Pastor’s Corner — August 6th, 2023
Annual Missionary Cooperative Appeal
This weekend I am very happy to welcome Fr. Georges Roger Bidzogo for our annual missionary appeal, who comes on behalf of the Divine Mercy Foundation which he founded to serve people in Africa. He is a beloved priest who has been doing missions in our diocese for some time. Believe it or not, in less than a month, Fr. Bidzogo will actually be starting a parish assignment here in the Diocese of Lansing at Holy Redeemer in Burton. We liked him so much we asked him to stay. :)
To give to the appeal please use the envelopes he is providing with cash or write a check to “St Patrick Catholic Parish” and put Missionary Appeal in the memo line. It almost goes without saying that giving to those in need is part of who we are as Christians and is a fine example of living out our core value of I Am Third. Please welcome Fr. Georges and prayerfully consider giving generously to his appeal.
Hosting a missionary priest is always a good occasion for a pastor to take a weekend off. This weekend I’ll be in St. Paul, MN where I will attending a special event where we will have Mass in the brand-new chapel at St. John Vianney College Seminary (where Fr. Miguel and I graduated from) on St. John Vianney’s feast day. The next day I’ll be going up north with my some of my seminary classmates for the weekend, some of which I haven’t seen in a very long time.
Parish Council Nominations for Fall 2023
Our parish council is one of the key ways that I get the pulse of how things are going in the parish and get input on what direction to take the parish. Essentially, parish council is a consultative body of parishioners that provides critical input and feedback both on how we are fulfilling our mission and on other key projects and initiatives such as the Church renovation. In addition to the bi-monthly meetings each council member seeks input from the parish and brings that feedback to everyone on the council. The parish council assists me in making good decisions for the parish.
Since we have three council members who finished their terms in June, we are in need of three more parishioners willing to serve on the parish council for a three-year term. If you’re personally interested in serving on parish council, please fill out and submit the Parish Council Nomination Form found here. These are available in the front office as well. These nomination forms need to be submitted to me by email or dropped off at the office by August 25, 2023.
Physical Healing Prayer Available This Weekend after 11:30am Masses
As I alluded to last weekend, we’re starting a physical healing ministry here at St. Pat’s after 11:30am Masses. Fully trained and vetted prayer teams will be available to pray with people for physical healing the first Sunday of the month in the Church. (At times Fr. Miguel and I will be joining them as well.) While we encourage people to schedule a slot of time on the healing ministry landing webpage to ensure people have the proper prayer time allotted for each person, we also allow people to simply come to the ministry right after the Mass without signing up. This is a ministry available to parishioners and non-parishioners alike. I’m very much looking forward to the fruit of this ministry for the glory of God!
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias