“I went to a garage sale. 'How much for the garage?' 'It's not for sale.'”—Steven Wright Dear Parishioners: There are many things for which Holy Spirit is known: our generosity to those in need, the welcoming and friendly parishioners…the charming personality of the pastor. I dare say that we are especially known for our garage sales. Through most of the summer there was at least a phone call a week to the parish office asking when garage sale is happening. As a sale approaches in the Fall and Spring, ninety percent of the calls are about the garage sale. On garage sale day, when I go over for the 8:30 am Mass, the people are lining up—rain or shine—sometime past the office door and even approaching the rectory driveway. The Ladies Guild runs the garage sale. They also give generously from the proceeds of the garage sale to the parish. They purchased the new bell system so that Holy Spirit could ring out to the community again after the old system went silent. They have given generously to the Renovation Fund as we look to renovation and building. Though this is a Guild activity, the whole parish has an investment in it. The Garage Sale’s success reflects and benefits Holy Spirit Parish. The Guild and I are asking for the help of parishioners who are not Guild members, especially some of the men and youth and young adults of the parish. We need people who can move larger items, carry boxes, etc. Help is needed for the drop-off/set up days, this year Monday, October 26 and Tuesday, October 27, from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. It is especially needed for the first day of the sale Thursday, October 29, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. Help is also needed Friday October 30, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon, and then with the take down after. If you are able to help you can sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4FAEA928A7FEC43-66628265-holy#/ or visit the parish website for the link. For more information, please contact Mary Adams, msemancik7@gmail.com Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor 

"If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ." -- St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary: With Preparation for Total Consecration. Dear Parishioners: October in the Church is a month dedicated to Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary. The celebration of Our the Rosary is on October 7, which was once known as Our Lady of Victory, the title of my home parish in Tallmadge, OH. We always put forward that the purpose of all Marian devotion is to draw us closer to her son, Jesus: Ad Jesum per Mariam (to Jesus through Mary.) That is the point of consecration to Mary. The etymology of consecration is: thoroughly or completely sacred or holy . To consecrate something is to set it aside for sacred use exclusively, like we do to a church or the oil of Chrism. There is another meaning: together sacred or holy . This is a good way of thinking about Marian consecration: trying to be holy together with Mary. While we can never be as holy, we can increase our holiness as we draw closer to her who is closest to her son, Jesus. We use Mary as our ultimate guide and example. Marian consecration is not just a quick prayer, but a substantial investment in one’s spiritual life. It includes: A substantial period of prayerful preparation (typically 33 days). Often, parishes will host small groups that commit to making the consecration together over this time period, but you can also make it alone at any time. A final prayer — the Act of Consecration itself — to be said on the day of the consecration, which is preferably done on a Marian feast d ay . A persistent spirit of trust in Mary’s motherly care and intercession, to endure for the rest of your life. Sessions to prepare for a consecration to Mary will take place beginning Monday, October 12 at 7:00 pm and running through November, with the final act of consecration taking place in the chapel at 10 am on Saturday, November 21, The Feast of the Presentation of Mary. I hope you can join. Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

“If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.”—St. Francis of Assisi If it were not a Sunday, we would be celebrating on October 4 the Memorial of St. Francis Of Assisi . I have some regret that his feast day falls on a Sunday this year because this year marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis in the night of the 3rd to the morning of the 4th of October 1226. St. Francis was born around 1181 and was baptized Giovanni (John) di Bernardone; however, his father, Pietro di Bernardone, a cloth merchant, was in France on business at the time of Giovanni’s birth and the father loved all things French, so he called his son, “Francesco.” My parents had in their backyard a statue of a child St. Francis dress in the Franciscan habit with a hood and waist cord. Though I understand the sentimental aspect of it since it was a memorial for their grandson (my nephew) who tragically died in a vehicular accident at age six, the statue drove me a bit crazy (I know. Short trip.) The reason for this was that it was a sentimental anachronism. The young Francis grew up in a wealthy family. He lived a carefree life. He loved French things like his father. He wore fancy clothes. He spent money freely. He loved the troubadours. He was a soldier and was captured and held prisoner. During that time, he became ill and reevaluated his life—though to be fair, even before this he had a propensity to help the poor. His life really began to change after a pilgrimage to Rome and encountering the poor people there. He returned but began to spend time in lonely and desolate places. He was outside Assisi in the broken-down chapel of San Damiano when he heard a voice speaking from the cross say to him "Francis, Francis, go and repair My church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He took it upon himself to rebuild the chapel. Francis’ father responded by dragging his son home, beating him, binding him and locking him in a small room. Francis extricated himself from that situation and in the town square before the bishop of Assisi, removed his clothes, renounced his father and his inheritance and wealth, and took up the life of a beggar. Over time, Francis’ example attracted others and he founded the Order of Friars Minor (a friar is one who lives in the world, which is different from a monk who lives in a monastery), often called Franciscans. He met Clare of Assisi and from their spiritual friendship she formed the female branch of the Franciscans, the Poor Clares. Francis came to se that the call to repair the church was about more than fixing up a building; it was a call to Francis to help repair the Church, people and institution, which are in need of reform in every age. On September 17, 1224 while he was praying, Francis received the stigmata; the wound of Christ physically appearing on his body. As I said above, Francis died the night of October 3-4, 1226. He was canonized a saint two years after his death. I do have a personal investment in this feast of St. Francis. My middle initial F stands for Francis, a name I shared with my Godfather. When I was in Borromeo this meant that both my name days were celebrated with great solemnity and celebration. St. Charles Borromeo’s (a month later on November 4) and St. Francis’ feast were both important days because of the Capuchin Franciscan student who did their college work at Borromeo. Francis was known for his care for nature, for this reason he is often associated with animals and especially as the patron of pets. I often note the irony that the saint who is said to have most resembled Christ, is honored for that by being made into a birdbath. 

“I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don't have a short-term payback.” --Steve Jobs Dear Parishioners: I heard from CCS, who is helping to run our capital campaign and is currently running the feasibility study, that we have had an excellent response to the surveys, both in Zoom and online. This says to me that there is some excitement about our upcoming projects! Even before we head into the parish and diocese capital campaign, we do have expenses related to the preparation for the campaign. The use of CCS for the fund-raising will cost us $240,000 ($40,000 a month for six months). Yes, this seems like a huge fee, but we would have to pay that kind of money for a fund-raising company even if the diocese did not hire CCS. You need to spend money to make money. We are probably getting CCS at a good price because they are working with all the parishes in the diocese, only with some are they doing a campaign like ours that requires the additional cost. As the end of the year comes, parishioners 70 ½ and older can help with a contribution from your minimum required distribution from your IRA. For this it is required: You must be 70 ½ and older Distributions must be made directly from the IRA to a qualified charity Your taxable income can be reduced by up to $100,000, the maximum allowable Only traditional IRA accounts are eligible. The IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution cannot be used with other retirement plans such as a 401(k), 403(b) or a SEP IRA An IRA QCD can be used to fund a Charitable Gift Annuity in an amount of up to $53,000 An IRA QCD cannot be made to a Donor-Advised Fund A sample letter to your financial administrator can be found at: https://www.catholiccommunity.org/ways-to-give/ira-qualified-charitable-distribution When you give to Holy Spirit, you satisfy your required distribution and it is tax-free. If you need information about the parish tax ID number, please contact Nicole Davis, the parish business and operations manager, at ndavis@hspal.org , or 440-933-3777. Please consider Holy Spirit in your minimum required distribution from your IRA this year and through the years of the collecting of pledges for the campaign…and beyond. Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”--Inigo Montoya Dear Parishioners:  Retreat . We often think of that word in the sense of the forced or strategic withdrawal of an armed force from an enemy or “an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable” ( Merriam-Webster.) Monty Python’s grail-seeking knights fleeing from their foes with cries of “Run away!” illustrates the common concept of retreat. In the Church, retreat has a different meaning, but it is about withdrawing, getting away is a temporary escape, not to flee the world and the challenges of life, but to strengthen the Christian to reenter the fray renewed and refreshed. The Code of Canon Law speaks of clerics (bishops, priests, deacons) in Canon 276 4° which says, “[clerics] are also obliged to make spiritual retreats, in accordance with the provision of particular law.” That particular law of the Diocese of Cleveland instructs, “Each priest is required to make an annual retreat. He is entitled to take up to five days.” So…I will be away on retreat this week. I will be back for next weekend’s Masses and confessions. Retreats are not just for clergy, they are good for all the Christian Faithful, including lay persons. I know most people can’t get away for five days of prayer and reflection, but can you find a couple days a year? I bet you can. Chris Hoag, our Parish Catechetical Leader, is offering days of recollection (“mini-retreats”) this fall and spring. Details of the fall mini-retreat, Resting with the Sacred Heart , on Saturday, October 17, are in this week’s bulletin. There will also be a Marian consecration with sessions on Monday nights at 7:00 pm running from October 12 through November 16 . I hope you have an opportunity to avail yourself of some of these opportunities. Not to do so would be… inconceivable . Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

“Part of being successful is about asking questions and listening to the answers.” --Anne Burrell Dear Parishioners: I received some questions--as to be expected--as we go into the capital campaign to raise the funds for refurbishing the church and addressing our deteriorating, insufficient office situation. I figure if one person is asking, then several probably are, so I’ll address the some of the questions asked so far. The bulletin mentioned a parish’s goal for the capital project is 140% of its annual collection/offering, and that half of that is retained by the parish and half goes to the diocese. Amounts above the goal are either an 80-20 spilt or 100-0 depending on need. My question is, what will the diocese do with what we send from our capital collection? The easiest response is to point you to the Called to Flourish website: https://www.catholiccommunity.org/support/other-ministries/called-to-flourish/case-for-support The preliminary statement expressed a goal of $5 million. If I’m understanding correctly, this would put our annual collections at $3.5 million, but this doesn’t seem correct. My question is, is the $5 million figure in the preliminary statement related to the 140% figure mentioned in the bulletin? No, our official goal if we had not had our own major fundraising needs would have been around $915,000 with around $457,500 thousand going to the diocese. The $5,000,000 is what we think we need to achieve our goal and to meet the diocese’s goal for us together. I’m not clear about the project. Are there separate Holy Spirit and diocesan capital projects, or one unified capital project? Are the parishes allowed to conduct capital projects independent of the diocese? There are two campaign projects for Holy Spirit, the church and the offices. It was thought best to try to raise the funds for both of these together rather than to do one for the church and then one in a year or two for the offices. I have said often that I really wish it could have been one of the other-which would be easier to fund--but both building are at the point needing major work, so we’re shooting big to try to do both. The diocese is running its own campaign, so our campaign is referred to as a joint campaign, since we are running ours concurrent with the diocese's. Normally parishes can do their own campaigns, which the approval of the diocese. Knowing that the Called to Flourish campaign was coming, for the last couple of years the diocese was not approving new campaigns and requiring them to be combined with the Diocese’s campaign. What are the average annual collections Holy Spirit receives? What percentage of those collections go to the diocese? How much (if any) comes back from the diocese? We brought in $681,473 in collections last year. We pay assessment on our collections of 11.5% on the first $575,000 and 16.5% of the collection over that, billed based on the previous year’s collections. We do not pay an assessment on gifts, repairs and improvement donations, etc. If someone gifted us $1,000,00, we would not be assessed on that. If they gave us $20,00 a week in the collection, that would be assessed. While we do not get money from the diocese, we get the services of the legal office, Tribunal, finance office, and the other offices. When I was working for the Tribunal, one of my priest friends, a new pastor said, “You know what I could do with the money I send to the diocese each month?” I replied, “You know what the diocese could do with it?—Pay my salary!” I have never thought of the assessments as unjust. I also prefer assessment to some diocese where there is an annual appeal to raise money for the diocese’s work; a mini-campaign every year, and if the parishioners don’t meet the goal, the parish still has to provide the difference. As such, please allow me to suggest a meeting dedicated to the capital project for parishioners to get a better understanding of all this. Perhaps such a meeting is already in the works. This will come as we move from the feasibility study to the more active campaign. Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

“So it begins.”--King Théoden, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I introduced the idea of renovating the church in either late February or early March of 2020. (We know what happened within weeks of that.) I pointed out that the cornerstone of the church says “1967”, and so do the lights hanging in the Narthex, and asked, “Who has not updated something in your house since 1967?” After a slight detour for work on the church air-conditioning and the boiler room, since the summer of 2023, I have been working with an advisory group of parishioners on the church and office projects. We have met with architects for designs. In presentations to the parish and pastor’s columns, I have kept you informed on our progress and at times asked you advice. The group has been in hiatus for a while, awaiting the green light from the diocese to proceed. The pause was because the diocese was planning a diocesan-wide capital campaign. All projects and campaigns were paused until the Diocese campaign began. There are two ways that parishes can participate. The first is the parish is given a goal (140% of its yearly collection). Up to reaching the goal, the parish keeps 50% and the diocese gets 50%. Over the goal, the split is 80% to the parish and 20% to the diocese. The second way is when a parish needs significant fundraising, like we do. There is still the same goal with the 50/50 split, but 100% over the goal stays with the parish. Holy Spirit was approved for this kind of campaign. The fundraising group that is advising the diocese and the parishes is CCS. It is time for Holy Spirit to begin its campaign. The first step is a feasibility study to determine a realistic fundraising goal for the parish. We know what we want/need for our projects; this study tells us what we can actually raise. To do this, CCS will be interviewing a sample of parishioners in the next few weeks, usually via Zoom. From these interviews CCS will set the goal for Holy Spirit. If you receive an invite to participate, I ask that you please do so. You will be doing a great service to the parish and your fellow parishioners. The results will be in mid-October. From there we will move into our actual capital campaign. Be assured there will be much more information that I will share with you in this column in the future. As always, if you have any questions, please address them to me and not to your friends and neighbors since they don’t have the answers. This is going to be a big project, a significant time in the history of Holy Spirit Parish that will have continuing effect for years, even decades into the future. It will be a wild, occasionally bumpy ride, but it is a ride that we are all taking together. Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

