Grand Rapids Serra Club Newsletter June 2011

Notes regarding changes of venue:
Serra's 69th Annual International Convention, July 7-10, 2011, Ottawa, Canada.
"Let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." I Cor. 5:8.
Our summer membership and board meetings will be held at the University Club during June, July, and August.
Calendar of Events.
June 4, 2011. The ordination of Fr. Luis Garcia and deacons Darrel Kempf and Michael Hodges, 10:00 a.m. at St. Andrew's. Serrans have been asked to serve on the hospitality team and 6-8 Serrans are needed. We have already received responses from three. Notify Tim Hile if you are able to help. Hospitality team should show up at 9:00 or so.
June 5, 2011. The seventh Sunday of Easter and observance of the Ascension of Our Lord
June 13, 2011. Luncheon meeting and speaker, 12:00 Noon at the University Club.
June 12, 2011. Pentecost.
Please note that we are asking for an R. S. V. P. for our meetings at the University Club because the University Club requires a minimum of 25 for luncheon membership meetings. Please reply to Lee Sullivan at Lee50Lee@aol.com for June 13 and to Nancy King at njking50@gmail.com for July and August so that we can keep track of who's planning to attend. We encourage guests, not only so that we can meet our quota but also because your guests will have an opportunity to experience our club's everyday activities. We will continue to seek excellent speakers, and we want as many people as possible to enrich their lives and their Catholic faith with our speakers' wonderful talks.
June 19, 2011. Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity.
June 20, 2011. Board meeting, 12:00 Noon at the University Club.
June 27, 2011. Prayer service and luncheon meeting, 12:00 Noon at Sacred Heart.
June 26. The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
July 25, 2011. An evening with the Sisters at Fifth-Third Park, 7:00 p.m. We will purchase 100 tickets to be distributed among the sisters. Individual Serrans will purchase their own tickets. The evening's activities include a picnic supper.

From the Bellringers.
Serra's first pilgrimage to the Holy Land will still take place from 11-18 July, 2011. The pilgrimage program in Jerusalem will be changed to reflect the rescheduling of some convention sessions to Ottawa 2011.
The 69th international convention will be held from Thursday, 07 July-10 July in Ottawa Ontario Canada in the brand new Ottawa Convention Centre which is directly linked to the headquarters hotel, The Westin Ottawa. The Most Reverend Gary Gordon, Bishop of Whitehorse in Canada will give the Keynote Address. The convention will commence with the Opening Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, 07 July and will conclude with the Annual Banquet at the Ottawa Convention Centre on Saturday evening.

Catholic Legacy Award Dinner.
Many thanks to Mark Kubik and his committee for a successful Catholic Legacy Award dinner. In the future these dinners will more than likely be scheduled at 18-month intervals, so as to avoid "donor fatigue." Our next Award Dinner will more than likely be scheduled for November, 2012. Please note that as we consider future recipients of this award, the recipient does not have to be, but may be, a Serran but must be a Catholic. Mark received a thank-you note from the bishop for our $10,000 contribution to the Fund for the Continuing Education of priests.

Adoration. Vocations Chairmen Beverly Shields and Nancy Mulvihill ask that we observe adoration on an individual basis for now. The most ongoing opportunities for adoration are at IHM and St. Isidore. Code for St. Isidore is 513#. The code for Adoration at IHM (24/5, with no weekends) is 5412. Adoration at Sacred Heart of Jesus takes place every Thursday before First Friday, every month except during Lent.

Interns. Our three interns are second-year-seminarians Scott Nolan, Charles Schwartz, and James VanderLaan. Tim Hile has copied them on our newsletters, and we are encouraging them to attend our meetings so that they can acquaint themselves not only with us personally but also with the various links to professional expertise that our members can provide. We look forward to their attendance at our future meetings.

Voices from the Past.
This past April 19 John Osterhart and Nate McKenzie received the following note on the subject of the 59th Anniversary for the Grand Rapids Serra Club.
Greetings and Salutations!!!
The Grand Rapids Serra Club Newsletter presented itself while I was surfing the Serra Web page. Shortly a Charter Banquet is occurring. Congratulations on the year 59. It is almost 60 years of service to the Church. This is a note from the past.
Bishop Haas decided that there should be a a Serra Club in Grand Rapids. He instructed each parish to supply two men as candidates. There were about 24 parishes at that time and the yield was sufficient to get things moving. Bernie Haviland was the Charter President. Pete Straubel, Mr. Hansknecht and me (Don Bocast), all from Lear Inc.'s Quality Control Department, were part of the initial package.
I was on the young side for a typical Serran, married for two years and a Catholic for two years. It seemed that being a Serran and a Catholic was synonymous. It struck me that, indeed, it was almost 60 years ago and I do have a 50-year pin that is almost 10 years old. Congratulations again for sustaining and supporting the work of Serra.
For me it was the start of a great voyage. Several years later Loretta (now a member) and I moved to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Serra Club was home for several years and the 1957 Los Angeles Serra International Convention set the standard for the next decade. I was delegated to start a club in SW Los Angeles and became the Charter President for the South Bay Serra Club.
(I served) two tours as Governor, one in District 82 and one in District 6 (Denver). Loretta and I attended more than 30 International Conventions here and overseas. Those with a long memory may recall the 1978 Convention at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs which I chaired with Joe Reich, Sr. It was a landmark convention--1500 or so in attendance.
I did two stints on the International Nominating Committee in the late 70s.
As a contrast the Colorado Springs Serra Club just celebrated its 5th anniversary. The current club is the fourth for Colorado Springs (that is another story altogether). Our Charter President Charlene Prado was well trained for the project. Her parents were both Serrans and she grew up in the parish where Fr. Serra is buried.
Old timers have been known just to rattle on. Apologies. Again, congratulations and continue the good work.
Siempre Adelante
Don Bocast (the Ancient One).
John's reply:
Don, thank you for your wonderful e-mail of congratulations and recounting your experiences in the formation of our club. We are planning to celebrate our 65th anniversary by hosting a Regional Conference in 2013. Locally, Ralph Hauenstein is the only remaining charter member of our Grand Rapids Serra Club and is GOING STRONG, going to his office on most days and looking forward to his 100th birthday on March 20, 2012 (same birthday date as our twin granddaughters, so I can remember it). Ralph has lost his wife Grace and a daughter in the past couple of years. Person after person (friends and family members) got up at Grace's funeral and all stated that they had never heard her utter an unkind work about another person--what a tribute!
Also of interest, I attended the 1978 International Convention in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor. It was an unmatched location. I was president of our club that year, having joined in 1974, and attended with our chaplain, Msgr. Gus Ancona. I also had the wonderful experience of playing tennis with Thomas Murphy, who was Serra International president that year. After our game, in which he soundly beat me, we had refreshments with Msgr. Ancona, and Tom announced to us that he was planning to leave his Indianapolis law practice to become a priest. He is now Father Thomas Murphy. I had occasion to see him at other Serra conventions in the past few years, and he has been in very poor health. This past October after I finished doing some presentations to Serra Clubs in Region 6 (WV, OH, and MI-LP), a gentleman who was Tom Murphy's college roommate introduced himself and told me he had often double dated with Tom and Tom's girlfriend.
It is a small world. Don, thank you so much for your e-mail! Kind regards, John Osterhart, Director Region 6, USA Council, Serra International.

Serra Handbooks. Serra membership handbooks and Serra handbooks for each of the various officers are available at serraus.org. There is a link for downloading these handbooks on the home page, or the Officers' Handbook link is http://www.serraus.org/serrausa/serra-manuals.htm There is no need to print these handbooks if one is cyber-savvy because they can be moved to a special folder and referred to as needed. However, Tim Hile has printed several hard copies of the membership handbook of anyone should be interested in requesting one. These handbooks are very helpful, and especially if you are a new member or a new officer, we urge you to take a look at them.

Priests' Anniversaries for June.

June 1: Louis Anderson and Melvin Fox, 1963; Joseph Fix and William Zink, 1968; Bernard Carlin, 1978; Troy Nevins, Jose Luis Quintana, and Chris Rouech, 1996; and Michael Alber, 2002.

June 2: Kenneth Schichtel and Don Lomasiewicz, 1962; and Matthew Barnum, Mark Peacock, and Victor Kynam, 2007.

June 3: James Bozong, John LaGoe, Tom McKinney, and Anthony Vainavicz, 1961; Ron Schneider, 1967; and Anthony Russo, 2000.

June 4: Eugene Golas and Thomas Schiller, 1955; and Andrew Thompson, 1981.

June 5: Michael Danner, George Fekete, Pedro Garcia, and Paul Milanowski, 1965; Charles Brown, 1993; Thomas Brown, 1999; and David Gross, 2010.

June 6: Msgr. John Giammona, 1959; Norman Droski, Thomas Vesbit, and John Wisneski, 1964; Patrick Cawley, 1970; James Chelich, 1976; and Michael Burt, 2009.

June 7: Phillip Sliwinski and Peter Vu, 1997; Godfrey Onyekwere, Anthony Pelak, and Philip Salmonowicz, 2003; and Michael Cilibraise, 2008.

June 11: Fred Hoesli, 1964.

June 12: Thomas Bolster, 1982.

June 13: John Vallier, 1987.

June 14: Ed Boucher, 1960; and Mark Bauer, 198

June 15: John Thome, 1946.

June 16: Thomas Page, 1979.

June 18: Thomas DeYoung, 1983.

June 19: Msgr. Terrence Stewart, 1970.

June 24: Ed Hankiewicz, 1979.

June 28: Ayub Francis Nasar, 1985.

June 29: Robert Balser, 1949.

We thank Lee Sullivan for gathering this information, checking for its accuracy, and sending the cards. In June that's an especially big job and we are grateful for Lee's devoted attention to this task. And we congratulate those priests who are celebrating their anniversaries in June.

A Message from our President.
Dear Serrans: Thank you again for your support of the Catholic Legacy Award Dinner. We received many compliments, surpassed our goal in funds raised, and were able to honor one of our own with the inaugural Catholic Legacy Award. Mark Kubik did an outstanding job with his committee to pull off a first-class event.
Remember our 2nd Monday meetings will move to the University Club for June, July, and August. It is imperative that we R. S. V. P. through Nancy to get accurate counts. Please do not hesitate to invite guests to any of our functions. More to come on speakers for these meetings as we receive the information.

Please keep Deacon Dale Hollern in your prayers as he continues his radiation treatments.
More discussion needs to be had by our club on the project that the Director of Vocations, Fr. Ron Hutchinson has asked us to undertake with a fall or spring trip to St. Thomas University/St. John Vianney Minor Seminary in Minneapolis. I hope to meet with Fr. Ron prior to our June 13 meeting and have more information for our membership to discern on this project. There are at least four young men from these prior trips who are enrolling this fall in minor seminary. Their enrollment can be attributed to their attending these weekends at St. Thomas in past years.
Thank your for your continued prayers for vocations. Mary, Mother of all Vocations, Pray for Us. Tim Hile.
Editor's Note: Transporting these young men to St. Thomas used to be performed by a religion teacher at West Catholic. He is no longer with West Catholic, and we assume Fr. Ron is looking for someone to continue the tradition. Depending on numbers, they could travel by bus or van, but there have been four our five students at a time. St. Thomas provides two weekends per year, one in the fall and one in the spring, for young men to come to the campus and discern their vocations.
Promise for June of the Most Holy Rosary: Promise VII. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
The Serran Prayer for Vocations (from the prayer card in memory of Frederick Louis McNair (Requescat in Pace): Oh God, Who will not the death of a sinner but rather than he be coverted and live. Grant we beseech you, through the intercession of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, St. Joseph, her spouse, Blessed Junipero Serra, and all the saints, an increase in laborers for Your Church, fellow laborers with Christ to spend and consume themselves for souls through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who ives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

Grand Rapids Serra Club Newsletter May, 2011

HE IS RISEN!! Calendar of Events.

May 1, 2011. The beatification of Pope John Paul II and Divine Mercy Sunday. From the Diary of St. Faustina: "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom through all eternity."

May 5, 2011. Episcopal ordination of three new bishops of the Archdiocese of Detroit: Bishop-designate Donald Hanchon, Bishop-designate Michael Byrnes, and Bishop-designate Arturo Cepeda, who will become the youngest bishop in the United States. Catholic TV and Catholic TV cable outlets will air the Mass live at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. After the live broadcast, the Mass will be added to the CatholicTV archives, where it will be viewable free of charge anytime at http://www.CatholicTV.com/catholic-television

For access to CatholicTV go to CatholicTV.com or download the Catholic TV mobile app for iPhone or iPad.

May 5, 2011. Catholic Legacy Award Dinner for the Continuing Education of Priests at Cathedral Square. 6:00 social hour, 7:00 dinner. President Tim Hile says it's not too late to add guests or to come yourself if you have not already purchased a ticket. Your dinner will be billed to your next dues payment.

May 15, 2011. World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

May 16, 2011. Serra Board Meeting at 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak HouseMay 23, 2011. Prayer Service and Luncheon at 12:00 Noon at Sacred Heart.

July 10-13, 2011. International Convention, Jerusalem

July 25, 2011. Baseball under the stars with the Sisters, Fellow Serrans, and their families. Game begins at 7:00 p.m. Please note that the original date of July 10 has been changed so that a picnic pavilion will be available to us. Please mark your calendars!

August 16-21, 2011. World Youth Day Event, Madrid. Pray for its success.

Priests' Anniversaries for May.

May 1: Fr. John Kenny; May 5: Fr. Phil Shangraw; May 14: Fr. Anthony Britto; May 15: Fr. Leonard Sudlik; May 16: Fr. Thomas Tavella; May 19: Msgr. William Duncan, Fr. Dominic Tirkey, Fr. Charlon Mason; May 20: Fr. Peter Nghiem, Fr. Mark Przybysz; May 22: Fr. Ernest Bernott, Fr. Joachim Lally; May 24: Fr. Michael, Fr. Ted Kozlowski, Fr. Don Webe May 27: Fr. Brad Schoeberle; May 28: Fr. Thomas Hack.

Induction of New Officers and New Members. On April 25, the following new officers were inducted in an evening ceremony at Sacred Heart: President Tim Hile and President-Elect Aggie Kempker-Cloyd, both in their first year of two; Treasurer, Pat Leikert, Continuing, Co-Secretaries Nancy King and Lee Sullivan, in their first year of two; V. P. Communications, Nancy King (Continuing), Vocations Beverly Shields and Nancy Mulvihill, in their second year of two, Membership, Agnes-Kempker Cloyd, in her second year of two; and V. P. Programs, Mark Kubik, in his second year of two, Trustees Abe Rossi, Dan Grady, and John Osterhart, in their second year of two; and Bob Gabridge and Bob Paul, in their third year of three; Past President, Dan Laville, and Moderator Fr. Ed Hankiewicz. Two of our new members, Dr. Derek Lado and Sara Vanderwerff, were inducted into the club. At that same ceremony John Osterhart presented Dr. John Stepanovich with a 50 year membership pin that was awarded this past October at theRegional Convention. Thank you, Fr. Ed, for a lovely induction ceremony, including Exposition and Benediction, and for your hospitality in hosting the reception afterwards. Also, we congratulate Dr. Derek Lado as our newest Catholic. He was received into the Church at St. Stephen Parish this past Easter Vigil.

Congratulations...to Dan and Janine Laville, who will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary by embarking on a Mediterranean cruise on May 5.

From the Bellringer. The President's Easter Message:

Beloved brother and sister Serrans: The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid! I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here because He has been raised even as He said. Come and see the place where the the Lord was laid. Then go quickly and behold. He goes before you into Galilee. There you shall see him." And they departed quickly from the tomb in fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold. Jesus met them saying, "Hail!" And they came up and embraced his feet and worshipped Him." (Matthew 28: 5-9.

I intend that this message to be sent to you during the hours of darkness as we wait for the sun to rise again over Jerusalem. On this eve of Easter, we are approaching the end of three days of mourning the death by crucifixion and burial in the tomb of Our Loard and Savior Jesus Christ.

