long time after my death, but at last it will be resolved, and there will be no further question, for with God’s mercy I shall possess not only the answer but the reality that the answer was about. (Thomas Merton, My Argument with the Gestapo)

What are you living for?
What is keeping you from living fully for the thing you want to live for?

 This year’s appeal is taking place during Lent on behalf of Fr. Patrick Clarke and The City of the Angels in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Fr. Clarke visited us at St. Malachi last August and shared with us how, since 1990, the lives of hundreds of children have been touched and transformed through the arts and the opportunities created for them. (see www.cityof theangelsfoundation.org) Fr. Clarke presented us with the chalice and paten we are using during the Lenten liturgies.

 As a Lenten appeal, the intention is to combine the traditional Lenten practices of personal sacrifice (i.e. fasting) and almsgiving. The suggestion is that an individual or a family choose a particular sacrifice for Lent – “to give something up.” The value or cost of that sacrifice is put aside and saved. At the end of Lent, the monies saved through the Lenten sacrifice is then donated to the cause we have chosen – Fr. Clarke and The City of the Angels this year.

 The easier way to do this would be simply to write a check. It would be faster. It would be more efficient. There even might be more money given this way. But something important would be lost. Solidarity.

 What do I mean by this? A story I heard recently might make it clear. Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer has been practicing medicine for more than 25 years — and he’s devoted most of that time to helping Miami’s poor. A moment with a young child changed his life: “One day I went to the clinic and it was lunch time. There was a mother and she three of her kids from the Salvation Army. Her youngest son – I guess about six years old – had a sweet smile. I handed him my sandwich. The kid took the sandwich out of the bag, unwrapped it, broke it in half, took a couple of bites and then stuck back into the wrapper. I couldn’t figure out why the kid was doing that. I asked the kid ‘why did you do it?’ The little boy just looked up and said ‘It’s for my brother.’ … A six year old homeless child is teaching us what we’re all supposed to do – think about somebody else.”

 The young boy who was thinking about his brother and divided his sandwich was in solidarity with him. Our Lenten appeal is not only about the money we will raise to support Fr. Clarke’s work with the children of The City of the Angels. It is equally (or perhaps even more) about our solidarity with them. Each time we make our Lenten sacrifice and “offer it up” for the children of Sao Paulo’s slums, we are putting something aside and saying “Its for my brother and my sister.”

Introduction
•    The group was asked about favorite descriptive names for Jesus: Savior, teacher, healer, nonviolent leader, rabble raiser, Son of Man, a really good man.
•    Three stories about Jesus: teacher in the Temple; Centurion’s servant; Jesus turning over the tables in the temple.

The stories tell us what kind of individual Jesus is.
•    The Centurion’s son (servant)-a centurion is like a major in the army. The Romans believed that they were superior to the Jews and everyone else. They were definitely more superior when it comes to governing. The centurion us used to telling people what to do and expects that people will obey his commands. To ask Jesus for a healing is a last resort. He has a problem and Jesus might be able to fix it. Jesus’ response if unexpected. Jesus tells the centurion that he will go his house. For a Roman to ask a Jew for help is embarrassing. It makes the centurion look bad. For Jesus, a Jew to go to a centurion’s home makes Jesus look bad to the other Jews. This is one criterion for authenticity: embarrassment.

The criterion for historicity are as follows:
•    Primary source material corroborates the story.
•    Orality-something brief and memorable like
o    A story that has a punchline
o    A proverb
o    A parable
o    A pronouncement of something new
•    Multiple attestations said in same or different ways
•    Independent sources support
•    Embarrassment-people wouldn’t make this up
•    Distinctiveness
•    Coherence-it makes sense when seen in conjunction with other incidents

Activity-Gospel writings concerning prayer
•    Mark is the first written, approximately 30 years after Jesus’ historical time. It is short, terse, and challenges the assumption.
•    Matthew says that we should pray like this.
•    Luke says the we should “say these words.”
•    The question is: which is the closest to what Jesus might have said.
•    In the synthesis of these three accounts we learn three important things from Jesus:
o    God is “our Father”, Matthew, whose name is holy
o    The kingdom is here, near and is to come
o    Forgiveness of debts is part of his message
•    The historical Jesus is our best guess; in this particular example Luke’s rendition is probably the closest to the historical Jesus.

Thanks to Jan L. for sending these in!

February 19- Holy Name. 8328 Broadway, Cleveland. Exit I-77 at Harvard. Go east on Harvard
to Broadway. Left (north) on Broadway. Church on left (west) side. All you can eat, hand breaded while you wait!

February 26 – Blessed Sacrament. 3381 Fulton Road, Cleveland. Just North off the I-71 exit. Basic fish dinner. No frills this year since they close in April.

March 5 – Ascension – 14040 Puritas Rd. Exit I-71 at 150th, go south to Puritas. Left (east) on Puritas, church on left (north) side of street. From I-480, exit 150th, head north on 150th to Puritas, then turn right to church. Fish, shrimp, macaroni & cheese, pierogies.

March 12 – Sacred Heart. 6916 Krakow, Cleveland, in the heart of historic Slavic Village. I-77 to Grant, east to E.71st, north 2 blocks to Krakow. Home of the popcorn machine!

March 19 – Our Lady of Good Counsel. 4323 Pearl Rd. Follow I-90 east to I-71 South back toward Columbus. Exit I-71 at 25th. Go south toward the zoo, through Brooklyn Centre. Pass the zoo and Deaconess Hospital and go straight up the hill. Church is on left hand side. From I-480, exit State Road, go north toward the Zoo. Turn left onto Mobile Ct – across from Gus’s – go to end of street and into back parking lot of OLGC. Baked fish, pierogies, mac & cheese, pizza, cabbage and noodles.

March 26 – St. Patrick. 4427 Rocky River Drive, Cleveland. Corner of Puritas & Rocky River.

April 2 – St. Francis DeSales. 3434 Georges Ave., Parma. Exit I-480 @ State. Go south to Snow. Church on southeast corner.