Things I’ve Seen and Heard
Musings of Fr. Bryan T. Reif
It is hard for me to believe that it is the end of May. It is also hard for me to believe that my assignment as your pastor at St. Simon the Apostle and St. Aloysius on the Ohio is coming to an end in just a few more short weeks. This will be my last article that I write for the bulletin. I will be away quite a bit during the month of June, taking some vacation time, as well as doing some necessary work for the transition to my new assignment. I wanted to take the opportunity in this article to say Thank You to all of the people who have made the assignment here a good one for me. Thank you to all of the pastoral and support staff members who have served in the two parishes over the course of my time here: Beth and Steve Schumacher, Anne Brassfield, Kathy Wandstrat, Doug Proud, Steve Cross, Tracy Wagner, Kathy Robben, Connie Nanney, and Charlie DeZarn. Thank you for good and faithful service to the Church during my tenure as Pastor here, and I wish you many blessings in your continued service to the Church in the Family of Parishes. Thank you to our Musicians, Rose Brauch, Zac Mills, and Karen White, who have helped greatly to make the celebration of Mass an uplifting and prayerful experience, not only for me, but for all of us, and will continue to do so. I also wanted to thank all of our volunteers, liturgical ministers, readers, servers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Greeters, Hospitality Ministers, Bereavement Ministers, Landscape crew, collection counters, Religious Education volunteers and catechists, vacation Bible school volunteers and catechists, festival workers, the Old Timers, the Ladies Group, the church cleaners, the members of the Pastoral and Finance Councils of both parishes, and any and all volunteers or groups I may have missed. Thank you for your service to the Church in these two parishes. I hope and pray you be of as much help to Fathers O’Cinnselaigh, Lack, and Cordier as you were to me. Finally, I want to thank all of you for your faithful attendance, for your continued prayers, and for your stewardship of the two parish communities. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless all of you as we move into the future.
Two main things I want you to remember:
1. God is Merciful! He is always there for you, ready to embrace you, He loves you deeply. Cling to Him.
2. Be there for one another. You are the Body of Christ called to love each other and to lift one another up in these parishes.
While this faith community is about to grow larger, from a two-parish region to a five-parish family, remember who you are, children of God who have shared journey together in Delhi and Sayler Park. Our History defines us, and makes us who we are, and I have no doubt that your history, with all of its ups and downs along the way have prepared you to bring the gifts you have to offer to the larger Southwest-3 Family of Parishes.
Please pray for me, and I will continue to pray for you.
Fr. Bryan T. Reif
Pastor
St. Simon the Apostle & St. Aloysius on the Ohio
Collaborative Pastoral Region
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