Pastor’s Corner — September 29th, 2024
Fr Joshua’s Homily Last Weekend and the Need for Grace
Last weekend, Fr. Joshua gave an outstanding homily to men in which he cast a compelling vision of manhood after the example of Christ. If you missed it, please watch it. Let’s continue to pray for, encourage, and build up the men in our lives so they can become who they are called to be.
Presbyteral Convocation: No Mass Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week
This week all the priests of the diocese will be gathering with the Bishop for our annual convocation. We will not have Mass this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Confessions on Wednesday are canceled but Thursday confessions are still on. Please pray for us priests.
S3 Campaign: Everyone Will Be Asked to Consider a Sacrificial Gift
Bishop Boyea will soon invite everyone to be a part of the historic Stewardship for Saints and Scholars (S3) campaign. The campaign is a wonderful opportunity to address the needs of our schools and faith formation programs and our parishes. Bishop’s invitation will request each family to make a meaningful gift with a suggested amount.
The request amounts for families to consider are based, in part, on support to our parish, past support to diocesan causes, a review by the campaign team and other information including whether you took part in the planning study. The diocese certainly does not know anyone’s financial situation, but Bishop Boyea’s approach will be to ask every family to prayerfully consider and then make a meaningful and sacrificial gift.
There are many ways of giving which can accommodate your current circumstances. The campaign offers flexible arrangements for when to pay and how to pay. Each family is asked to pray about what an appropriate sacrifice would be to provide meaningful support to the campaign and then complete a pledge card. Importantly, gifts can be paid over the period of up to five years.
Our parish will have a team of volunteers who are helping with the campaign. They will be available to provide information, answer questions and assist you in completing your pledge card.
Remember that your charitable gift will positively impact the saints and scholars of today and the future generations of Catholics in Michigan and beyond!
Voter Registration Drive at St Pat’s: Sept 28-30th and October 4-6th
As Americans, we are also blessed with religious freedom which safeguards our Christian right and responsibility of bringing our religious and moral convictions to bear on public life. Part of this responsibility is to vote in elections so that we can foster and promote the common good of the society in which we live. Since Federal law allows churches to host non-partisan events such as voter registration drives to help foster people participating in their public right to vote, we have decided to have parish volunteers available to help people register to vote after the Masses in the Gathering Space the weekends of September 28-30th and October 4-6th. This “registration drive” is for anyone living in any county in Michigan. If you’re not yet registered to vote for this upcoming election, you’ll now have the ease of registering at St Pat’s. More on our responsibility to vote in the upcoming preaching series.
Parish Annual Financial Report
On page 7 of today’s bulletin you’ll find our annual financial report to the parish. God has been so good to us and the parishioners have been so generous to our parish! I am thankful to be a part of a parish who takes stewardship so seriously. I am also so grateful for the hard work of Ryan Nardozzi, our Director of Parish Operations, and our two bookkeepers Donna Cesarz and Mary Beth Sobel, our faithful collection counters, and our faithful Finance Council led by Michael Demeyere. We couldn’t steward God’s gifts well without them. We have such a great team here! If you have any questions about this report, please contact Ryan Nardozzi at the parish office.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias