October Dates to Remember.
October 7, 2012. Respect Life Sunday. St. Mary Parish in Lowell (Pastor is our moderator, Msgr. Ed) is hosting Lowell Life Chain on Sunday, October 7 to be held along Main Street from 2:30-3:30 p.m. "We will stand silently and peacefully and pray for life. Those attending may park at St. Mary Church and walk two blocks to the Little Caesar's parking lot or park on the street behind Little Caesar's on Main Street. A note to the diocese regarding Respect Life Sunday will appear below.
October 8, 2012. Luncheon and Speaker, 12:00 Noon at the University Club. Father John Gainey will speak on the New Evangelization.
October 12, 2012. Columbus Day.
October 14, 2012. Spaghetti Dinner, Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $3 for children in advance or $9 at the door). Call 243-0222.
October 15, 2012. Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Sacred Heart of Jesus.
October 21, 2012. Priesthood Sunday.
October 22, 2012. Prayer Service and Luncheon, 12:00 Noon at Sacred Heart of Jesus.
October 27, 2012. Ordination of Deacon Darrel C. Kempf and Michael G. Hodges, 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Andrew. Serrans who are assisting Hospitality Team should arrive at 9:00. All are welcome. Right now we have no priests' anniversaries for October, but next year we look forward to observing the October 27 anniversary date.
October Saints' Days. Two very significant October Saints' days are October 4, St. Francis of Assisi, and October 7 (Our Lady of the Rosary).
Let us keep them in our prayers.
Please pray for Bob and Hazel Paul and their family.
Respect Life Sunday.
His Excellency Bishop Walter Hurley sends this message:
My dear friends in Christ,
On October 7 we celebrate Respect Life Sunday, which marks the start of the Respect Life Program for the coming year. Respect Life Sunday provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our commitment as Catholics to promote and cherish a culture of life for all people from conception to natural death. For the Church, there is no distinction between defending human life and promoting the dignity of the human person.
The right to life is the most fundamental principle of human rights that leads us to work for a world of greater respect for human life and an increased commitment to justice and peace. In a special way I wish to thank those who work so tirelessly to accomplish this and I ask for your prayers that we may continue to be God's faithful people working every day to provide public witness for justice and mercy in our world.
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Bishop Walter Hurley
Note: Resources for Respect Life Sunday and the Respect Life Program may be found on the home page may be found on the homepage of the Diocese of Grand Rapids website, www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org in the News and Current Events section. Connect with the Diocese on Facebook (Search Diocese of Grand Rapids), and Twitter (@GRDiocese).
Welcome to our newest member. At our September 24 meeting at Sacred Heart of Jesus, our guest was Kenneth Baldwin, Director of Institutional Advancement at West Catholic High School. He joined our club this past week. Ken spoke briefly of West Catholic's significant accomplishments in providing a setting which nurtures and fosters discernment. Ken noted that many of the 17 men in seminary from our diocese are graduates of West Catholic. We thank him for his membership in our club and his enthusiasm for our club's mission.
In keeping with his visit to our club, he has invited West Catholic's Campus Minister, Phil Dolci, to write as follows:
Dear Serrans:
We want to thank you for your continual prayers and support for priestly vocations. We believe that West Catholic has a special role to play in helping foster future vocations in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. We are committed to helping our students get to know Jesus and their Catholic Faith in a deeper way, and of course one outcome of these efforts should be an increase in vocations.
When I started as campus minister I wanted especially to provide an environment in which young men could discern their possible vocation to the priesthood as brothers. I experienced firsthand the joys and struggles of discerning to the priesthood personally. I felt at one point that I had a possible vocation to the priesthood and entered the seminary. During my time at the seminary I was able better to understand and discern my vocation. Surrounding myself with a group of men who had the same heart for the Lord and were willing to give up so much to answer Christ's call to a special mission was such a blessing and gift. I eventually discerned that the Lord wasn't calling me to the priesthood, but it was through that experience that our Priestly Discernment Program was born. If a young man is called to the priesthood, it was so easy in our society for that vocation to fade away. At West Catholic we want to water that vocational seed that God has planted. Our vocations group helps our high school men experience, in part, the fellowship of brothers that are discerning the same call as well to water their possible priestly vocational seed that God has planted. Our vocations group helps our high school men experience, in part, the fellowship of brothers who are discerning the same call, as well as to water their possible priestly vocation.
When we started our discernment program, we started right away with a handful of guys because of the seeds that had already been planted. Our Religion Department head, Pat Nugent, had been collecting the names of students he knew might be interested in the priesthood, as well as bringing current Grand Rapids seminarians into our school once a year to talk to our students in the hope of inflaming the possibility of a vocation into their hearts in a more real way. This past spring we brought eleven young men to the Grand Rapids Diocese's college seminary--St. John Vianney.
We are still in the infancy of this program, but the fruit being borne already is so exciting! One of the students who tossed around the idea of being a priest for a number of years. After the witness of his grandmother, he is now actively pursuing this vocation. Before our program was available, it was something he had thought about, but could never act on. I believe this program is really going to benefit young men like this student. Before, it was something he thought about, but never really did anything with. We have at least one student who is pretty confident that God is calling him to be a priest, so this group is going to be helpful in solidifying and strengthening God's plan for his life. All our young men have been able to connect with our Diocesan Priestly Vocation Director, meet and hear local priests' vocation stories, and have the opportunity to come together and pray. Again this is only the beginning stages of this group, but exciting things are already happening.
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we celebrate our 50th anniversary. Our school continues to serve the Diocese by helping form our next generation of God's Holy Priests.
Gratefully yours,
Phil Dolci.
Note: We congratulate West Catholic High School, recently named to Catholic High School Honor Roll by the Cardinal Newman Society. More on West Catholic High School will appear in the November newsletter, and we are tentatively planning on holding one of our meetings there.
The Catholic Awards Dinner. The 2013 Planning Committee has named Ralph Hauenstein as the honorary chairman of the dinner. More to follow.
2013 Conference. The Committee has received a letter from Archbishop Lori of Baltimore confirming that he will be our keynote speaker.
Serra's 'That We May be One' 54-Day Rosary Novena.
Dear fellow Serrans,
We would like to thank all of you who have prayed with us in the "Serra's 'ThatWeMay be ONE' 54-Day Rosary Novena" from 16 July 2012 to 7 September 2012. With the intercession of Our Lady, "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary," we know the Lord hs heard our prayers said in unity for a common intention. May our Lord continue to bless you abundantly for your love and generosity.
Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us!
Yours in Christ,
John "Tomi" Asenuga, President, and
Sean Yeo, President-Elect.
Source: Serra Connects, September-October 2012
Treasures From our Tradition.
(A Special Message for October).
Did you ever notice how often the angels are referred to during Mass? We commonly meet them in the Confiteor ("I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, and all the angels and saints"), prefaces ("with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven"), the Roman Canon ("we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice"), and Eucharistic Prayer IV ("countless hosts of angels stand before you to do your will"). Last week and this week angels abound as we celebrated Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on Saturday, September 29, and we will honor the Guardian Angels in October.
September 29 was originally the feast day for Michael alone. Gabriel and Raphael joined him in the 1969 reform of the Church calendar. The celebration of the Guardian Angels has been observed since the sixteenth century in Spain. Pope Clement X assigned the feast to the first free day after St. Michal's in 1670, and there it has remained. Take some time this week to reflect on these, God's messengers and our protectors.
Source: Our Lady of Sorrows Bulletin, September 30, 2012.
A Message from our President.
Dear Serrans,
Lots of material to digest here. Keep praying for vocations and the leaders of SI and USAC.
Thank you to those who agreed to usher at the Ordination Mass on Saturday, October 27. Report time is 9:00 for the 10:00 Mass. \\
Mary, Mother of Vocations, Pray for Us!
Tim Hile, CIC, CWCA.
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