Fr. ChasDear Parish Family,

We did a switcheroo of the dates of two big parish events, so please note it on your calendar!  
 

  • “O Come, Let Us Adore Him” – now Friday, March 13
  • Called and Gifted Workshop – now Friday, March 20 and 21

Why the change?  Pope Francis is leading a day of Eucharistic adoration on March 13 and 14 in Rome, and the Vatican encourages all churches worldwide to take part.  So, what we decided to do was move our Eucharistic adoration event, “O Come, Let Us Worship,” from March 20 to the week earlier, March 13, as a sign of unity with Pope Francis and the Church of Rome.  The date change necessitated moving the Called and Gifted workshop that was on March 13 and 14 to one week later, March 20 and 21.  I apologize to any who can no longer make the event you hoped to attend.

We had our second Lenten Soup Supper and Faith Formation Friday on February 27.  We decided to change the caterer from our first week and go homemade!  Fr. Kurian and Cindy Smith will each be making soup for this upcoming Friday, March 6 with service from 5:00 to 6:30pm.  I have had the incredible tomato and cream cheese soup with grilled cheese croutons that Cindy will be making this Friday, and it is out of this world!  So much for a penitential Lenten Friday!

The topic for Faith Formation Friday on March 6 is “Who is Jesus?: Just a Good Man or Lord of Our Lives.”  Did God really become man?  What did Jesus really teach about himself?  These are some of the intriguing questions this Symbolon session addresses, and Todd Gale and I will be there to discuss them further.  We hope to see you at 6:30pm.

This Sunday is our annual Diocesan Services Appeal (DSA) Commitment Weekend.  Our diocese was very generous in matching our $100,000 raised from our “Thank You, Fr. Murray” Fund, helping tremendously to eliminate our debt!  So, let us likewise be generous in supporting the many great works our diocese makes possible for the entire Church of Lansing of which we are a part.  Our goal is $117,464, which is about $10,000 lower than last year.

For those who went to St. John Church for Mass today, we hope you liked being able to see, and not just hear, Bishop Boyea give his DSA address today.  Due to the two screens’ various uses, we hope to have two retractable screens placed above the side chapels, so as to be out of sight when not in use.  This seems to be the better route than having TV monitors all along the nave, based on the input of various parishioners.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Chas