19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parish Family,

We have an exciting parish mission lined up for late September. Richard Lane, lay Catholic evangelist and Director of Evangelization for St. Patrick of Heatherdowns here in Toledo, will be our mission speaker from Monday, September 26th to Thursday, September 29th. You do not want to miss him! He is an inspiring speaker who is on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit. Richard also happens to be the son of NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Dick “Night Train” Lane. Richard led our staff retreat earlier this year which both inspired and challenged us. He also presented a session to our confirmation class earlier this year. Richard is already a friend to our parish and he will inspire us to grow closer to Jesus. Mark your calendars!

As I wrote in last weekend’s bulletin, we will have our parish wide meeting with RCM Architects with the results of our facilities study on Sunday afternoon, September 18th, at Cardinal Stritch (exact time and exact location in the school to be determined). Our Facilities Task Force had originally planned to hold this meeting in August, but further finalization of the results, preparation time needed for the meeting, as well as coordination of various schedules pushed the meeting back. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will lead and strengthen us as living stones rooted in the Living Stone of Jesus, that we may be fruitful disciples who share His love.

Some of you may have noticed the work being done on the sinkhole in the parking lot of our St. Thomas campus. This has been an issue for many weeks. This is the responsibility of the city of Toledo, which was also informed many weeks ago. The city finally began their work in the last couple of weeks and there is no cost whatsoever to the parish. Fr. John Blaser also recently remarked that there was an issue with a sinkhole during his time as pastor of St. Thomas.

You also may have noticed the construction of a new parking lot on our St. Thomas campus (in the former green space next to the alley and gym off of Raymer Street). This project was in the works before I arrived at Epiphany from money set aside way back when air conditioning was installed (a project that cost significantly less than first estimated) while St. Thomas was still a parish. Engineering plans and city permits were already acquired some time ago for the lot. With our ongoing facilities assessment we considered delaying the project as some could view it as a sign that decisions had already been made about our campuses and facilities. I consulted with the Finance Council early in 2022 and received their approval in going ahead with the project. There was concern that our cost could go up significantly if we waited. It was also discussed that no matter what decisions came out of our facilities process installing the parking lot would improve the value of the St. Thomas campus property. Please be assured that no decisions have been made regarding our campuses and the parking lot only puts our parish in a stronger position moving forward wherever God leads us.

Let us continue to pray for one another!
In Christ,
Father Eric