Dear Parish Family,

Happy New Year! As we continue to celebrate our Christmas season, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Some simple reasoning used at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD helps us see the logic of this Marian title: (1) Mary is the Mother of Jesus, (2) Jesus is God, and (3) therefore, Mary is the Mother of God! This perfectly logical truth statement rests on the theological principle of the unity of the two natures and one personhood of Christ. Simply put, since Jesus’ human nature and divine nature cannot be divided in His one Person, what is true of His one nature must be true of the other. Therefore, Mary is the Mother of Jesus in both His human nature and His divine nature. Based on the unity of Christ’s two natures, if we cannot truly say that Mary is the Mother of God, then we cannot say she is truly the Mother of Jesus. Since we can say that she is the Mother of Jesus, it follows that we must also be able to say that she is truly the Mother of God!

If your head is spinning after reading that paragraph a few times, you’re not alone! Our faith is absolutely rich in theological and spiritual truths that are deeply satisfying, intellectually stimulating, and worth diving into. Keep at it! Our world needs smart and holy Catholics who can speak and act intelligibly on behalf of our faith. Imagine how you as one of the faithful Catholics (or perhaps the only one) in your family could make a difference by being able to articulate our faith to those who have lost touch with it. Think of the impact you could make by speaking in truth and charity about why we believe what we profess, live, and celebrate. 

New Year’s Resolution: Catechism in a Year: 
To sharpen our minds, I invite us all to make a resolution this year to understand our Catholic faith more deeply this year. I would suggest a good place to start is with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Ascension Press is offering a daily podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz called Catechism in a Year. These podcasts will go through a few paragraphs of the catechism each day and offer commentary from Fr. Mike to help connect the content with our experience. Visit https://ascensionpress.com/pages/catechisminayear to download the reading plan, and stay tuned for opportunities to connect with fellow parishioners who are also following the podcast and reading plan.

Angel Scholarship Fund Planning: 
Thank you to all who were able to donate to the Angel Scholarship Fund in 2022. Not only will you receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to lower your Ohio tax liability, but you will also help provide ample scholarship opportunities for our St. Mary School families for the next school year. This will help set our school and our parish on stable financial footing each year. I’ll let you know how much was contributed to our Angel Scholarship Fund in 2022 later this month. Remember that you can receive the tax credit again in this 2023 tax year in the same way. The strategy I use and which I would offer you for this year is to talk with your payroll person to lower or stop your state tax withholdings from your paycheck. You can then use that money you save to donate to the Angel Scholarship Fund, either monthly or with a one-time donation, and receive that donation as a tax credit again for this year. Please take full advantage of this wonderful win-win opportunity available to us!
Visit https://stmarychardon.org/asf to learn more and to donate.

I am yours in Christ,
Father Scott Goodfellow