As I reflect upon St. Matthew's inspired description of that first Easter morning, from my heart I extend to all of you, my fellow Serrans, sincere fraternal greetings and ask that we join together in humble prayer as we commemorate the glorious resurrection from the dead of Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary, who came on earth to sacrifice His life for us sinners so we may have life and have it to the full!

In recent days, we have been celebrating the Paschal Mystery to which the ministerial priesthood is so intimately connected. As Serrans, we recognize and understand that we have "the grace and responsibility" to become more fully involved in the wonderful and mysterious process through which men are continually being called into the priesthood. More than in any other way, we do that by our constant and unwvering prayer to the Lord of the Harvest humbly asking that He send out more labourers into His Harvest.

In peace and unity, let us rededicate ourselves to the objectives of Serra and to working more effectively to serve our beloved Church as its global lay apostolate for vocations.

Christine and I wish you all the graces and blessings of this glorious Easter season!

In Christ Our Risen Lord,

John "Tomi" Asenuga

President

Vocations Committee Report. Nancy Mulvihill reported that the weekend at St. Thomas was a success. Thanks to all who helped with that event.

Another Perspective on Vocations: Glenmary Home Missioners: Founded by Father William Howard Bishop in 1939, the Catholic society of priests and brothers, along with numerous co-workers, establishes the Catholic Church in small-town and rural America. Glenmary is the only religious community devoted exclusively to serving the spirirually and materially poor in the rural U. S. home missions. Today, supported entirely through freewill offerings, it staffs over 40 missions and ministries in Appalachia, the South, and the Southwest.

Glenmary missioners serve in areas where less than three percent of the population is Catholic, a significant percentage have no church affliliation, and the poverty rate is almost twice the national average. Glenmary is known for deeply respecting the many cultures encountered in home missions--Appalachian, Native American, African American, and Latino, among others. Its missionary activity includes building Catholic communities, fostering ecumenical cooperation, evangelizing the unchurched, social outreach, and working for justice.

In 1971, Glenmary began operating the Glenmary Farm in Vanceburg, KY as a place where young men could visit to discern a vocation with Glenmary and provide outreach to the greater community. Today, four decades later, the Farm is home to the Glenmary Group Volunteer Program. Each year, more than 500 students from Catholic high schools, colleges, and youth groups come from around the country to the Farm to experience a week of missionary service, prayer, and immersion into the Appalachian culture...

Glenmary currently has 17 men in formation who are on journeys toward becoming priests and brothers.

Source: Glenmary Challenge, the Magazine of Catholic Missioners to Rural America, Spring, 2011.

Message from our (past) President: Dear Serrans: It seems like the year just flew by quickly! It was an honor to serve you again as your president. I appreciate all of the hard work of the board members and Fr. Ed's helpful suggestions. We are truly the beneficiaries of a treasured legacy that has been given to us by all of the charter members and men and women who have gone before us in the Grand Rapids Serra Club. Our new officer team will do great things for us in the upcoming year. My best wishes especially to President Tim Hile and Vice-president/President Elect Aggie Kempker-Cloyd.

We can be a strong club if everyone participates in the activities and the liturgies. It is often tempting to let others carry the load, but the club becomes strongest when everyone pitches in to help. We have to keep supporting our priests and religious in this modern world. They have dedicated their lives to the service of the Church at great sacrifice, and the least thing we can do is to be there to support them.

I hope that everyone can attend the White Caps baseball game with our religious sisters on Monday, July 25 and share a picnic dinner under the stars. Also, I hope everyone has a wonderful evening this Thursday at Cathedral Square honoring Ralph Hauenstein for all that he has done for our club and the Church in West Michigan. He has been a wonderful inspiration to our club for 60 over years!

Best Wishes to All! Dan LaVille, Past President

Rosary Promise for May, 2011. Promise VI. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain the the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.

Source: 2011 Catholic Art Calendar

Dear God, bless your Church with love. Raise up dedicated and generous leaders to serve as priests, deacons, sisters, brothers, members of secular institutes, and lay ministers. Send your spirit to strengthen them to serve your people, following the example of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source: Our Lady of Sorrows Bulletin, May 1, 2011.