Dear St. Raphael Parishioners,

 I expect to be away this weekend, May 8 and 9, for a bit of vacation. Fr. Pelrine and Fr. Jelinek will take the Masses. I am looking forward to a little rest and recreation. These weeks since Easter have been joyful but busy! Holy Week and Easter Masses were near capacity, followed soon after by First Communion and Confirmation. The weather was almost perfect on our First Communion and Confirmation days. I hope our Second and Eighth grade families were able to gather and celebrate these special days with our students. Special thanks to Annette Wynn and the volunteers who help out with our Religious Education program!

It was good timing to have Confirmation Mass during the Easter Season. The Sacrament of Confirmation is all about receiving the Holy Spirit, and we are fast approaching Pentecost Sunday, when the apostles received the Holy Spirit and the Church first took form. You might notice that readings at both weekday and Sunday Masses start to make references to the Holy Spirit, also called the Paraclete, meaning “advocate or consoler”. Scripture draws our attention to the coming of the Spirit in this way.

Each day the news brings us developments in public health regulations. Some parts of the country have lifted the rules, and there is hope this will continue as vaccinations increase. I have noticed considerable restlessness at St. Raphael about the Covid rules we are following. I sympathize with our volunteers who have given large amounts of their time over the past year to check people in and sanitize. Be assured that as soon as the Archdiocese provides some direction, we will be relaxing these procedures. I will bring the hopes you have expressed to the deanery meeting on May 10. I also hope to find out if other parishes in Lake County have made any changes recently. We have “fought the good fight” for our safety this past year, but I cannot relax the rules based on news from other parts of the country, or on anecdotal accounts about our neighbors. We all hope that the vaccines will bring an end to this, but we don’t want to jump the starting gun.

God bless you 
Fr. Matthew