St. Bernard Parish

Click and read this newsletter for our Holy Week schedule and all the latest information on what we are doing during and in response to COVID-19!

Click here for our LIVE-streamed and archived Masses and other liturgies!

The church is open each day 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for personal devotion.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
 
Here we are! We have arrived at Palm Sunday! The live and then archived broadcasts this weekend will be as follows, live on facebook, then available on facebook and youtube:

@ 4:30 - Saturday - St. Bernard
@ 12:00 - Sunday - St. Bernard (en español)
@ 3:45 - Sunday - St. Mary (Adoration) (Mass intention moved to a weekday).


To support St. Bernard: https://stbernardakron.weshareonline.org/
To support St. Mary: https://www.givegab.com/nonprofits/st-mary-church-and-school
 
Fr. Frank and I have also posted a few youtubes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxAHN2Jehedcv2YggdrXbA/featured. There are a few previously streamed masses and stations of the cross on the parish pages or my personal page on facebook too.

We have begun a youtube for our parishes accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC15KJKdKX4AgVRDriWiVgJQ

We also now have a parish newsletter! click above to read it an see the schedule of Mass broadcasts for April.
 
I hope you all are safe! We miss you! Call if you need something or want to talk; call each other to check on each other.
 
Father Chris

Dear Members of the Communities of St. Bernard and St. Mary Parishes:
 
Hopefully you all have seen the news that there are no masses in PUBLIC until after Easter at earliest. Father Frank and I will continue to celebrate masses as scheduled in PRIVATE each and every day for the intentions as listed unless someone would like to transfer the intention to a later available date. We are doing just fine and are figuring out what card games we both know in common. J We are working together with the staff and leaders of the parishes to form some other ideas for plans on how to minister to our community remotely during this time via the internet, phone chains, etc. The keywords to search together would be “Bernard Mary Akron” once we get those up.
 
At St. Bernard, food distribution via sandwiches and fruit in the morning and Thursday morning pantry distribution will continue as per usual. Wednesday and Sunday night dinners are canceled for a while.
 
There are many live streams of masses going on at many parishes, including via the diocesan website every day at 9:30 am. We might record a few here and there and post them before this whole thing is over. We are also thinking to record the Stations of The Cross and other such things to share online/via e-mail.
 
We will still be producing the bulletin still and posting it online. For personal devotion and prayer, St. Bernard church is open 9-4 each day. St. Mary “by appointment” and the chapel at St. Bernard always if you have the code. Call the office to receive the code. Sanitation measures will greatly increase at all three sites, and the Sacristans at St. Mary have already thoroughly cleaned the whole church (Thanks, Sacristans!!!).
 
All meetings and celebrations at church otherwise are canceled. This includes public Stations of the Cross and regular confession times. This includes anyone except clergy taking communion to the homebound or sick, and only that is in case of necessity. Confessions and last rites are by necessity. Call the office if you are in need of a sacrament. You can also call Father Frank, Deacon Ray or myself if you just want to talk. If you want to move a mass intention, you may do so by calling the office, otherwise we will offer the mass for that intention as scheduled. We may transfer some of the Sunday intentions to a later date. If you might want to host one of these private masses, please let me know, but we are not sure we are going that route. Again, the office number is 330-253-5161. I’ll be in touch online and through e-mail and bulletins with more when we have more to say.
 
As the Body of Christ, we have been here before and we will be here again! May the Spirit of God lead us safely through this current trial!
 
 
God Bless You All and Stay Healthy!
 
Father Chris
 

Give online or send in your envelope to help us pay our bills during the Coronavirus precautions; click here! 

Recordings of Mass, e-Presentations, Adoration and more!

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxAHN2Jehedcv2YggdrXbA/featured?view_as=public

Facebook Page (English): https://www.facebook.com/St-Bernard-Catholic-Church-Akron-Ohio-1388647501402729/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARCHHEUmU5Z21S79K9lsRxTOEeGdBWUn7rtpGvchR7T_LygLrjPiRlkdF1htKWL_-1YDsN4BhRIhAk1W

Facebook Page (Español): https://www.facebook.com/SanBernardoAkron/

Feast of St. Patrick
To Whom It May Concern:
 
We are sad to say that at least THROUGH Holy Week and Easter, per the Bishops of Ohio there will not be any public Masses celebrated at any Catholic church anywhere in Ohio! This is in conjunction with all of the precautions that have been taken recently to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, especially in favor of the most vulnerable among us.
During this time, you are not obligated to attend Mass, but are encouraged to make a spiritual communion with all in the Body of Christ suffering and challenged by this moment all throughout the world in many ways and for many reasons.
Today, the church will remain open until the evening. The chapel will remain accessible indefinitely with stronger precautions for sanitation. All other events except the morning food distribution have been cancelled. We await further instruction from the diocesan administration as to what further actions we are to take, but emergencies will still be responded to by calling 440-391-7285.
Tomorrow, the church may not be open and we will have an update as to what else it is we can and cannot offer, especially in terms of confessions and Stations of the Cross. However, there will be posts via the parish websites and facebook pages, and there may be other content such as youtube videos, recorded Masses or other items of faith and inspiration by searching “Bernard and Mary Akron,” or the Youtube channel “Kingdom View 83.”
Father Frank and I will continue to celebrate masses for intentions listed, but you may have your intention moved to a later date by calling 330-253-5161.
As the Body of Christ, we have been here before and we will be here again! May the Spirit of God lead us safely through this current trial!
 
Sincerely, In Christ,
 
Father Chris Zerucha
Pastor, St. Bernard, Akron and St. Mary, Akron
Chaplain
University of Akron
 

The Church is not just a building and is not just its leaders; it is a community of faith and a People of God. It is the Body of Christ.

We recently received a letter on the updating of the database of credible abuse accusations and the response to each from the Bishop of Cleveland, Bishop Nelson J. Perez, which you can read here: https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/healing.

Also, we await the publication of a letter on this topic by Bishop Robert Barron, who often publishes relevant, helpful material through www.wordonfire.org. As we prepare for reading his letter that will be available in the church, here are his "primer videos" to get us focused on replying to scandal and evil within the Church in the correct way: https://order.sufferingchurchbook.com/order

In the words of Bishop Perez, "Let us continue to hope in the Lord who can heal us from the effects of even the greatest wounds and who, through his own Passion and death, joins us in our pain and makes all things new."

However, click here to participate in Mass, Stations or Holy Hour.