Pastor’s Corner — September 11th, 2022
K of C Holy Hours for Vocations: This Week in the Church
Last month, we had five young men from our parish come to DeWitt for the Bishop’s BBQ for prospective seminarians. This is great but that doesn’t mean they are seminarians, let alone priests. The simple fact is that we need to pray for vocations. Under the leadership of our trusty Grand Knight, Steve Schafer, our Knights of Columbus have agreed to host four special Holy Hours for the parish to pray for more vocations to the priesthood. Our Deacons will be presiding over these special hours of intercession. The Holy Hours will be held in the Church on Tuesdays from 7:00 - 8:00 PM on these dates September 13th, November 29th, February 7th and May 2nd. For this Tuesday’s Holy Hour, Fr. Miguel will be preaching during the Holy Hour about sacrifice and love of the priest.
Special Mass and Reception with Bishop for Those Celebrating Major Wedding Anniversaries
The Diocese wants to honor and thank couples celebrating major wedding anniversaries for their witness. The Bishop is presiding over a special Mass for couples on Saturday, September 24th at St. Thomas Aquinas, East Lansing at the 4pm Mass that day followed by a cake and punch reception in Fr. Mac Hall. The diocese wishes to honor and thank them for their witness, and I know you do too.
Praying for the Michigan Supreme Court
By this Friday (you may be reading this after the fact) the Michigan Supreme Court will be deciding on the “Anything Goes” ballot initiative on abortion. You may have heard that last week the Board of Canvassers declined to approve the ballot initiative, even though they had enough signatures, due to the about sixty typographical errors in the actual form that would become a permanent part of the state’s constitution. If you read the bulletin early and we’re still waiting to hear from them, let’s say a special prayer to Our Lady to protect life. You may read more about this proposal at www.SupportMIWomenandChildren.org
If the ballot initiative is approved, you may find me addressing this on Sunday.
Deacon Kevin Darwent, Transitional Deacon Coming to St Pat’s
I am happy to announce that Kevin Darwent, a final year seminarian for the Companions of the Cross, will be assigned to St. Pat’s for weekend ministry from September to April after he’s ordained to the transitional diaconate on Sept 16th. He’ll be traveling here from the seminary around three weekends a month assisting at some Sunday Masses, doing baptisms and preaching from time to time. While he’ll say more about himself when he gets here, here’s a picture of him and a write up about his conversion story. companionscross.org/project/kevin-darwent/
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias