Announcements

Wednesday, October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis! Given Francis's love of animals and nature, many people like to bless their pets on his Feast Day. Click below for a pet blessing you can do at home with your family!

At-Home Pet Blessing for Feast of St. Francis

As you may know from reading the Parish Projects column in the bulletin, our Facilities Superintendent, George Harvey, has been working on getting a new sign for our parish approved by the City of Gahanna. He ask that we share his latest appeal to the Board of Zoning and Building so that you can see the progress we have made so far.

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August 17, 2023

Dear St. Matthew Community,

As children are a great gift to families, so are they a great gift to our community. They remind us of the wonder, energy, curiosity, and joy of life. Most of all they remind us that Jesus calls us to be like them in their innocence and purity. They, like all of us, have a place at the Eucharistic table as members of the Body of Christ. We not only welcome them to Mass; we want them there.

When children are in Mass, even as babies and toddlers, they build a habit of faith. They see their parents worshiping with a community of faith and they, themselves, receive graces and blessings merely by their presence before the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic faith; it unifies our Christian witness. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus frequently refers to children as not only acceptable participants in Christian witness, but ideal ones. Children are a vital part of the Christian community, and when they are in a separate location during Mass, the Body of Christ in a sense is divided and our children are missing out on the graces available to them at Mass.

Because we value our children and their place in our faith community, our nursery will no longer be staffed during Mass beginning September 2023. Rather, we are expanding our faith formation opportunities for little ones and their families to build upon the foundations begun at Mass. Parents, we want to partner with you to help your children grow in faith. If you need help during Mass, call our staff. We can provide resources and support for you. You are not being left alone. We know that it can feel like you don't get anything out of Mass when you're struggling with your kids, but God sees your struggles and receives them as your offering to Him. The graces of the Mass are present to you and available to you even if you spend the whole time wrestling with a toddler.

We call on our parishioners without young children to be supportive, to offer words of encouragement, to exercise patience, and to greet and welcome families with young children. Pray for them and support them however you can. We are a family of families. We want to encourage each other along the way.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Ted Sill and Fr. PeterClaver Kasasa Kiviiri

Dear St. Matthew Family,

Happy Easter! May the joy of the Resurrection be with you today and always! 

This Easter Sunday, we hear Jesus’ words in the Acts of the Apostles, challenging us to share the truth of the Christian life: “He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead” (10:42). In light of this instruction from our Lord, I am excited to share with you a new mission for our parish, one that will give us all tools to follow the directives of Jesus’ commission to go into the world and make disciples (Mt. 28:19).

Last summer, with the support of the Diocesan Office of Evangelization, several staff and I attended a conference sponsored by Divine Renovation, an organization that helps parishes “move from maintenance to mission.” This conference led to many conversations about where we’re succeeding as a parish and what we can do better.

I want to be clear that our parish as it is now is doing well. We are financially healthy, and we have many thriving ministries. We intend to maintain and expand these ministries. Just maintaining the status quo, however, is not enough. Our parish, like all parishes, exists to evangelize. Our mission is to introduce people to Christ, not only people who are sitting or have sat in our pews every week, but also the people who have never attended church. 

In the past few weeks, I have formed a leadership team of staff and parishioners to advise me in this mission to expand our vision. We have developed a vision statement that will guide the future of our parish for the next few years: to make disciples who love Jesus and have a passion to worship, serve, and evangelize.

Based on this vision and on conversations with the leadership team and staff, we will be focusing efforts on hospitality, evangelization, and discipleship. We want to create a culture of invitation in our parish, where visitors and new members are not only welcomed, but expected. While we are only in the beginning stages of this process, you will start to see changes in the parish, some minor, others more noticeable. I ask that you greet these changes with a spirit of openness and charity, knowing that all is being done to bring others to the love of Christ.

Easter proclaims victory and renewal for Christian life. Easter also calls for our response to the Lord’s command to make disciples. Therefore, we do not rest in a life of status quo. We are called to be more, to go out into the world. I hope you will join me in this mission. Together, we will witness even more amazing changes that the Holy Spirit will bring to our parish in the coming years.

Alleluia! He is risen!

 

View a PDF of this letter here.

February 28, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  

Peace be with you! As Catholics, we are committed to protecting the sanctity of human life no matter the circumstances or stage of development. We live this out by, among other things, accompanying the poor and needy, refugees and immigrants, prisoners on death row, young mothers, and children.  

In Ohio, the dignity of life in its earliest stages is threatened by groups proposing an amendment to Ohio’s Constitution for the November 2023 ballot that would enshrine and expand abortion at the expense of protections for preborn children and women. The Church must not be silent and cannot remain on the sidelines when confronted with such a clear threat to human life. This proposal demands a response, and we strongly encourage Catholics and all people of good will in Ohio to work against including the proposed amendment for the November ballot and, if it appears on the ballot, vote against the amendment to prevent countless deaths of preborn, innocent children.

Our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us that “Our defense of the innocent unborn … needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development” (Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 101). Our commitment to protecting and promoting life includes providing resources and accompanying women during and after pregnancy through our numerous social service agencies, schools, and parishes. This commitment also includes rejecting abortion expansion, which only perpetuates a throwaway culture that does not value human life.

The Catholic Conference of Ohio will be collaborating with statewide organizations, and diocesan respect life offices will be seeking volunteers to help coordinate a campaign at every parish. More information and materials will become available as we mobilize to oppose the proposed amendment on the November 2023 ballot. We, the Catholic Bishops of Ohio, stand with you, our faithful, in our commitment in the name of the Lord of Life, to each human person from conception to natural death. Let us unite in fasting and offering this prayer:  

God our loving Father, grant wisdom to those who govern us, compassion and courage to those who work to defend human life, and safety and care to every human being. For you alone who formed us in our mothers' wombs, and who call us home to heaven, are God, for ever and ever. Amen.

With you in Christ Jesus,

Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Most Rev. Edward C. Malesic, Diocese of Cleveland
Most Rev. Michael G. Woost, Diocese of Cleveland
Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas, Diocese of Toledo
Most Rev. Jeffrey M. Monforton, Diocese of Steubenville
Most Rev. J. Michael Botean, Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton
Most Rev. Earl K. Fernandes, Diocese of Columbus
Most Rev. David J. Bonnar, Diocese of Youngstown
Most Rev. Bohdan J. Danylo, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma