Grand Rapids Serra Club Newsletter April, 2011

CAREFULLY WATCH THESE DATES, AS SEVERAL OF THEM WILL REPRESENT IMPORTANT CHANGES IN OUR USUAL ROUTINE!

Calendar of Events for April and beyond.

Promise V. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary, shall not perish. Source: Catholic Art Calendar.

April 9 and 10, 2011. 31 Club presentation weekend at St. Thomas. April 10, 2011. Our Lady of Sorrows Spaghetti Dinner, 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Tickets $7.00 in advance and $8.00 at the door. Call the parish office Tuesday through Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. April 11, 2011. Luncheon Meeting and Speaker at Louis Benton Steak House at 12:00 Noon. Fr. Vincent O'Malley, Director of St. Lazare's Retreat House will speak. This date is also the deadline for the Early Bird rate for a table of 8. April 18, 2011. Serra Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House. April 25, 2011. Investiture of Officers and New Members, 5:30 at Sacred Heart, with reception and hors d'oeuvres to follow. There will be no noon meeting on this date. April 30, 2011. Please note that the Sisters' Appreciation Event has been transferred to 7:00 p.m. on July 11 at Fifth Third Ball Park. See below for more information. May 5, 2011. Catholic Legacy Award Dinner for the Continuing Education of Priests at Cathedral Square. Hors d'oeuvres will be served beginning at 6:00 p.m., with dinner to follow at 7:00 p.m. Invitations have been sent out. Please note that Sacred Heart is the clearing house for mailing reservations. If you are thinking of inviting sponsors, please clear the names with Fr. Ed or Mark Kubik. Ralph Hauenstein will receive our first Catholic Legacy Award. May 15, 2011. World Day of Prayer for Vocations. July 14-17, 2011. Serra International Convention, Jerusalem. August 16-21, 2011. World Youth Day Event, Madrid. Pray for its success.

Priests' Anniversaries for April: Reverend Steven Cron, 4-1-78.

New Officers. Our new officers are as follows: Code X=first year of 2; XX=second year of 2;**=second year of 3; ***=third year of 3. President Tim HileX;President-Elect Agnes Kempker CloydX,;Treasurer Pat Leikert Continuing; Nancy King (Continuing), and Lee Sullivan X; V. P. Communications Nancy King Continuing; V. P. Vocations Bev Shields and Nancy MulvihillXX, V. P. Membership Agnes Kempker-CloydXX, and V. P. Programs Mark KubikXX. Trustees: Abe Rossi**, Dan Grady**, John Osterhart**, Bob Gabridge***, and Bob Paul***. Past President: Dan LaVille Moderator: Fr. Ed Hankiewicz.

About the Sisters' Appreciation Event. At our March 21 Board Meeting Dan LaVille proposed a change in plans for the previously scheduled Sister's Appreciation Dinner. April 30 was the date we had planned, but because of the proximity to the May 5 dinner and several other practical considerations, the board considered and approved the following plan: We will invite the sisters to a game at Fifth Third Park on the evening of July 11 at 7:00 p.m. We will purchase 100 tickets for sisters and Serrans and their families, with an AYCE buffet at one of the covered decks behind first or third base. The board voted on a menu of hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, potato salad, chips, cookies, and soft drinks, with the buffet starting at 7:30. We will purchase the tickets for seating together in the grandstands at the start of the game and will move to the deck for dinner. The White Caps will be playing Bowling Green. Let us pray for good weather for that evening, but rain checks are available, of course, if necessary.

Interns. We have three interns in our diocese: Scott Nolan at Holy Name of Jesus, Wyoming (semscottnolan@gmail.com); James VanderLaan at St. Francis DeSales, Holland (jamesvanderlaan@stfrancisholland.org); and Charles Schwartz at St. Francis, Muskegon (cschwartz@usml.edu). Fr. Ed has proposed that we invite these interns to our meetings, and we will offer them our support, especially if we can share our professional expertise with them or direct them to the means of gaining professional expertise. Tim Hile has met with Fr. Ron about this invitation.

New Members. Our most recent new member application has been received from Sara Vanderwerff of PNC Bank. Thank you to the Membership Committee and to those invited our new members to our recent Member-Guest Reception. Tim Hile received the following letter from Sylvia Oleck, who was recently invited to join: Dear Tim: I am so sorry that I did not respond sooner. I have been very sick the last couple of weeks as well as healing from a severe fall that my uncle has taken. I am truly honored to have been thought of. At this time, though, I regret that I cannot take on any more commitments. Our 89-year-old uncle moved in with us last year after the death of our aunt and I am caring for him full time. He is a Deacon. Fostering vocations is very dear to my heart. Our son Anthony is a freshman in the seminary at Notre Dame, I am sure due in large part to attending several Notre Dame Vision retreats that you sponsor. Please consider me again next year and I will see what I can commit to at that time. Sincerely, Sylvia Oleck

New Seminarians. From Nancy Mulvihill to Dan LaVille on March 3: Heard today that Michael Eardley, IHM, CC, and now a senior at Notre Dame, is entering Holy Cross Seminary just to see how it goes. The number of seminarians in our diocese is now 23, although not all of them are studying as diocesean priests. Editor's Note: In a recent conversation with Fr. Ted of Our Lady of Sorrows, I asked him why our diocese has been blessed with this record number. He attributes the increase to the seriousness of so many of our young people about their lives and their faith and also to prayer.

Letters to Priests. Anne Hughes, author of Letters to Priests, received the following letter from Bishop Hurley on March 10: As I review the anthology of letters to priests, I am reminded of Pope Benedict's words on the occasion of the closing of the Year for Priests: "The priesthood, then, is not simply "office" but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf." It gives me great pleasure to be asked to comment on Letters to Priests which exemplifies the ways in which Catholic priests are influencing people's lives in Christ-like ways. I am heartened by stories from those whose relationship with God and their faith have been strengthened through a memorable interaction with a priest; or whose hearts hve been lifted because a priest recognized their hurt and listened attentively; or who have received comfort and assurance from a priest in a time of need. The role of a priest is complex and varied; full of challenges, but also abounding in joy. By their dedicated ministry, priests are the channel through which wo many people experience God's saving grace. I ask for your continuing prayers for all priests; those who are discerning the priesthood, and all those who serve the Church and its people in the model of Jesus Christ. Sincerely yours in the Lord, Most Reverend Walter A. Hurley Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan Adoration.

Adoration is available 24/7 at St. Isidore and 24/5 at IHM.

Our President's Message. My fellow Serrans: It is a busy time for our club as we move into spring! Please sell a table for our May 5 dinner to honor Ralph Hauenstein with the inaugural Catholic Legacy Award. Mark Kubik and his committee has been working diligently to make this dinner a success and to support the continuing education of priests in our diocese. The early bird rate of $760 for a table of 8 (savings of $240) is available to members who submit payment by April 11, the day of our luncheon meeting at Louis Benton Steak House. Consider inviting priests, sisters, and brothers as your guests for the evening to fill your tables. Please, please, do your best to sell tickets ($125 per person if you cannot sell a whole table. Sponsorships at $1500 and below are available through Mark. We have received sponsorships thus far of $5500 and hope to keep the momentum going. We ask you for your support in this endeavor. On July 11 we will bring the sisters of our diocese to Whitecaps Ball Park for an evening outdoors at a baseball game and an all you can eat cookout on a deck at the ball park. The annual tradition of a Sisters' Dinner that was Nate McKenzie's vision many years ago continues in a new and entertaining form this year! Cost for Serrans to attend that evening is $20 per person, which will include a game ticket and a buffet cookout ticket. More on this topic as we get closer. Please continue to pray for a prompt, fair resolution of the issues that divide Serra International and the USA Council in Chicago. Our purpose for Serra is hopefully the guiding principle that will heal the dispute. The local Serra Board has decided not to send students to the Notre Dame Vision program this year. President-Elect Tim Hile has been working with Fr. Ron Hutchinson to assist the diocese to nurture students who may have an interest in exploring a religious vocation. We expect to have more information in the future about this topic. We thank those Serrans thank those Serrans who have agreed to accept officers' positions in our club for the upcoming year. These positions require a time commitment and a responsibility, but hopefully the rewards will be great. We are indeed indebted to these fine Serrans. Thanks to Father Ed for hosting this event. Please feel free to invite spouses. Finally, I want to urge you to attend our upcoming membership meeting on April 11 at Louis Benton Steak House to hear our guest speaker. Father Vincent O'Malley, the new director of St. Lazare's Retreat House in Spring Lak, will share his vision of St. Lazare's with all of us. I asked him also to bring some of the wonderful books that he has written about lives of saints. It will be an entertaining luncheon! Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for us! Dan LaVille, President

Feast of the Faith--The Second Reading The Liturgy of the Word generally follows a consistent pattern of three readings and a psalm. The second reading is always taken from one of the New Testament epistles or the book of Revelation, and generally is not intentionally aligned with either the Gospel or the first reading. Where would we be without these letters in which the great saints and apostles like Paul, Peter, James and John share their wisdom and pastoral good sense with the early Christian communities? It is in these letter, even more than in the Gospel narratives, that we learn what it means to be church: to live with each other, in the world yet not of the world, in these days after the Lord's resurrection. Each New Testament letter was written by a particular leader for a particular community at a particular time. We are reminded of this at the beginning of the proclamation--"A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, or the Corinthians, or the Thessalonians." These texts were shaped by their paraticular historical and cultural context, but at the same time, through the liturgy, these letters are written to us, here, today. They speak to the realities of Christian living no matter where--or when--we live. They are truly "the word of the Lord" for us. Source: Our Lady of Sorrows Bulletin, April 3, 2011.

"The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1. Psalm reading for the Fouth Sunday of Lent.