From the 2014 Calendar, Beauty from Above.
Today, April 27, 2014, we celebrate the canonization of two popes: John Paul II and John XXIII.
Calendar of Events.
There are no regular Monday meetings in May. There will be a board meeting on May 19. But please make note of the many upcoming events.
May 3, 2014. Sisters' Appreciation Dinner at St. Jude's. Mass begins at 4:00, followed by Social Hour at 5:00 and Dinner at 6:00.
May 11, 2014. World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Go to the web site www.serraus.org to find materials to be used at your parish.
May 12-20, 2014. Cincinnati Club's Bible Reading for Vocations Novena. Michael Fiorenzo will represent our club in this event, but we can provide support with our prayers and Bible reading activities.
May 13, 2014. Bishop Baraga Film Festival, (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. at Celebration Cinema North.
Find much useful and interesting information by searching Bishop Baraga Film Festival and click on the 2014 link.
May 17, 2014. Schubert Chorus Concert, 7:30 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center, East Grand Rapids High School. Order tickets from Aggie at aggcloyd@aol.com. Please invite family and friends. If you've not heard a Schubert Chorus concert, we urge you to take advantage of the opportunity to become acquainted with this wonderful community resource.
May 19, 2014. Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Ss. Peter and Paul.
May 26, 2014. Memorial Day Observed.
May 29, 2014. The Ascension of the Lord. Holy Day of Obligation.
May 31, 2014. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
June 7, 2014. Ordination of Deacon William Vanderwerff, 10:00 a.m. at Saint Andrew's Cathedral. We are looking for 6-7 Serrans to serve on the Hospitality Team.
June 23, 2014. Dinner Meeting with the Dominican Sisters, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The Sisters will be showcasing their new Home Health Care Center. Let Aggie know if you're interested in joining them for the evening.
June 24, 2014. Spring Planning and Leadership Meeting. This will be a luncheon meeting with District Governor Bob Barrett. Let John Osterhart know if you're interested in attending. We are hoping for at least five people from our club to attend.
July 10-12, 2014. Serra International Convention, Sacramento, California. Bishop Walkowiak plans to attend, along with a number of people from our club. Grand Rapids will be very well represented this year.
Priests' Anniversaries for May.
May 1: Fr. John Kenney
May 11: The Very Reverend John Geaney
May 13: Fr. Robert Sirico
May 14: Fr. Anthony Britt
May 16: Fr. Tom Tavella
May 19: Msgr. William Duncan
Fr. Charles Mason
Fr. Mark Przybysz
May 20: Fr. Peter Hount Xuan Nghiem
May 22: Fr. Ernest Bernott
Fr. Joachim Lalley
My 24: Fr. Robert Bliszcz
Fr. Ted Kozlowski
Fr. Don Weber
May 27: Fr. Brad Schoeberle
May 28: F. Thomas Hack
President Yeo's Easter Message.
20 April 2014
My dear fellow Serrans,
Shalom!
We rejoice in the Risen Lord with the same kind of exhilaration that the early disciples experienced two thousand years ago. Jesus, Our Lord, is risen! Alleluia!
Amidst all the Easter joy and celebrations, let us remember to thank the Lord for the love that He has for all of us and for the hope that His resurrection brings to all mankind. If not for Jesus' resurrection, we would have believed in vain
We also thank the Lord for the gift of faith, for even our ability to profess that Jesus is the risen Lord, as well as our ability to thank Him, comes from Him alone. Bearing this in mind, let us all pray, with grateful hearts, that empowered by His resurrection, we will continue to work tirelessly for His Kingdom in the Serra lay apostolate for vocations.
On behalf of all Serrans, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our beloved priests for their faithfulness, patience, and selfless love. Through the celebration and administration of the sacraments and the liturgy, they brought Christ to us. By accompanying us on our forty days of Lenten journey, they helped us to strengthen our faith and grow in holiness and love for Christ. I exhort each of you to continue to keep our priests in your daily prayers.
Hence for the Serrans United in Prayer initiative for May, let us unite our prayers for priests and for more vocations in a 3-Hour Vigil for Vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday (also known as Vocations Sunday) which falls on 11 May 2014. The prayer dynamics are appended beloe.
Last but not least, here's wishing you and allo your loved ones a Holy and Blessed Easter. Let us bring the joy of the Risen Lord to everyone we encounter! Alleluia! Praise the Lord!
Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us!
Sean Yeo
President, Serra International
Note: The following is a suggested pattern for each club to follow. The prayers can be prayed in front of the tabernacle in the church, before Our Lady's grotto, in an adoration chapel, or simply before a crucifix, whichever facility that is available to the club.
A time slot of three hours is decided upon by the club and members can be assigned or choose a specific hour to come together to pray, covering the whole three-hour time period. It is preferable that the vocal prayers (the Holy Rosary) be vocalized and prayed as a club and the time for reflection on the scripture passage given for the hour be a time of silent personal reflection. A leader can be assigned to facilitate in each hour of prayer.
Prayers for the 3-Hour Vigil for Vocations
Prayer intentions:
1. In thanksgiving to Almighty God for the gift of Jesus, the Good Shepherd and all our priests.
2. That our priests will configure their priesthood to that of Jesus, the Eternal High Priest.
3. That God will grant us more holy vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Theme for the First Hour: Thanksgiving to God, the Father.
*Pray the 5 decades of the Holy Rosary meditating on the Joyful Mysteries.
*Scripture for Reflection--Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, 17, 23-25.
