Dear Parish Family,
Are you or someone you know in our community going through a tough time? Maybe he or she has lost a loved one or having trouble coping with one who is terminal. Maybe he or she is suffering through the pain of divorce or loss of employment or home. Or maybe he or she is struggling with the onset of a disability or is simply lonely. Would you like one of our Stephen Ministers to accompany you or that friend one-to-one through that difficult time?
Later this week, ten of our parishioners will be completing their intense 50 hours of Stephen Ministry training that has equipped them to accompany their fellow parishioners during their time of grief or crisis. Stephen Ministers meet one-to-one with those in our community who are hurting for about an hour once a week. They do not replace health professionals; they simply are a good Christian friend offering a listening ear and Christ’s love and care, alleviating what Mother Teresa called “the most terrible poverty,” loneliness.
Our Stephen Ministry is a concrete way for us as brothers and sisters in Christ to help bear one another’s burdens and love one another as Jesus loved us. To find out more, please read the article that our Stephen Leaders, Barb Socie and Cathy McAllister, have provided in this bulletin. You can also find out much more about the international organization, Stephen Ministries, by going to their website: www.stephenministries.org.
Do You Have the Gift of Hospitality?
Do people feel welcomed and comfortable when they come over to your place? Do you find joy in being warm and hospitable to friends and visitors? If so, God may have given you the gift of hospitality to apply that gift not just in making your home an inviting place, but also the house of God that is our parish.
Find out more about how you can use your gift of hospitality to make St. John an even warmer and more hospitable place for parishioners and visitors alike! The Diocese of Lansing, in conjunction with the Catholic Hospitality Training Institute, will be hosting a workshop from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 12 right here at our parish. Please let Todd Gale and me know if you can come to that training and be part of our efforts to make our spiritual home an inviting place for all who enter our doors for any of our events.
Pentecost is in Two Weeks!
Fr. Mathias Thelen will once again join us for our celebration of Pentecost with a powerful Healing Service on Sunday evening, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. Do you have a physical or spiritual ailment for which you would like prayer? Fr. Mathias has a special gift of opening hearts to the healing power of the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Holy Trinity did not just work marvels back in that first Pentecost. He does so now!
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Chas