Letter from Msgr. Schaedel for bulletin of May 13, 2001

Dear Parishioners,

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers in our parish! This weekend we remember all mothers, living and deceased. May Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray with and for all of you! God love you! Where would any of us be without our mothers?

The school year for most students is winding down. I know that a number of our students attend a “year round school,” but even for them the summer is a time of many weeks of freedom. Congratulations to some of our students who are graduating from college, high school, or completing eighth grade. You are in our prayers.

Many of our parish students are home-schooled students. Next Saturday, May 19th, at the 4:30 p.m. Mass, the Indiana Catholic Home Schooling Association will celebrate their end of the year Mass. Many of the youngsters and their families are members of our parish; many are not. We welcome them to Mass here and look forward to praying with them. May God guard and guide all students and teachers as we approach the end of the academic year.

Next weekend, our parish will host the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This image, depicting Our Lady under this title, has become a symbol of the Pro-Life movement within the Church. We will have a holy hour to venerate the image of Our Lady and pray in the presence of Our Lord in the tabernacle after the 4:30 p.m. Mass Saturday and the 12:15 p.m. Mass on Sunday. Please come and pray for the protection of all human life from conception until natural death.

Our Parish Pastoral Council met last Monday night:

We reviewed the impressive results of the Valentine’s Day Dinner-Dance and Saint Joseph’s Table. Again, the loyalty and hard work of so many of our parishioners made both events a wonderful success.

We also reviewed the eternal elevator project. We actually hope to begin work on this project shortly after the Festival. We talked about the recent repairs to the church interior. As I mentioned before, we repaired the water damage to the ceiling in the southeast and southwest corners of the church. This actually happened over two years ago. We gave our new roof over a year to see how it would hold; no problem so far. So we haggled with the insurance company and finally got them to see things our way. I am happy that we had this repaired and repainted before the Festival and before the season of so many weddings in our beautiful church.

During the Parish Council meeting we also discussed the recent fire disaster at Sacred Heart. To my knowledge, all of the electrical wiring in our church is actually fairly recent and in good condition. However, when we install the electrical piece for the elevator this summer, we intend to ask those electricians to double check all of the electrical service in the church and in the office building as well as Priori Hall. We cannot be too careful!

Please keep our neighbors at Sacred Heart Parish in your prayers. There will be a second collection next weekend to assist the parishioners there with expenses that will not be covered by insurance. Although the buildings are fully insured, there are always some incidental expenses that fall through the cracks. Please be generous.

We are trying to assist them by scheduling Sacred Heart events (e.g. weddings, funerals, and so forth) in our church when the schedule can accommodate them. Father Elias, O.F.M., will celebrate his 60th Anniversary of ordination to the priesthood in our church next Sunday, May 20th, at 3:30 p.m. Congratulations, Father. Ad multos annos!

This week saw the passing of another of our original Italian parishioners—Salvatore Vincent Sansone. He was the brother of Mary Sansone Mascari. Better known as “Tudie,” he had been very ill for some time now. Tudie’s funeral Mass was last Wednesday morning. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the Italian Street Festival—Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. On Saturday evening, June 9, we will have two evening Masses. The Catholic Choir of Indianapolis will provide the music for both Masses. As usual, we will have the 4:30 p.m. Mass. Then the special 7:00 p.m. preceded by the outdoor street procession with the statue of Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary.

Faithfully yours in God’s Providence,

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel