Potential Patrons and the Upcoming Week
As you know, one of the things we are working on in the Beacons of Light process is a new patron for our Family of Parishes. You may ask, “Why don’t we just stick with the name ‘Petersburg Parishes’?” That is a great question. As all the Families of Parishes in the Archdiocese journey towards being a single merged parish, there are certain rules the Catholic Church has for naming a parish. The name must fit into one of six categories:
1. A recognized title of the Blessed Trinity
2. A mystery in the life of Christ, or a title already accepted in the liturgy
3. The Blessed Mother under a title already accepted in the liturgy
4. A title of the Holy Spirit already accepted in the liturgy
5. The name of one of the archangels or a canonized saint
The sixth category is one that the Archdiocese isn’t keen on anyone following. The parish could be a geographic name. For example, if the four parishes in Lima merged, they could be called the “Lima Catholic Parish.” “Petersburg” wouldn’t fit this criteria because it isn’t a place on the map and none of our four buildings are located there.
At the end of the day, we have to discern a new patron saint. Some Families of Parishes have already decided upon a name. For example, our staff and pastoral council had the name “Divine Mercy” as one of the final 10, but another Family of Parishes already took it. So here is the list of nine potential patrons for our parishes as discerned by pastoral council and our staff:
– Blessed Sacrament
– Holy Face of Jesus
– St. Peter and St. Paul
– St. Mary Magdalene
– St. Thomas Aquinas
– St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin
– St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)
– St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
– Pope St. John Paul II
From here we will have a wax museum to display these nine potential patrons. We have gathered parishioners to dress up as the saints and offer their pitch as to why they should be the patron of our parishes. We were originally going to have the wax museum four times over two weekends, so that we could have it at all four parishes. However, that seemed to be too much strain on our volunteers. So we decided to have the wax museum two times on Sunday, November 6. Mark your calendars! The wax museum will take place after the 9:30am Mass at St. Joseph and 2:30pm in the Immaculate Conception Church basement. Those who attend the wax museum will be able to vote to narrow the list of potential patrons to three.
Once we have our list narrowed down to three potential patrons, there will be a vote for all parishioners in January. This vote will order our top three patrons for our Family of Parishes.
Just a reminder that a parish is a geographic territory and a church is a building. We won’t be changing the name of any of our parish buildings; these buildings were dedicated to God under these particular patrons. First, the new patron will replace the name “Petersburg Parishes” and then it will become the name of our merged parish.
On a very different note: on September 26-29 all the active priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will be going to West Virginia for a convocation; this happens every five years. This means our daily Mass schedule will be adjusted. Please note a couple things. Mass on Tuesday will be at 8:30am, not 8:00am because a priest from the Diocese of Toledo is driving down to cover Mass, and he preferred a later start time. On Wednesday, Christopher, our seminarian, will lead a Communion Service at St. John. Finally on Thursday, we’ll celebrate Mass for the feast of the Archangels in the evening, when we return home. Please pray for all the priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati while we are at the convocation.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson
