Calendar of Events.
September 10, 2012. Luncheon meeting and speaker, 12:00 noon at the University Club.
Our speaker will be Sharon Lowery, a volunteer with HELP Pregnancy Center. She has graciously agreed to talk about a project she has initiated (with the help of a birthday present, the lot adjacent to the HELP Center, from her husband). Sharon envisions a Rosary Garden for this location. Larry Mulligan believes all who are able to attend will be interested in the project. Lee Sullivan will introduce the speaker on that day because Larry plans to be in Haiti.
September 17, 2012. Serra Board meeting, 12:00 noon at Sacred Heart of Jesus.
September 24, 2012. Prayer service and luncheon meeting, 12:00 noon at Sacred Heart of Jesus.
September 28-30, 2012. Serra District 85 Regional Conference, Cleveland, Ohio. If you're an e-mail recipient of this newsletter, go to the website www.serradistrict85.org for the schedule, the list of events and speakers, and the registration information. There is a registration form to print out and mail to the designated destination. If yhou are a paper copy recipient of the newsletter, call me at 616-662-4569 and I will send you a registration form. Remit form and payment ($125 per person) by September 20, 2012. The reservation for the block of rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn at 700 Beta Drive in Mayfield Village expired on September 1, but a phone call today indicated that 15+ rooms are still available at $109 plus tax. Call 440-646-1777 for room reservations, and please, do it soon if you're interested in attending. We especially encourage those who are serving on our 2013 Conference Committee to attend.
October 11, 2012. Beginning the Year of Faith, first announced with a celebrating Mass October 16, 2011 with participants in a Vatican conference on new evangelization. More to follow.
October 27, 2012. Put this date on your calendar. Ordination of two priests, Deacon Darrell Kempf and Deacon Michael Hodges at 10:00 a.m. at St. Andrew's Cathedral. Fr. Tom Tavolta has asked Tim Hile if our Serra Club could provide 4-5 ushers for the event. Please R. S. V. P. to Tim if you are able to help in this way. Ushers are asked to arrive at the Cathedral at 9:00 a.m.
November 24, 2013. 300th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Junipero Serra. Watch in subsequent newsletters for information about our club's observance of the birthday.
Priests' Anniversaries for September. Fr. Loc Trinh, 9/19/1992 and Fr. Ron Hutchinson, 9/24/1994.
Remember them in your prayers. A note from John Osterhart announces the passing of Janet Ruger, wife of Bill Ruger, past Saginaw Serra Club President, on August 29, 2012 at the Cartwright Hospice Residence in Saginaw. John asks the Michigan Serra Clubs and those who knew Bill and Janet to remember Bill and his family in their prayers and to send their expressions of sympathy. Friends may call at the Snow Funeral Home from 2:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 4. Funeral Liturgy will take place on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at St. Stephen Catholic Church. Those planning an expression of sympathy may wish to consider memorials to St. Stephen Catholic Church, Saginaw Serra Club, or Nouvel Catholic Central High School. Call Snow Funeral Home at 989-791-4515, or visit the web site at www.snowfuneralhome.net/fh/obituaries for a direct link to the memorial sites.
Year of Faith. Pope Benedict XVI announced a special Year of Faith to help Catholics appreciate the gift of faith, deepen their relationship with God,and strengthen their commitment to sharing faith with others. Celebrating Mass October 16, 2011 with participants in a Vatican conference on new evangelization, the Pope said the Year of Faith would give "renewed energy to the mission of the whole church to lead men and women out of the desert they often are in and toward the place of life: friendship with Christ, who gives us fullness of life."
The Pope said the observance would begin October 11, 2012--the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council--and conclude November 24, 2013, the Feast of Christ the King.
Says Pope Benedict, "What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end," he wrote.
The papal Mass and announcement of the Year of Faith followed a daylong conference October 15, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization. Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington told that gathering that catechesis is essential for any program of new evangelization in order to give evangelists the confidence to express their faith and to invite others into the experience of faith.
"We have spoken a great deal today about this very secular world in which we live," he said, "but we also need to recognize that among many, many of our young people there is an enormous openness to hearing about Christ. Many of them are seekers." More information to follow in the October newsletter.
Editor's Note: It's a sign of the times that the social media and the Internet will play a significant role in giving information about the Year of Faith and the birthday anniversary of Blessed Junipero Serra.
Thank you for your Prayers. Bob and Hazel Paul have expressed their thanks for your prayers on their behalf. Hazel is making a good recovery at this time.
Another Thank-you. This past weekend I was talking with Father Pedro Garcia, a retired priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, who fills in for various priests wherever he is needed and spends his winters in prison ministries in Western Texas. He said that he had been needed as a substitute quite a bit in recent months, and when I mentioned that I belonged to the Serra Club, he asked me to pass along his appreciation for the club and its prayers of encouragement (and the anniversary cards) for priests. In his homily this past weekend, Fr. Garcia mentioned a special fondness for the books Amos and James. I plan to include them in my Scripture reading over the next few days.
Readings from the Book of James. The second reading for September 2, 2012 begins a five-week series of selections from James, a letter that is classified among the so-called "catholic" (or univesal) epistles because they are addressed to a general audience rather than to once particular community. The September 1 text offers important advice fro Christians of every generation. God is first cited as the author of all gifts, and in particular, reference is made to the gift of baptism by which we have been made the "first fruits" of the new creation.
What follows is advice based on a very Jewish understanding of the "word" as an active force, operative in the world. We are reminded that unless we, too, become "doers" of the word, our claim to faith is empty. Today and in subsequent weeks the author reminds us that it is equally important to do "works" of love, for example, by caring for the "orphans and widows in their affliction."
Source: Our Lady of Sorrows Bulletin, September 1, 2012.
Art and Religion. Lee Sullivan alerts us to this message from the Catholic Information Center Newsletter: The Cathedral Square Center will showcase over 40 artists during Artprize. Artprize is September 19-October 7. In addition, the Catholic Information Center is offering special "Art and Religion" programs during Artprize. Check out the website for more information: catholicinformationcenter.org.
Note: The 2013 Conference Committee plans to incorporate Artprize into the suggested activities for our visitors next year.
A Message from our President.
Dear Serrans:
Thank you to all who took additional time to come to the meeting that we hosted for other Serra Clubs to meet with Serra International President Tomi Asuenga and Executive Director John Woodward. Tomi made an opening statement asking all to be humble and continue to do God's an Serra's work. Others, then, were able to pose questions to Tomi. There was a respectful dialog amongst all who attended. Not sure that we solved the issues between SI and USAC, but it is good for SI's leaders to hear what we, the rank and file, have to say and express how we feel about the ongoing dispute between the parent organization, Serra International, and its subsidiary, USAC.
I have not heard back from Louis Benton as to whether they will reopen for lunch on Mondays in October. So, I have started the process with the University Club and am attempting to get parking included or so many parking passes. Will advise on updates later this month.
Please do attend the Serra Regional Conference in Cleveland September 28-30. For more information you can go to www.serradistrict85.org. You can make reservations and pay your conference fees all from the website. We highly encourage as many folks as possible to attend, since we are hosting the next Regional Conference in September of 2013.
On that same note I would like to officially announce on behalf of your Regional Conference Committee that we have secured the commitment of Archbishop Lori to be the keynote speaker for the dinner on Saturday evening. Thank you, Monsignor! This occasion gives us many opportunities
to expand the dinner outside the Serra community as the Archbishop was appointed to the USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty and is the Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus.
We will get through and survive the dispute between Serra International and the USAC. We need to continue to communicate and resolve to follow the mission of Serra.
Have a wonderful day and weekend!
Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for Us!
Tim Hile
For what great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what othyer great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? Deuteronomy 4:7,8. The Catholic Youth Bible
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