*Serran Prayer for Vocations and Perseverance of Vocations.
Theme for the Second Hour: Pray the 5 decades of the Holy Rosary meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries.
*Scripture for Reflection (John 10:1-18)--I am the Good Shepherd.
*Serran Prayer for Vocations and Perseverance of Vocations.
Theme for the Third Hour: Thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier.
*Pray the 5 decades of the Holy Rosary Meditating on the Glorious Mysteries.
*Scripture for Reflection (Jeremiah 1:4-10)--The Call of Jeremiah.
*Serran Prayer for Vocations and Perseverance of Vocations.
For all three hours, the prayer leader can choose to intersperse the prayers with a couple of hymns where appropriate.
Mary, Mother of Vocations!
"Every aspect of priestly formation can be referred to Mary, the human being who has responded better than any other to God's call. Mary became both servant and disciple of the Word to the point of conceiving, in her heart and in her flesh, the Word made man, so as to give him to mankind. Mary was called to educate the one Eternal Priest, who became docile and subject to her motherly authority. With her example and intercession the Blessed Virgin keeps vigilant watch over the growth of vocations and priestly life in the Church."
Pope John Paul II, I Will Give You Shepherds.
Sean Yeo
President
Serra International
John Paul II's Message to Youth: Be Not Afraid of Vocations.
With those words, John Paul II began his historic pontificate, and the message inspired a new generation of priests, religious and laity to "open wide the doors to Christ" that has left an indelible mark on the Church.
Consecrated a bishop by John Paul II, Cardinal Don Wuerl has seen the great difference made in the Church from vocations inspired by the saint's example...
John Paul's pontificate spanned 1978-2005 and included trips to 104 countries on 129 apostolic visits. His legacy leaves behind a massive body of writings that the Catholic Church in all walks of life (clerical, religious and lay faithful) continue to unpack and draw inspiration from...
Says Cardinal Wuerl, "John Paul II was the model for how priests should be formed. He exhibited it in his own life, and he also gave the Church the structure from which to do it in the lives of others."
John Paul's personalism also made a profound impact on vocations in the Church.
"Relationships were important to him, as they are important to all of us, but they are especially to the youth," said Father Shawn McKnight, executive director of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of the Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. He said the decline in priestly and religious vocations finally began to slow when priests and religious finally began promoting their own way of life, living it more visibly and building relationships with youth and inviting them to do the same...
Father McKnight said the anecdotal evidence shows that Pope John Paul II's time spent with the youth of the Church at World Youth Days has produced fruit, as higher numbers of persons making full professions report their vocations were inspired in part by WYD than those in the general Catholic population.
But John Paul II's teaching also presented marriage as a vocation with a "sacrificial way of life,"
Father McKnight said, allowing young people to see that each of the different vocations have their joys and "their own crosses to bear."
The lay vocation received a tremendous boost from John Paul II, who gave a scope and direction to the role of the laity in the Church with writings such as Christifideles Laici, which the lay faithful needed after Vatican II. The Church has seen numerous fruits as the laity continue to unpack John Paul II's theology and apply it to modern life...
(The third accomplishment of John Paul II was the fostering of) a renewal of religious life and a growth of religious orders. He convened a synod on the consecrated life, and his subsequent 1996 apostolic exhortation on the religious life, Vita Consecrata, inspired four Dominican sisters to found a new Dominican order on February 9, 1997: the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
"He's the one I will always credit for such a wonderful explosion of vocations to our community, from its very inception on," said Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, the vocations director and one of the four foundresses of the Dominican Sisters of Mary.
She said the generation of youth inspired by John Paul II's love for them, especially in his teachings on loving the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother, have filled their community. They have 120 sisters, and their average age is 29l. Their vocations retreat was planned to coincide with the canonization of John Paul II.
"He really gave them that insspiration of greatness--we cann him 'great' but he called everyone 'great'--because we are made in the imge and likeness of God, and God lives in us," she said. "And that greatness needs to accomplish heroic charity in the world."
Source: Peter Jesserer Smith, National Catholic Register, April 20, 2014.
Editor's Note: Saint John Paul II's legacy lives on here in Grand Rapids as well. On April 18, Bishop David Walkowiak blessed the picture of John Paul II and celebrated Mass at West Catholic High School commemorating the selection of him as the school's new patron saint. May the blessings he bestowed upon the Church continue on at West Catholic.
Leadership Conference. At our April board meeting, Phil Dolci of West Catholic presented a request to assist with $600 to help finance a Steubenville Leadership Conference for two students this coming summer. The board voted to contribute $300 from our club and to invite the students to participate in the sale of the Schubert Chorus Concert tickets to make up the difference. We welcome these students and their friends and families to join us at the concert.
A Message from ourPresident.
Please pray for me and the local Grand Rapids Serra Club. We have two exciting events this month. The first is our Sisters' Appreciation Dinner at St. Jude's this Saturday. Also we have a Schubert choir concert on May 17. The proceeds from the sale of these tickets are being used to help finance a Steubenville Leadership Conference for two West Catholic Students (see above). One of these students plans to enter the Seminary in the fall and the other is very seriously discerning. If you have not already signed up for tickets and you would like to attend, please e-mail me at aggcloyd@aol.com and I'll make sure you will be able to join your fellow Serrans
May the love and peace of Christ be with you and your families. Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us in our vocations work to bring dedicated leaders to the call for service in the Church.
Aggie Kempker-Cloyd