“This striking observation reminds us that the Church’s worship and her service of charity cannot be separated. The deacon, who stands at the altar and also ministers among the poor, visibly embodies this unity within the life of the Church. When the deacon encounters those who suffer or live on the margins, he encounters Christ who identifies himself with the least of his brothers and sisters (cf. Matthew 25:40).”--St. John Chrysostom, Homily 50 on the Gospel of Matthew. Dear Parishioners: Holy Spirit again this year is a field education placement for a candidate for the Permanent Diaconate, Jason Klueber (not to be confused with the Australian tennis player, Jason Kubler.) Jason offers this introduction: Hello everyone! My name is Jason Klueber, and I'm excited to be helping at Holy Spirit Parish in Avon Lake for the next 9 months! I'm in my second year of Aspirancy, the second year of the five-year Diaconate Formation program, and this will be my first time in field education at a parish. My wife Catherine (Cat) and I have been married for 16 years. We met in college at Baldwin-Wallace College where we both studied music therapy. Our favorite thing to do together is sing at weddings, which we still get to do occasionally. We stayed in the area after college and were married at St. Mary's Church in Berea. We currently live in North Olmsted and are parishioners at St. Clarence Church. We have been blessed with three wonderful children. Rachel is 15 and a junior at Padua Franciscan High School. Joshua (13) and Hannah (11) are in 8th grade and 6th grade respectively at St. Angela Merici in Fairview Park. All three keep us (mainly Cat) very busy running around with their extracurricular activities. At St. Clarence, I have served as a lector, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, greeter, cantor, and server. In collaboration with another couple, Cat and I also started a ministry for couples and families about 4 years ago that we have loved. Building community is a charism of ours, and my personal favorite way to do that is over a meal. We often joke that feeding people is our love language. If any of you are interested, we'd love to have you over for dinner sometime. Outside of spending time with my family and formation, I work as a supply chain consultant for a small company called Chainsight, primarily assisting companies with supply chain software implementations. I've worked in multiple aspects of supply chain for the past 16 years at companies of various sizes, from small ones such as Darice (the parent company for Pat Catan's) and large ones like Nestle. I have always enjoyed the complexity and interconnectedness of the elements in a supply chain and have a passion for my work. I look forward to meeting you personally over the coming weeks and I am excited to see what God has in store for my time with all of you! Please don't be a stranger! Jason will be at Holy Spirit through April of next year. He will be involved with liturgical ministries, Communion to the homebound, and other aspects of life at Holy Spirit.  Welcome, Jason! Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor

"Evangelization is about the opportunity to “enlighten all people with the brightness of Christ, which gleams over the face of the Church, by preaching the Gospel to every creature.” - (Lumen Gentium) Dear Parishioners: I am excited to announce Karen Howell as Holy Spirit’s new Evangelization Minister! Karen offers this introduction to the parish: Hello! I am Karen Howell, and I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the staff at Holy Spirit Parish in Avon Lake! I feel as though I already know many of you, having prayed for God’s plan to lead me to this next chapter of my earthly journey. I am a lifelong Lorain County resident, a cradle Catholic, and someone whose faith and relationship with the Lord mean everything to me. I strive to be down-to-earth, cheerful, friendly, creative, supportive, understanding, and a good listener with a good sense of humor—and I believe in spreading “random acts of kindness” like confetti! My husband, Terrance, and I have been married for 35 years. We met while in Cleveland area bands and back when making music was our vision and passion. We have owned and operated a Disc Jockey Service for many years, but most importantly we are blessed with two wonderful children, Nicolas Adam and Cassandra Eve, both grown. I have been a lifelong parishioner of St. Agnes Church in Elyria and have had the privilege of serving in many ministries over the years, including Parish Council, Altar and Rosary, PSR, Youth Group, music ministries, lector and Eucharistic minister, bereavement ministry, prayer line, Pro-Life ministry, and family and discipleship ministries. After college and the birth of my son, my professional journey began, which has included working as a preschool teacher, nanny, City of Elyria employee, and, for nearly 25 years, within the Diocese. Most recently, I spent 15 years as Director of Admissions and Communications at St. Bernadette School in Westlake. Each position has been a blessing and has taught me so much. Outside of work, I love attending morning Mass, praying, reading, writing, visiting local coffee shops, book and record stores, walking in nature, feeding the birds, gardening, cooking and baking, attending concerts and local events, and spending time with family and friends. I am especially proud of my Hungarian heritage and love nothing more than a quiet day by the lake with my toes in the sand and a lemonade in my hand! I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming weeks and becoming part of this wonderful parish community. I’ll leave you with a favorite passage attributed to my cherished patron saint, St. Thérèse of Lisieux: “For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trail as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.” I am grateful and excited to see where God leads us together! Welcome, Karen! Sincerely, Rev. Charles F. Strebler Pastor