Category: From the Pastor’s Desk

June 8th, 2025

Pentecost: the End of the Easter Season and the Beginning of Ordinary Time:

The Solemnity of Pentecost, which we celebrate   today, is another of the greatest feasts of the liturgical year. According to our present liturgical calendar, it is the last day of, the great finale of, the Easter Season (It used to be a season of its own; now it’s one and done). The mystery that we celebrate, that is, the great event that we celebrate which is beyond our complete understanding, is the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary (and representatively, upon the whole Church). It falls on the 50th day after Easter (after 7 weeks, a week of weeks!). The name “Pentecost” is the name of the Jewish feast that was 50 days after Passover. It became a Christian Feast because that is when the Lord chose to send the Holy Spirit, making the true birthday of the Church. As we end the Easter Season and begin Ordinary Time on Monday, we are reminded that we are to live by the Holy Spirit of Jesus and His Heavenly Father, which fills the soul of every Christian. Living by the Spirit means obeying the Lord Jesus, instead of our own selfish desires. We are to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. Come, Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire! 

Parish Personnel Updates:
Please join us in welcoming two new members to our parish staff!
As you may know, Elaine Kroger will be leaving us next month to continue her career in teaching 3rd grade at St. James. We are grateful for her years of dedication to our parish and wish her well in her new endeavors!
Beth Scholl will be joining our ministry team to serve as Coordinator of Youth Faith Formation. She comes to us from St. Joseph, North Bend, and brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the role!
Another exciting addition to our administrative team will be Chris Denman. He is an active parishioner with children at St. Ignatius, and is re-joining the workforce as our new Coordinator of Parish Communications! He will replace Amy Lesko who is pursuing another career opportunity at Our Lady of
the Rosary.
Finally, Rick Berning has unofficially retired by going part-time on the finance team. You may see him in
the office on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, unless he’s on the golf course!
We look forward to a prosperous year with our new team members!

-Fr. Umberg  

From the Pastors Desk

Posted on by anna.giglio

Parish Personnel Updates:

Please join us in welcoming two new members to our parish staff!
As you may know, Elaine Kroger will be leaving us next month to continue her career in teaching 3rd grade at St. James. We are grateful for her years of dedication to our parish and wish her well in her new endeavors!
Beth Scholl will be joining our ministry team to serve as Coordinator of Youth Faith Formation. She comes to us from St. Joseph, North Bend, and brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the role!
Another exciting addition to our administrative team will be Chris Denman. He is an active parishioner with children at St. Ignatius, and is re-joining the workforce as our new Coordinator of Parish Communications! He will replace Amy Lesko who is pursuing another career opportunity at Our Lady of the Rosary.
Finally, Rick Berning has unofficially retired by going part-time on the finance team. You may see him in the office on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, unless he’s on the golf course!
We look forward to a prosperous year with our new team members!

-Fr. Umberg

From the Future Pastor’s Desk
Greetings, St. Ignatius Parishioners!

As of this writing, it still hasn’t been a week since I heard the big news that I have been appointed to be your pastor. I am so excited about this! I hope that you are too! At the beginning of the summer, you were not expecting a new pastor, and I had no idea that I would have a new assignment this fall; but here we are, and I look forward to meeting all of you!

My assignment officially begins October 12, 2024, and I plan to celebrate (or at least make an appearance at) the Saturday Vigil Mass and all the Sunday Masses that weekend. Until I move in to assume my duties, I trust that Fr. Tom Bolte (whom I thank for his hard work and coming out of administrative retirement!), Fr. David Tran, the Deacons and all the parish staff, will keep the big St. Ignatius machine running strong as they have over the last few months. I look forward to working with them in leading our mission to announce and celebrate the Gospel of salvation as the Church of Jesus Christ! 

I also look forward to working with Mrs. Angie Heisel, our school principal, and all the faculty and staff of the school, in their efforts to give a solid, faith-filled Catholic education to the nearly 1,200 students at St. Ignatius School! I love the privilege and the challenge of passing on the faith to children, and I believe a large, well-administrated Catholic school like St. Ignatius is one of the best places for this to happen (with the primary effort from parents and family, of course). Please pray for me and for the parish staff, for the school faculty and staff, and for the whole St. Ignatius Parish community during this time of transition. While I may meet some of you before then, I’ll see you in October! 

Praised be to Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Andrew Umberg

From the Temporary
Administrator’s Desk

Greetings,

Speaking of clergy, we are very blessed with having 4 Permanent Deacons in service at St. Ignatius: Deacon Tim Helmick, Deacon Tony Gagliarducci, Deacon Mike Erb, and Deacon John (Butch) Homoelle. However, Deacon Mike will be having knee replacement surgery, so will not be assisting at Mass or helping with Baptisms until he is finished with recuperation. Recently parishioner Steve Hendy has expressed interest in becoming a Permanent Deacon, so he will be entering into a year of discernment.

Thank you to all, who helped with the Parish picnic on Sept. 6 at Stricker’s Grove. It was a great appreciation celebration for all, who helped with the festival, along with all parish members. The Festival profit will be larger than last year. We are still waiting for the final expenses and will include the net profit in the bulletin soon.

Next weekend Sept. 14/15 is our annual celebration of Catechetical Sunday throughout the United States. This is when we recognize and bless those, who teach the faith to children, teenagers and adults. We have so many great catechists in the parish, but volunteers to help at School, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and adult programs are always needed and welcome. Of course we are not just a parish community, but a world community of faith as shown by the parish members who visited our twinning parish in Kenya, Africa and are speaking at the Masses this weekend. It was a life changing experience for them. Now to continue our relationship of prayer and support between our parishes. Also, keep Pope Francis in prayer for good health and wisdom as he is on his 2 week trip to Asia, including a Prayer Service for Peace among world religious leaders in Singapore.

Speaking of world travelers, my relatives from Germany are visiting this weekend and plan to attend the Saturday, 4:30 pm Mass on Sept. 7. They are huge American football fans, so they got tickets months ago to attend the Bengals game on Sept. 8. Hopefully, it will be a winning day for the Bengals, but most importantly each of us can have a win on our journey to heaven by loving God and Neighbor this week. God Bless,

Fr. Tom B.

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