From the desk of Father Bline

"Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December, But the days grow short when you reach September." Growing up with my six sisters in our little one bathroom Heslop-home in Cuyahoga Falls I don’t think any of us really understood that my father's favorite singer, Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra, wasn’t really part of any of the songs our friends were listening to on the radio. He wasn’t pop or rock or disco…he didn’t have to be, he was Frank, The Chairman of the Board, Old Blue Eyes…the crooner who sang the songs my dad would try to swoon my mother with when she was already busy enough making our Sunday dinner after Mass. Of all his songs, the one I had the hardest time getting into is the bittersweet September Song. It is about coming to terms with how fast time flies when one gets in the September-time of life ("the days dwindle down to a precious few"). When any kid would rather hear High Hopes or That’s Life, why in the world would I want to think about such things when I was a kid? I even wonder if I will ever have it in me to understand it.

Maybe it has something to do with being a September birthday baby. I don't really feel the bittersweetness of it, not at all. In fact, I absolutely love September! Even as the daylight dwindles and the temperatures roller-coast between 85-52 degrees, there are constant reasons to praise God for all that we have been given and His grace that waits to be fully realized in the month of September. So hold back the mourning of summer time fun, September is finally here.

September brings with it a chance for awesome surprises and reasons to rejoice. Use this time to look back on those fleeting summer months and praise God, especially for the beauty He has given us within our parish that keeps amazing me. Not only did He give us a great opening of a new school year, He allows us to gather together for something more important than artificially and overdone pumpkin spice themes. Jesus offers us the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacramental life, fall sports and leaves daring to change their colors. September waits for us to celebrate birthdays and feast anniversaries with Mother Mary (this Sunday the 8th), St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (my Priesthood patron on the 9th), Our Lady of Sorrows (15th, pray for parents who have lost a child), the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi (17th) and St. Padre Pio (20th), St. Vincent de Paul (27th), SS Michael & Gabriel & Raphael the Archangels (29th), St. Jerome and my Baptism day (30th).

BEST OF ALL surprises during this September week, I received a phone call from your newly assigned pastor saying he’s ready to come be with you beginning October 1st!!! Fr. John J. Schneider (no, not the one from Dukes of Hazard, but the current pastor of both SS Peter & Paul and St. Thérèse) was ordained on May 21, 2011 and is happy to be able to serve as your Priest and pastor. I look forward to introducing him to the staff and school and YOU in the near future. While you are giving the birthday girl, Mother Mary, a gift of prayer with Her Son, why not offer a prayer for Fr. Schneider and his family. I am so very blessed to continue being with you through September 29th.

Pax, Fr. Bline