Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Grand Rapids Serra Club Newsletter, December 2010


Calendar of Events.
December 8, 2010. Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Our Lady of Sorrows will offer Anointing of the Sick at the 12:00 Noon and 7:00 p.m. Masses.
December 13, 2010. Luncheon meeting and speaker, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House. Father Geaney, Rector of St. Andrew's Cathedral, will speak.
December 20, 2010. Serra Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House.
There will be no meeting on December 27.
Looking Ahead.
January 9-15, 2011. National Vocation Awareness Week. Joseph Scoville has received word from a member of the Catholic Lawyers' Association that Holy Family Parish in Caledonia would like to do something special to observe this occasion. The Board will make plans to assemble the applicable materials and perhaps pay a call to the Parish not only to introduce the parishioners to our club but also to point out other ways in which they can promote, foster, and pray for priestly vocations. More information will appear as the plans develop.
January 10, 2011. Luncheon meeting and speaker, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House.
January 17, 2011. Serra Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House.
January 24, 2011. At the December 4 meeting, the Board scheduled Monday, January 24, 2011 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for an evening membership function at Louis Benton Steak House. As membership chairman emeritus and incoming president, Tim Hile will speak. Please try to come up with at least two people to invite. Please keep in mind that membership is one of our priorities at this time. Our present membership count is 43; we would like to aim for 50.
The Board also discussed tentative plans for Charter Night, to be held on or about the first week in May. Further information TBA.

Priests' Anniversaries.

Bishop Robert Rose, Priesthood December 21, 1955; Episcopacy, December 6, 1960.

Robert Gillespie, December 8, 1943.

Charles Dautremont, December 18, 1960.

John Porter, December 15, 1957.

Julian Reginato, December 19, 1964

Isidro Gargantrel December 21, 1968

Norbert Leyrita, December 21, 1963

Michael Olson, December 27, 1994.
Lee Sullivan also sent this note from Fr. Ed Vella, CSsR:
Dear Lee,
Thank you so much for your nice card and kind words and well wishes and prayers. The week of celebrations of my 25 years of priesthood have been overwhelmingly grace-filled, but in a special way the ones of Sunday, November 14. To think that we celebrated three Masses at St. Timothy's with receptions following, then the afternoon Mass and dinner at St. Joseph's. So many relatives and other friends! Sincere thanks for your friendship and for everything. The Lord will reward you. Thank you thank you thank you.
I'm sorry that I couldn't spend more time with each person who was there. There were truly a lot of people present for everything and tht humbles me that so many came.
I have been touched by everything. It was all so very, very good. The two parishes gave me a nice chalice and a papal blessing. I give thanks to the Lord for the gift of being a Redemptorist and priest. It is not about me--it's about the call we receive from the Lord and our generous YES to him, whether a person is married, single, a religious or a priest.
The Lord bless you in every way! "With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption!"-Psalm 130-Redemptorist theme.
Be assured of my prayers for you!
Fr. Ed
Please thank the Serra club for me!
Editor's Note. Fr. Ed's note should assure us that our Priestly Anniversary Card program is a blessing to our priests and to our club. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Lee has been blessed many times over for her efforts in keeping up this ministry. Thanks once again, for an excellent job!
Also we wish to extend our thanks to our Moderator Fr. Ed for showing us the DVD on the North American Pontifical College in Rome at the November meeting at Sacred Heart. It was very inspiring, very informative.

Adoration. Vocations Chairmen Beverly Shields and Nancy Mulvihill, for the time being, will not schedule an appointed time for adoration, but invite the club to observe one of the following adoration opportunities:
St. Isidore, 24/7, code 513.
IHM, 24/5 (no weekends), code 5412.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, every Thursday before First Friday, every month except during Lent. The day begins at 7:00 a.m. with Mass and ends with Benediction. See Sacred Heart website if you have any questions. The Board spoke of asking every Serran to pledge to devote at least one hour per month to prayer for vocations.
Editor's Note: At the Cincinnati Regional Convention, every speaker emphasized the importance of prayer for vocations.

Aquinas Catholic Studies Lecture.
Serran Joseph Scoville sends us this note:

As you know, the Catholic Studies Department of Aquinas College offers an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to impart to students the "rich experience of the Church's own culture." In addition to its academic offerings, the department presents periodic lectures to the community on topics relevant to Catholic art, history, and culture.
The director of the department, Professor John Pinheiro, has asked us to inform our members of the department's next event, which will take place on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at noon on the Aquinas campus. Dr. Eduardo Echeverria will be delivering the annual Thomas Aquinas lecture. Dr. Echeverria is a theology professor at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit and has authored several books. Two of his latest are The Theology the Body and Love,
and Ecumenism. The topic of the lecture will be, "Evangelizing the Culture."
Professor Pinheiro will forward official publicity at a later date, but in the meantime has asked us to place an item in our newsletter informing our members of this event. Anything you can do to publicize this event will be appreciated.
Joseph G. Scoville

Christmas Shopping on the Internet. Ora et Labora. The Monks of the Abbey of Gethsemani (est. 1848) invite us to shop for delicious gifts from their 2010-2011 catalog. Call for a catalog toll free at 1-800-549-0912 featuring a variety of cheeses, fruitcake, and chocolate and bourbon fudge. Extended hours September 1-November 14 M-F 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Special holiday hours November 15-December 22: M-F 9:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Trappist Monks live according to a tradition of work and prayer. Since 1848, when 44 Trappist monks from France made a new home in the hills of central Kentucky, Gethsemani has been a hardworking community. Supporting themselves first by farming, the monks now depend on their mail order sales of homemade fruitcake, cheese, and bourbon fudge. To a Trappist, work is a form of prayer.
A monk's day begins in the dark, at 3:15 a.m. with Vigils and ends with Compline at 7:30 p.m. A balanced life of prayer, work, and sacred reading, steeped in simplicity and faith, is the Trappist ideal. For more than 150 years, the monks of Gethsemani have followed that ideal, inspired by these words from the Rule of St. Benedict: "When they live by the labor of their hands, then they are really monks."

Planning for future direction for our club.

Board Planning Meeting, December 4, 2010. Attendance: Fr. Ed, Pat Leikert, Dan Grady, Abe Rossi, Beverly Shields, Nancy Mulvihill, Nancy King, John Osterhart, Bob Gabridge, Bob Paul, Mark Kubik, Pam McKenzie, Aggie Kempker-Cloyd.

Fr. Ed spoke of our primary mission as assisting the priesthood, supporting priests, seminarians, and especially late seminarians (those nearing the end of their studies). Our "latest" seminarian is Luis Garcia. Assisting can be defined as seeing to the priests' and seminarians' financial, personal, administrative, and medical needs. He suggested that along with showing appreciation and praying for vocations, we look to providing practical solutions for the questions a prospective or new priest might have when faced with the everyday responsibilities of sheparding a parish, e.g. accounting. Fr. Ed also suggested that assistance for some situations might better be provided from outside the priest's parish. We must increase our contact with seminarians and especially late seminarians. Mark Kubik and the Programs Committee are working on the Charter Night Dinner. Pam McKenzie will chair the Sisters' Appreciation Dinner, and Tim Hile will serve as head chef. Let Pam and Tim know if you would like to help. Adoration was discussed as listed above in the Calendar of Events, and Membership as well. Treasurer Pat Leikert reported that the club is doing well financially. The Club plans to schedule a College Connection speaker. We need to appoint a nominations committee for our next election, and we need to get started on planning for our 2014 Regional Convention. The Vocations Committee will co-ordinate with parishes to schedule Serra Club visits and information about 31 Clubs. The Board strongly encourages attendance at Regional and International Conventions and Super Weekends (held in Chicago). A number of these topics will be further addressed at the December 20 Board meeting.

