Explore the latest bulletin articles from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Jackson, MI—featuring weekly reflections, pastoral insights, faith formation, community updates, and spiritual inspiration for parishioners
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A Year of Prayer: Look at What We’re Praying for
This is the prayer the Diocese of Lansing has composed for all the faithful to pray during the 2019 Year of Prayer. A few lines from the prayer say: Father, You invite each of us to share in the life and ministry of your Son, Jesus. Send your Holy Spirit to form our parish as
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Curing the Disease
I’m writing today to thank the St. John’s Parish ‘Ministries’ and especially the ‘Small Groups’ that exist in our parish. As Pastoral Council President, I’m blessed to see firsthand all the great outreach opportunities we offer to our parishioners and public. Our St. John’s Leadership team is one of the most hardworking groups of individuals
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Remembering Andy Bihl
As many of you know, Andy Bihl, our Director of Parish Operations, passed away on Saturday morning, November 24. His wife, Amanda, called me with the tragic news at about noon that day, and I drove out to Albion to the Bihl home to be with the her and the five children. The investigating Michigan
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From the Desk of the Pastor
Dear Parish Family, Happy feast day of Christ the King! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you’ve found our 3-part homily series, “Priest, Prophet, and King,” edifying. Fr. Brian’s and my hope is that we are not only more knowledgeable about our participation in this threefold office and mission of Jesus Christ,
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From the Messy Desk of the Youth Minister…
Dear Parish Family, I have a small public confession to make. As much as I love vacations and holidays and special occasions, there’s just something about “ordinary” that really attracts me. I love the familiarity of a schedule with no disruptions and that feeling of knowing what to expect that day. There’s a simple
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Diocesan Women’s Conference & On Becoming Dynamic Catholics
On November 3rd, over 2 dozen women from our parish enjoyed a beautiful day of fellowship and learning at the Diocesan Women’s Conference, “Arise, My Beloved,” in Lansing. Here’s what a few of our attendees had to say: **“I got so much out of the beautiful music, the words, and singing with such a crowd
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Something Awesome this Way Comes
Something awesome this way comes! Can you feel it? Can you sense it? We so often see the downward spiral of statistics showing the Catholic Church of the West in decline. We’ve seen here in Jackson over the last 40 years a dramatic down-shifting from the numbers of parishes, schools, vocations and participating members. If
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Lectio Divina: Being Seen by God
Hi Saint John Community, As we’re focusing on becoming missionary disciples and diving deep into Matthew Kelly’s book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, I’d love to share my favorite way of getting to know God and growing in intimacy with Him: lectio divina, which is Latin for divine reading. It was through
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What’s next?
Dear Parish Family, On September 22, history was made for our Diocese of Lansing. I was amazed by how strong a showing our St. John Parish had at the Diocesan Assembly! Among the 13,000+ people at MSU’s Breslin Center, we were 350+ strong, which is more than one-fourth of usual weekend Mass attendance! That robust
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Prayer: Conversations with God
My bulletin article this week is something I have touched on before. And it’s about something that I am utterly and admittedly not an expert. However, because of the nature of my job, I have the opportunity to know people, talk with educated people practically every day, and learn things on a regular basis which allows
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From the Messy Desk of the Youth Minister
With the slight brush of cold coming in these last few weeks, fall has started in full swing! I not only feel it in the change of air but also in the change of activity around our Par-ish. Both our High School and Mid-dle School Youth Groups have be-gun, and I’m already having so much
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“Witness to Love” Mentorship Program
For the past year, our parish thematic goal at St. John Parish has been “Marriage and Family Life.” In other words, we’ve worked to support these areas within our parish in order to help young families. Many new initiatives have arisen as a direct result, from Family Fun Nights, to offering child care during some
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Pilgrimage to the Holy Land!
Let Expert Guides Steve & Janet lead you through the Holy Land—just like in the movies! They’ve been to the Holy Land over 150 times filming, exploring & leading pilgrimages. Join this spiritually enriching biblical adventure. Fr. Chas Canoy and Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation, invite you to join them on this once
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The Diocesan Assembly, Fall 2018
The slow change in temperature and the sudden surprise of color in the tips of leaves lately signal a change in season, a transition to fall. Most of us have a favorite season, and this just happens to be mine! What is it about the changing seasons that seems to captivate us? Is it the
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Indulgences? Really?
Indulgences? Really? Do We Still Teach That? Bishop Boyea is officially granting a plenary indulgence to those who attend the big Diocesan Assembly. Few things in Catholicism are more misunderstood or more divisive than indulgences. If we read the Catechism, paragraphs 1471-1474, there is a definition. An indulgence is “a remission of the temporal punishment due
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Confirmation Practice Reminder for our 9th grade students!
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From the Desk of the Pastor…
Strengthen your faith! In these tumultuous times, we need to “stand firm and hold fast” to our faith, as St. Paul exhorts us (2 Thes. 2:15). Our faith is not in man, but in the God who judges, redeems, heals, and saves a fallen humanity from its own destruction and raises his people to the
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Religious Education starts September 23rd!
Our team, Youth Minister Clare Kolenda, Sacramental Coordinator Angel Koerkel, Director of Faith Formation Todd Gale, and the rest of the staff are determined to offer consistent, excellent opportunities from pre-school to senior adult. We are praying and working hard to make our ministries attractive, winsome, and rich in authentic Catholicism. One of the things
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