Author: mcenter

Posted on

Things I’ve Seen and Heard

Third Quarter Financial Statements

In the bulletin this weekend you will find the financial statements for the two parishes of the Pastoral Region.  These statements reflect our financial activity through March 31st, which is the end of the third quarter if the Fiscal Year which runs July 1st through June 30th. (Links below)

As you can see from the statements, our overall revenues are up in both parishes, which is good news.  We have brought in more in Sunday offerings and holy day offerings and through other sources of revenue than we were anticipating when the budget was formulated last spring.  Our expenses are slightly higher at St. Al’s versus what we budgeted to this pint in the year, and at St. Simon those expenses are significantly lower.  We have been looking for cuts in our expenses in both parishes in our day to day operations, and this has borne some fruit.  Also, some of the day to day operating expenses, where appropriate and where called for (such as for a Regional program or ministry where both parishes should support), are being shared/split between the parishes.  Where we continue to fall behind is in our capital expenditures.  We continue to be challenged by the deferred maintenance that needs to be done in both parishes.   For instance, at St. Simon we have had a great deal of trouble with our heating and air conditioning system in the church.  At St. Al’s, we continue to address water damage to thee buildings.  These maintenance costs have put both parishes in deficit territory for the fiscal year thus far.  It is also important to remember that both parishes also owe an outstanding debt to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for assessment that was unpaid in previous years.  

Overall, I am pleased thus far with the operating performance of both parishes.  We will still be endeavoring to cut our expenses and live within our means.  We operate from the generous giving of the people who are attending Mass and dropping their envelope into the collection basket week after week, and from those who have chosen to give electronically.  Without your gifts, we would not be here.

I thank you, all of you, for your stewardship and generosity to the parishes of our Pastoral Region, and for the blessings those gifts of treasure, and also time and talent bring to the faith community here.

Take Good Care,

Fr. Bryan T. Reif, Pastor

St. Al’s Financial Statement

St. Simon’s Financial Statement

Posted on

Ash Wednesday 2021

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

The blessing and distribution of ashes to the faithful on Ash Wednesday (Feb 17, 2021) can take place in the usual way, following the guidance already in place relative to worship in a time of public health concern.

• Masks must be worn by everyone, including the ministers, during thedistribution of ashes.

• As needed, the deacon or lay ministers may join the priest in imposing asheson the faithful.

• Ministers should sanitize their hands before the distribution of ashes.

• Ashes may not be self-imposed: they are always given by a minister.

Additional notes:

• The wearing of ashes, while customary and laudable, is not an obligation of the faithful, so anyone who is fearful of becoming sick should not come forward, or even come to Mass on Ash Wednesday.

• If additional liturgies are needed to accommodate the faithful in light of reduced capacity in the church, the Roman Missal gives the option that the blessing and distribution of ashes may take place outside of Mass. (If led by a lay minister, ashes already blessed by a priest or deacon are used.)

• If necessary, out of an abundance of caution, a cotton swab may be used as an instrument for imposition of ashes (as in anointing).

o Ashes will need to be additionally moistened for cotton to work effectively.

o Swabs should be burnt after use.

• Ashes can also be imposed by sprinkling on the crown of the head without touching.

Posted on

Things I’ve Seen and Heard

Musings of Fr. Bryan T. Reif

My apologies for the length of this article, but it is critically important regarding Covid-19 Vaccinations.  PLEASE READ ALL OF IT!  Recently I have been receiving questions, and listening to concerns from members of the Faithful regarding whether it is moral and licit to receive a COVID vaccination.  Many have been watching videos on YouTube about this from sources that do not in any way represent the authentic magisterium of the Roman Church, and this has caused some great confusion, and has led to the spread of misinformation.  I can only caution greatly about relying of YouTube regarding Catholic teaching, as there are many sites and personalities who claim to represent authentic Church teaching, who in reality have no standing in the Church at all.  Below is the statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the COVID Vaccines, from the website verbatim:

On December 14, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement on the new COVID-19 vaccines. In their statement, the bishops address the moral concerns raised by the fact that the three vaccines that appear to be ready for distribution in the United States all have some connection to cell lines that originated with tissue taken from abortions.

With regard to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, they concluded:

“In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines, the reasons to accept the new COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines.

“Receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community.  In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.”

With regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the bishops found it to be “more morally compromised” and consequently concluded that this vaccine “should be avoided” if there are alternatives available. “It may turn out, however, that one does not really have a choice of vaccine, at least, not without a lengthy delay in immunization that may have serious consequences for one’s health and the health of others,” the bishop chairmen stated. “In such a case … it would be permissible to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

At the same time, the bishops also warned that Catholics “must be on guard so that the new COVID-19 vaccines do not desensitize us or weaken our determination to oppose the evil of abortion itself and the subsequent use of fetal cells in research.”

And from the Holy See in Rome, which is the authentic teaching of the Church:

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH 

Note on the morality of using
some anti-Covid-19 vaccines

The question of the use of vaccines, in general, is often at the center of controversy in the forum of public opinion. In recent months, this Congregation has received several requests for guidance regarding the use of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, which, in the course of research and production, employed cell lines drawn from tissue obtained from two abortions that occurred in the last century. At the same time, diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements in the mass media by bishops, Catholic associations, and experts have raised questions about the morality of the use of these vaccines.

There is already an important pronouncement of the Pontifical Academy for Life on this issue, entitled “Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human fetuses” (5 June 2005). Further, this Congregation expressed itself on the matter with the Instruction Dignitas Personae (September 8, 2008, cf. nn. 34 and 35). In 2017, the Pontifical Academy for Life returned to the topic with a Note. These documents already offer some general directive criteria.

Since the first vaccines against Covid-19 are already available for distribution and administration in various countries, this Congregation desires to offer some indications for clarification of this matter. We do not intend to judge the safety and efficacy of these vaccines, although ethically relevant and necessary, as this evaluation is the responsibility of biomedical researchers and drug agencies. Here, our objective is only to consider the moral aspects of the use of the vaccines against Covid-19 that have been developed from cell lines derived from tissues obtained from two fetuses that were not spontaneously aborted.

1. As the Instruction Dignitas Personae states, in cases where cells from aborted fetuses are employed to create cell lines for use in scientific research, “there exist differing degrees of responsibility” of cooperation in evil. For example,“in organizations where cell lines of illicit origin are being utilized, the responsibility of those who make the decision to use them is not the same as that of those who have no voice in such a decision”. 

2. In this sense, when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available (e.g. in countries where vaccines without ethical problems are not made available to physicians and patients, or where their distribution is more difficult due to special storage and transport conditions, or when various types of vaccines are distributed in the same country but health authorities do not allow citizens to choose the vaccine with which to be inoculated) it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.

3. The fundamental reason for considering the use of these vaccines morally licit is that the kind of cooperation in evil (passive material cooperation) in the procured abortion from which these cell lines originate is, on the part of those making use of the resulting vaccines, remote. The moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent–in this case, the pandemic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. It must therefore be considered that, in such a case, all vaccinations recognized as clinically safe and effective can be used in good conscience with the certain knowledge that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive. It should be emphasized, however, that the morally licit use of these types of vaccines, in the particular conditions that make it so, does not in itself constitute a legitimation, even indirect, of the practice of abortion, and necessarily assumes the opposition to this practice by those who make use of these vaccines.

4. In fact, the licit use of such vaccines does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted fetuses. Both pharmaceutical companies and governmental health agencies are therefore encouraged to produce, approve, distribute and offer ethically acceptable vaccines that do not create problems of conscience for either health care providers or the people to be vaccinated.

5. At the same time, practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary. In any case, from the ethical point of view, the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one’s own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good. In the absence of other means to stop or even prevent the epidemic, the common good may recommend vaccination, especially to protect the weakest and most exposed. Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and who are the most vulnerable.

6. Finally, there is also a moral imperative for the pharmaceutical industry, governments and international organizations to ensure that vaccines, which are effective and safe from a medical point of view, as well as ethically acceptable, are also accessible to the poorest countries in a manner that is not costly for them. The lack of access to vaccines, otherwise, would become another sign of discrimination and injustice that condemns poor countries to continue living in health, economic and social poverty. 

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 17 December 2020, examined the present Note and ordered its publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 21 December 2020, Liturgical Memorial of Saint Peter Canisius.

Luis F. Card. Ladaria, S.I.      + S.E. Mons. Giacomo Morandi
Prefect    Titular Archbishop of Cerveteri
 

Hopefully this helps,

Fr. Bryan T. Reif

Posted on

Option for Streaming Christmas Masses

St. James Parish in White Oak has completed the installation of the needed equipment to stream their masses.

They will be streaming their Christmas Masses on the following schedule:
Christmas Eve Mass will be streamed at 3:00PM
Christmas Day Mass will be streamed at 10:00AM

They will also be streaming their Sunday Masses on Sundays at 10:00AM

Link for the streamed masses:
http://stjameswhiteoak.com/Resources/Online-Mass

Posted on

Things I’ve Seen and Heard – November 1, 2020

Musings of Fr. Bryan T. Reif

Happy All Saints Day, and Happy November!  It is hard for me to believe that we are already deep into the Fall now, and that Advent is just a few short weeks away.  It is also hard to believe that we have been open for public celebration of the Mass since May, and we are still operating under restrictions imposed on us by the State, the wearing of masks, social distancing, the use of hand sanitizer, and restricted capacity.  Since February, the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday and Holy Days has been dispensed.  The priests have heard that the feeling among the bishops currently is to continue the dispensation from the Obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days through the balance of 2020.  

Even though the Obligation to attend Mass has been dispensed, and no-one is required, at this time to attend, so many of our parishioners, so many of you have decided to attend Mass and receive the Sacraments, and have been faithfully coming to Mass every weekend.  I recognize that this is not being done out of a sense of obligation, but is being done out of a sense of love for the Lord Jesus, and out of a desire to grow in love of Him, and to grow in the Faith.  I thank you from my heart for this witness to the Faith and to the Lord that you are giving to me, and to one another.  I commend you, and I am proud of you for your love of Jesus Christ.  I am also very proud of you for taking the things that we are being asked to do to minimize the possibility of the spread of the virus seriously.  Thank you for wearing your masks, keeping socially distant, and refraining from physical contact with neighbors whom I am sure we wish very deeply we could shake hands with or give a hug.  What you are doing is exactly what a Christian community, a parish, is called to do, pray with one another, lift one another up to God, and stand in solidarity and support of one another, especially when things are tough going as they are now with the pandemic.  Thank you for that, and may the Lord’s blessing continue to come upon all of us in our two parishes.

Take Good Care,

Fr. Bryan T. Reif