Pastor’s Corner — December 5th, 2021
Preaching Series on the Mass
Last week I gave a longer homily to kick off our Advent preaching series on the Mass. For those who want to dive deeper into understanding the various parts of the Mass so as to receive more from it here are a few reading recommendations.
1) A Biblical Walk Through the Mass by Ed Sri
2) Praying the Mass: The Prayers of the People by Jeffrey Pinyan
3) Praying the Mass: The Prayers of the Priest by Jeffrey Pinyan
4) What Happens at Mass by Jeremy Driscoll
This weekend Fr. Miguel takes us deeper into the Mass as Sacrifice and will help us understand how we offer ourselves to the Lord with the sacrifice of Jesus.
Church Renovation Update: Survey Results and Giving Opportunities
It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve unveiled the proposed renovation to the Church sanctuary. We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from the parish community and people are quite eager to get started. Here are the parish survey results from the online survey:
1) The painting of the organ:
a) New finish paint to match beams (75.9%)
b) Keeping it same honey oak color (24.1%)
2) Refinishing inside doors by baptismal font:
a) New cherry finish (97.6%)
b) Keeping it honey oak finish (2.4%)
3) Images near sanctuary:
a) Divine Mercy (59.6%),
b) Our Lady of Perpetual Help (29.5%),
c) Our Lady of Guadalupe (10.8%)
4) Altar and ambo material:
a) Cream stone (55.4%)
b) Cherry (44.6%)
All of these will be taken into consideration as we move forward with this process. We’re thinking of offering some hybrid approaches to two of these. For example, we might get all three images and rotate them at times. And we are considering an alternate option of keeping the altar in cream stone but making the ambo in cherry. Of course, the bishop and the diocesan commission will have a say on this as well.
In terms of giving to the project, we’ve had several parishioners reach out this last week looking to help in specific ways. We are currently developing an itemized list of things that people can choose to pay for in the renovation. If you’re interested in helping with a specific part of the project, please let me or Ryan Nardozzi at the parish office know. As a reminder, you can donate here or write a check and put it in the collection basket or drop it off at the office with the word “Renovation” in the memo. Thank you ahead of time for your generosity and being a part of this historic process.
Coming Soon: Church and PLC Restroom Overhaul and Update
We’ve been working for months to design and book a contractor to do a complete overhaul for the restrooms in the Church and those outside the PLC activities room. Once we’re finished with the designs and have a contractor lined up, we’ll start working on them. It’s been long overdue to update these facilities. The work should start in the next couple of months.
Hearing God’s Voice
Encounter has released one of my School of Ministry talks on Made to Hear God’s Voice. You can have access to that talk here. This talk gives one a sense of what Encounter School of Ministry is all about as well as being a good teaching that I think that many Christians need to hear.
New Catholic Social Teaching Commission
Bishop Boyea recently established a commission on Catholic Social Teaching to advise him in the diocese on critical issues pertaining to the social teaching of the Church. Two of our parishioners, Mark Cascarelli and Patricia Ellison, are members of this commission. Please pray for this important work.
In support of this initiative, the Diocese of Lansing is replacing the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) with this local collection.
What is the Diocesan Catholic Social Teaching Collection?
To equip the faithful to understand and put into practice Catholic teaching in light of the challenges of important social issues including the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the person, religious liberty, marriage and family, poverty, solidarity, and care for creation, Bishop Boyea has inaugurated a diocesan collection that will support small grants to applying parishes and Catholic entities within the Diocese of Lansing. This grant is designed to fund programs that combine catechesis with hands-on endeavors to advance Catholic social teaching within the diocese. Grant recipients will be selected by the Diocesan Commission on Catholic Social Teaching.
The Diocesan Catholic Social Teaching Collection supports catechetical projects which inform and inspire our practice of the Church’s teaching in the world. This is distinct from the mission of Catholic Charities, which provides direct assistance to people in need.
To give to this collection, please make your check out to St. Patrick Catholic Parish with “Catholic Social Teaching” in the Memo line.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias