Are you a registered parishioner at either St. Mary or St. Bernard? If so, I am sure you would realize we are indeed separate parishes with separate finances, as we have been repeatedly told by our pastor and in this bulletin. I do not understand why you would think we are “one parish still.”

Why do you have a problem with who orders the missalettes? Why is this a worry for you? Do you imagine that St. Bernard is paying for St. Mary’s missalettes or vice versa? I can assure you that this is not the case. The only thing we share is our pastor, who has plenty of worries, responsibilities and duties to occupy his time. I am grateful for his conscientous attention. It makes no difference to me if Mr. Kintz or Ms. Badran ordered for both parishes. As I understand it, they are each paid out of the parish for which they work, and the missalettes are paid for by the parish which uses them – a separate bill for each parish. I do not know if you are insinuating that Fr. Reed is manipulating parish finances between parishes, but if you are, please be aware there are libel laws in this country.

If this is a pressing issue for you, I would advise you to address this to a member of parish council or finance council of whatever parish you belong to, if indeed you are a registered parishioner. It does no good to ask such questions on this website when they should be properly addressed to the pastor, the finance council or parish council.

I find it very difficult to believe that a parishioner from either parish would continually post negative comments which only serve to undermine the good that Fr. Reed is trying to accomplish, as well as weaken our parishes, which are both trying to get on their feet. Both St. Bernard and St. Mary are good parishes with a fine pastor. We share the same faith – we should be supportive of each other in the service of Our Lord and not resent the other parish. It will not make the problems we must face any easier if we don’t attempt a more positive, Christian attitude on the part of parishioners of each parish.

Since we share the same bulletin for the time being, I expect that is the reason we get the same information. The content is the same.

Yes, we are separate parishes. I cannot speak for Fr. Reed or anyone else at the parish, but I think he probably has more pressing things going on and will address this in time. Also, this particular item in the bulletin is about what is going on at other parishes in the Diocese, and it applies equally to both St. Bernard and St. Mary, so I do not see that there is any problem.

Contrary to your understanding, the Hispanic community has not remained stagnant. More individuals and families have moved into the parish over the last 30 years, and many are not bilingual. If you had taken the time to become acquainted with my fellow parishioners, you would know that the children speak English and Spanish beautifully. It is the older generation who sometimes experience difficulty with English, and it is they we must serve. They are our fellow parishioners and fellow Catholics. Their nationality or politics are not the issue. We must stand together to help strengthen our souls.

If you are qualified to teach English to Hispanic immigrants, I invite you to volunteer your services to Fr. Dan. From what I can gather, our resources are rather stretched thin at this point for him or the parish to offer this service. In the absence of that, I think we must be very grateful that Fr. Dan and other priests who speak Spanish offer the Mass, Confession and other sacraments in Spanish.

My grandfather was a Sicilian immigrant who became an American citizen while risking his life in the US Army in World War I, and he spoke fluent English, but he travelled monthly to Cleveland to go to Confession at Holy Rosary so he could confess in Italian since there was no parish in Akron with priests who spoke Italian at that time. Just because a person can understand a foreign language does not mean he is comfortable with it, and I do not think we should begrudge our pastor providing his services in Spanish if he is generous enough to offer them.

I have no problem with Latin hymns or prayers occasionally at Mass as Fr. Dan sees fit to use them, but the fact of the matter is that Spanish IS the vernacular for the Hispanic community, and that is why Fr. Dan is offering Mass in Spanish, and why it has been so at St. Bernard for 30 years. It is not a matter of it being easier for the parish to offer this in lieu of teaching English – it is a matter of bringing the sacraments to a sizeable community in our parish who need them.

Again, if you are qualified to teach English to our Hispanic parishioners, I am sure Fr. Dan would be glad to hear from you. I think it would be a splendid service you could offer to the parish.

St. Bernard, St. Mary and I am sure a few other churches in our city were built by immigrants all of whom had to learn in order to become citizens, the English language. Why after such a lengthy time span of 30 some years, haven’t we helped our Hispanic friends to learn the mass in the vernacular? It seems to me we are patronizing them by having a mass in Spanish, that we are not really helping them because it’s easier to say a mass in Spanish then to teach them English. Thank God for the celebrants who can speak Spanish and bring the Mass to them.

Thank God too for celebrants who speak and understand Latin, but heaven forbid we sing/recite something in Latin and the excuse is people don’t understand it? What’s so difficult about Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy). Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest), Sanctus, Sanctus (Holy, Holy), Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) or Pater noster qui es in coelis (Our Father who art in heaven). Yes, I have a difficult time translating Latin hymns into English but if I take my time and research it, I can accomplish it. I’m not a proponent the the Latin Rite Mass, if it brings people closer to God then Amen! But there is no reason why we can’t preserve some of our Latin in the Sunday Mass to remind us of our Catholic heritage.

Anyway, it is what it is, we have to do what we have to do if we want to keep our Hispanic friends in the Catholic faith and bring them the sacraments in a fullness of knowledge they understand.