{"id":231,"date":"2025-08-02T10:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/?page_id=231"},"modified":"2025-08-02T10:42:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T15:42:24","slug":"how-it-all-came-about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/videos\/how-it-all-came-about\/","title":{"rendered":"How it all came about"},"content":{"rendered":"

The year was 1993. I was the associate pastor at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and I had recently heard about the sabbatical program that was available to the priests of the Diocese of Cleveland. Though I had only been ordained seven years at the time, the recommendation of the priests who lived in the Cathedral rectory was apply now! The waiting list is long, and if you apply now, you might be able to go when you\u2019re almost ready to retire! <\/em>(granted, they said this tongue-in-cheek, but the wait at the time was nearly 15 years!) Why such a long wait? Because only two priests a year are allowed to participate in this experience \u2013 and there are a LOT of priests in the diocese.<\/p>\n

Seventeen years have passed since I first expressed an interest in the diocesan sabbatical experience. On April 13th<\/sup> I received a phone call from the diocesan Office for the Continuing Education and Formation of Priests (OCEFP) informing me that, if my schedule permitted, I could be a part of a sabbatical experience this fall. I left it in the hands of the Holy Spirit: if everything fell into place<\/em> in the coming weeks to provide for the needs of OLG, then I was definitely interested in the sabbatical; if my absence couldn\u2019t be accommodated, then I\u2019d have to pass. Well, the Holy Spirit worked overtime in the days that followed.<\/p>\n

This Fall\u2019s sabbatical experience is twelve weeks long and spans the time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving 2010. Topics covered during the sabbatical include: Normative ethics and bio-medical ethics, Scripture Studies, Liturgy and preaching the lectionary, Fundamental and moral theology, Women Doctors of the Church. Eucharist and Sacred Orders, Christology and Ecclesiology, Culture and Unbelief, Canon Law, and Ecumenism. When not in class, the 32 other priests on sabbatical and I will be able to take in the sights and history of the eternal city \u2013 Rome.<\/p>\n

So, how will the spiritual and day-to-day needs of OLG be met if I\u2019m half-way around the world in Rome? This is where the Holy Spirit worked overtime last month. Fr. Bill Karg, the retired pastor of St. Sebastian Parish in Akron, lives in Sagamore Hills. Part of his ministry in retirement is to pastors of single-priest parishes. When I asked him if he would be willing to serve as Administrator of OLG during my time away on sabbatical, he didn\u2019t hesitate to say yes. <\/em>On Monday, 3 May 2010, Bp. Lennon officially appointed Fr. Karg as Parish Administrator during my absence. [Many of you have already met Fr. Karg, as he has (and will) celebrate Mass at OLG when I\u2019m away on vacation.]<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be writing a lot more about this sabbatical experience as it gets closer. My intention, while on sabbatical, is to use this blogspace as a way of keeping in touch with everyone.<\/p>\n

ALSO, make sure to press\u00a0CTRL-D<\/strong>\u00a0to bookmark this page.\u00a0 As my sabbatical nears, I\u2019ll update this blog with several ways by which you\u2019ll be able to\u00a0keep in touch\u00a0<\/em>with me while I\u2019m away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year was 1993. I was the associate pastor at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and I had recently heard about the sabbatical program that was available to the priests of the Diocese of Cleveland. Though I had only been ordained seven years at the time, the recommendation of the priests who lived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":68,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-231","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231\/revisions\/232"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trask.co\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}