LET US PRAY FOR THESE SPECIAL PRIESTLY VOCATIONS: For those who serve in the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. The AMS worldwide mission is to provide for the pastoral care of the 1.5 million Catholics serving in the armed forces, their family members, students at the Military Academies, patients in the VA medical centers and US governmental personnel serving abroad. It is the only agency responsible for endorsing and granting faculties to Catholic chaplains and deacons in service to those populations.Archbishop Timothy Broglio is the Ordinary of the Archdiocese and Bishop Richard Higgins, Bishop Joseph Estabrook, and Bishop Richard Spencer, are the three Auxiliaries. In support of the mission, they spend 65 percent of their time on pastoral visits to over 220 military locations in 29 countries and 153 VA Medical Centers throughout the United States.The AMS faces special challenges in these times: The country has been at war for almost 10 years, placing a very heavy professional and personal burden on the men and women in the military and their family members. With such hardships they rely on our Catholic chaplains for spiritual guidance and support. At the same time, the chaplains are hard pressed to serve them owing to the severe shortage in their ranks.In 2001 there were over 400 active duty Catholic chaplains. Today there are only 272. While some 25 percent in the military are Catholic, only 8 percent of military chaplains are Catholic priests. This shortfall places a very heavy burden on our Catholic chaplains, and results in our military men and women serving "in harm's way" not having access to the sacraments for months at a time. A key role of the AMS is caring and supporting Catholic Chaplains in such troubling times as well as seeking more chaplains from US dioceses and religious orders.One way the AMS is directly addressing the severe chaplain shortage is through its Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program, which identifies and encourages men in the military to seek a vocation to the priesthood for the benefit of the entire Church and service thereafter as a chaplain. Just as vocations surged after World War II, today's military is also a most fertile ground for priestly and religious vocations.

What is the Co-Sponsored Seminarian Program? With more than 300,000 Catholics between the ages of 18 and 29 on active duty, the U. S. military provides the Church with a tremendous pool of potential priestly vocations. These military members have chosen a vocation that demands sacrifice, self-discipline, obedience, and valor--all fundamental attributes for priesthood or religious life. In the same way that all dioceses have an obligation to assist young men in the discernment of a vocation to the priesthood, the Archdiocese for the Military Services does its part in inviting and prayerfully guiding those in the military so that they are equipped to decide if they will enter a seminary for a US diocese or religious order. In 2008, the AMS initiated a long-term program to recruit priestly vocations from the military for the benefit of US dioceses, religious orders and the armed forcess. As part of the program the AMS has made a contractual commitment with US dioceses to fund 50% of the cost of five years of seminarian education ($30,000 per year). In return, the candidate and diocese agree that, once ordained and having served in a parish for three years, the priest will commit to serve as a military chaplain in the Armed Forces for three years or more. Currently there are 30 co-sponsored seminarians in the program from 22 US dioceses and studying in 16 seminaries.(A) unique requirement for the AMS is to maintain faithfully and provide Sacramental Records (baptisms, confirmations, marriages) for anybody receiving the sacraments at a military installation. The AMS stores over 2 million records and receives over 10,000 requests for copies of records each year...Did you know??? Today's military provides more vocations to the priesthood for the Catholic Church in America that any other single source...The AMS depends on Salute Magazine's readers' generosity and support. A gift can support vocations in two ways:

1. For Vocations Discernment weekends, the Archdiocese covers the cost of members of the Armed Forces interested in exploring their call to priestly service. Just one weekend for 35 men runs $30,000, including airfare, board, lodging, and other travel expenses.

2. With the Co-Sponsorship Program, military men who have a vocation to the priesthood will be co-sponsored through their five years of seminary training with a US diocese or religious order. The number of Co-Sponsored seminarians in the last two years has increased four-fold--from 7 to 30. Source: Salute. For new subscriptions send title, name, address, and phone number to support@milarch.org or call 202-719-3600 or write Development Office, Archdiocese for the Military Services, P. O. Box 4469, Washington, D.C. 20017-0469.

Notes from Pam McKenzie: Several Serrans attended the Schubert Male Chorus Concert on December 4. For those who missed this social event, there was glorious singing and entertaining. Afterwards, we all commented on how the concert put us all in the Christmas mode. Many thanks to Dan and Jeanine LaVille for hosting the social gathering prior to the event. The food was delicious and the conversations with friends was wonderful. Thank you also to the Serrans who invited a sister or a priest to the concert. They were very appreciative of the opportunity to attend this event with us.

A Message from Bishop F. Richard Spencer. The Holy Father recently appointed Auxiliary Bishop to the Archdiocese for the Military Service: "Auscultabo ut Serviam." "I will listen that I may serve." I look forward to doing just that--listening and being of service to you and with you--to the Glory of God through his Son Jesus, the Christ!"

As we celebrate the Advent season, let us be thankful for the Lord's blessings.

Pray a decade a day for Vocations!








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