Schoenstatt and the Solemnity of St. Joseph

St. Lawrence is officially repainted and the Schoenstatt high altar has been installed and it looks incredible. Hopefully you have made it to Rhine to see it. I am blown away by the beauty of the place. We are grateful to Almighty God for leading this project and bringing everything together in such a spectacular way.

Now that the Schoenstatt movement has the Shrine located at St. Lawrence, there will be Schoenstatt events, meetings, and prayer services at the parish. The Schoenstatt movement has a council for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and they will organize the activities and events. Fr. Steve Mondiek, who serves the other Shelby County parishes (except Russia) is the director of this group. He is heavily involved in the movement.

First, Fr. Steve would like to offer Mass every week on his day off at St. Lawrence. Beginning this week, he will have Mass on Tuesdays at St. Lawrence at 8:00am. This is open to the public. However, you won’t be able to schedule a Mass intention for this Mass – Fr. Steve will be doing that himself.

Normally St. Lawrence is unlocked and open for private prayer before and after Mass. There is a desire to visit the church and pray at the shrine. We would like to keep the church open from 8am to 8pm every day, but we will need some help. I would like there to be “chapel companions” who commit to praying in the church at a scheduled time. The companion would also make sure that everything is normal at St. Lawrence. Since the church isn’t highly trafficked, we want to make sure that no one takes advantage of it being unlocked. We would also like to have people volunteer to lock the church around 8pm each night. It is very simple to lock St. Lawrence Church. If you are interested in being a chapel companion or locking St. Lawrence Church, please contact Lori Wilson at lwilson@petersburgparishes.org or 419-738-2115. We are hoping that the church will be regularly open for private prayer beginning the Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25th.

You may also see periodic information in the bulletin about Schoenstatt classes, retreats, and events. If you are interested in learning more about the Schoenstatt movement, check out their Ohio website at https://schoenstattofohio.org/

On a completely different note, Monday, March 20th is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since his normal feast day falls on a Sunday of Lent, St. Joseph’s feast gets bumped from the 19th to the 20th. We will celebrate this day at St. Joseph with a Day of Grace and an evening Mass. Mass will be at 7pm at St. Joseph.

We are going to make a slight adjustment to the Day of Grace schedule. Confession and adoration will be available 9am to 9pm. This is a slight reduction in the previous 6am to 10pm schedule. The first few hours weren’t very busy. Occasionally people come late, but the last hour is normally pretty quiet. If it is 9pm, and there is still a line, Fr. Willig and I will happily hear confessions until everyone has a chance to go.

Also, please save the date that our next Day of Grace is Wednesday, April 5th at Immaculate Conception Church.

Have a blessed Lent.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson