After a pandemic-induced break of nearly a year and a half, the First Friday Forum of Lorain County resumed in-person programming on Aug. 6 with an address by Bishop Edward Malesic. The forum generally meets the first Friday of the month at Lorain County Community College’s Spitzer Center.
“I am delighted to be here with you today,” Bishop Malesic told those gathered for the program. “It is an honor for me to be asked to be your speaker. We still need to be prayerful and cautions. I want us to return to normal, but we also need to be smart about being safe as a pandemic continues among those still vulnerable. And we need to listen to the experts,” he said.
“Being here today is a good sign of our resiliency. Pray for your bishop who has had to make decisions that were not always popular, but always made because I thought they were the best way forward for all of us in our Church.”
During the address, Bishop Malesic touched on several topics: the pandemic and how the Church persevered , his adjustment to his new role, his background, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Cleveland and a new initiative to ensure their vibrancy, affordability and sustainability, the Heart of a Shepherd campaign, the need to be grateful and the Eucharist.
He said not since 1918 had we experienced anything like the coronavirus pandemic that struck in March 2020. As the virus took hold and spread, he said many serious decisions had to be made in the Church and there was little information available. However, the fact that he studied biology in college was helpful. He also expressed thanks to Father Don Oleksiak who served as diocesan administrator during the first months of the pandemic. Senior diocesan leaders consulted with medical experts to help set guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone. This information was shared with parishes.
“I know that there were a few weeks when our parish churches were closed to the public, but the holy sacrifice of the Mass never stopped being offered, prayers continued to be said and the Church never stopped its ministry to those most in need,” Bishop Malesic said. He reminded the group that technology including livestreaming and other creative means were used to ensure the safe celebration of the sacraments and to ensure that Church life in parishes continued.
As the pandemic began to subside, the bishop said video invitations were developed to welcome parishioners back. Despite the disruption of in-person worship, the bishop said there were some bright spots. He shared a story about a family who watched Mass at home during the pandemic. The mother hadn’t been a regular Mass attendee, but she began to join her husband and children in watching and after public Masses resumed, she began attending in person.
“Yes, people want to get back to Church. That is a good thing.”
He transitioned to the Catholic schools, expressing thanks for the men and women who help educate 44,000 students in the diocesan Catholic schools, which offered both in-person and virtual learning through most of the pandemic. He also credited the teachers for displaying “caring, courage and kindness throughout the school year, putting their students’ needs first during a time no one could have imagined.”
“Keeping the Faith: The Future of Catholic Elementary Schools” is an endeavor that is underway to ensure the vibrancy, affordability and sustainability of our Catholic elementary schools,” he said, noting that Catholic schools “are one of the greatest assets of the diocese. They serve as one of the largest youth ministries we have in which we form young disciples of Jesus in the ways of the faith as well as support their spiritual, academic and social growth.”
Despite the pandemic, Catholic schools across the country are faced with shifting demographics, sharp decreases in enrollment, significantly rising costs and leadership changes. The pandemic introduced even more challenges, the bishop said.
The Keeping the Faith task force is charged with presenting a strategic plan for Catholic schools in the diocese by May 2022. After reviewing the plan, he hopes to begin implementing it in the 2022-2023 school year.
“We have an opportunity here to be bold, to be creative and to help reshape the system to become vibrant communities of faith that seek to educate and form these young people in the tradition and ways of the Catholic Church. I think we all know that we simply cannot keep doing things the same way and expect better results for our children, their parents and our parishes,” he added.
Another major initiative is the Heart of a Shepherd campaign, an effort to raise $30 million for three key things: complete renovation of Borromeo and Saint Mary seminaries, providing needed security for the priest retirement fund and providing tuition debt relief for the newly ordained clergy.
“While we still have a considerable amount of work to do to reach the net $30 million needed to achieve our campaign goal, we are so encouraged by the enthusiasm already shown by the faithful from parishes that participated in the early phases of the campaign,” the bishop said. He thanked those who already donated and encouraged those who have not to consider supporting the initiative.
“The success of this is so very important to the future of our diocese,” he said.
The bishop also spoke about the need to be grateful, acknowledging it is difficult to live out a spirit of gratefulness, given the challenging times we face. “As Catholics, the virtue of gratefulness is baked into everything we do and everything we are. Because ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.’”
He said the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Catholic faith, means thanksgiving. “The Mass itself is the ultimate prayer of thanksgiving. Through it we join in communion with the divine, as Jesus comes to use in this food from heaven. God gives himself to use in the Eucharist and we give ourselves to God in gratitude,” the bishop added.
Bishop Malesic said he hopes that the American bishops write a clear letter on the meaning of the Eucharist in the near future, pointing out “we need to be evangelists in proclaiming the Eucharist as the sacrament of our Lord’s true body and blood.” He is praying for a Eucharist revival to touch the diocese, parishes and the Church in the United States.
The bishop said he named Father Damian Ference to the new position of vicar of evangelization and asked him “to work to communicate the beauty of our Catholic faith, especially found in the Eucharist, and to begin the work of teaching the truths of our faith with new ardor, methods and style. The content of our faith remains the same, but how we communicate it can change. Because faith itself is a gift, we are called to share it. So I challenge all of you to witness to our Catholic faith. Faith in God will save us, he added.
He reminded the group that “as people of faith, we have much more to be thankful for. So, let us always live lives of gratefulness to God, remembering the invitation of Jesus to “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me.’”
The bishop fielded a few questions from the audience. When asked what the Church can do that other institutions can’t, he replied, “Pray.”
Regarding vaccinations, one questioner wanted to know if pastors could encourage them. The bishop said yes, and he has spoken with priests and others who have concerns to try and address those issues.
Another questioner asked about the pope’s recent document on celebrating the Latin Mass. Bishop Malesic said he is looking at the situation in the diocese but is planning no changes right now. Parishes currently offering Latin Masses can continue to do so.
Finally, the bishop once again encouraged the group to share their faith and not to be shy about doing so.
Notre Dame Sister Melanie Svoboda will speak about “Hanging Onto Hope in our Imperfect World” at the Sept. 3 First Friday Forum. A lunch buffet begins at 11:30 a.m. with the speaker at noon. Cost is $20. Mail Call the reservation line at 440-244-0643, email ffflorain@gmail.com or mail checks, payable to First Friday Forum of Lorain County, to 320 Middle Ave., Elyria 44035.