Parish Activities

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.”  (Luke 10: 41)

Mary Parish Activities, Weekly message

Summertime is marked by family reunions, barbecues, neighborhood parties and travel. It is a time for showing hospitality to family and friends and to be surprised by the welcome of others wherever we find ourselves. In the business of summer activities, God’s Word suggests another type of hospitality. We are encouraged to slow down, take time to smell the flowers and most especially, to pay attention to God.

 Today’s Gospel passage recounts the famous story of the hospitality of Jesus’ friends, the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Each sister offers hospitality in a different way. Martha serves and waits on the Lord while Mary welcomes Jesus by sitting at his feet and listening to him.

 The rivalry between the two sisters has often been cited as an example of the tension between active and contemplative life in the Church. However, each sister represents an important aspect of our calling as disciples. We are to serve and pray. We are to meet Jesus in the needy as well as to listen to his word. Each sister models the hospitality that we are to extend to others and to receive from those we welcome.

One commentary on this Gospel story offers these suggestions: “in our daily concerns we may sometimes lose sight of being attentive to God. Some people use simple reminders to help them not to forget God. A prayer taped to the bathroom mirror, a religious image on the desk, a screen-saver of a holy site or a CD with religious music in the car are all simple ways to remain attentive to the Lord in the busyness of the day.” Another way to be hospitable to God is to drop into church for a visit. Keep in mind our church is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday thru Friday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Fr. Kishore Battu SAC

Parish Activities! – Save the Dates

August 25— Parish Picnic

St. Valentine Church picnic will be held on Sunday, August 25th. We will begin with an outdoor Mass under the tent at 12 noon followed by our picnic. This is a fun-filled day to share with your family and fellow parishioners. Volunteer to bring a dish to pass. Hotdogs and burgers provided by the Men’s Club.

 September 15—14th Annual Fun Run & Spaghetti Dinner

 Fun Run and Spaghetti Dinner – or all those trying for a personal best time on their 5 K Run—the date is set…September 15th!

Volunteers Needed!

As always, we need a lot of volunteers to help make this day run smoothly. We always need you …. Young or the Young at Heart all are needed!

Sponsors

In the past we have only solicited businesses to sponsor our Fun Run/Walk, BUT if a family/anyone would like to sponsor the Fun Run we would more than graciously accept your donation. A donation of $100 or more gets your name on the back of the shirt OR 225 of an item to put in the runners goodie bags. Please feel free to contact Bonnie at the parish office 313-532-4394 x201.

 

Fr. Pat Collins Presentation

Kathy Parish Activities

Many who attended Fr. Pat’s talk on Wednesday, April 3rd, have asked for a copy of the presentation.  Father generously provided us with a copy that you can view or download from this page.  The title of his talk is The Power of Petitionary Prayer and you may click here to view it.

We always look forward to seeing Fr. Pat and hearing his inspiring homilies.  Fr. Pat, you are truly part of the family at St. Valentine Parish!

“It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s God’s love.”

Kathy Parish Activities

This week’s Vacation Bible School theme was “Superheroes of Faith”.

 

We  learned about five very important heroes of our faith, as well as their superpowers: Daniel…Power of Prayer; Noah…Obedience; Ruth and Naomi…Loyalty; David…Courage; and Jesus…Love.

· We learned ways that we can share in these superpowers by living as God so desires, through Corporal Works of Mercy, the Fruits of the Spirit, the Seven Holy Sacraments, the Parts of Mass, and the Beatitudes.

· We made shields that were added to our superhero capes…to give us the confidence to know that God is always with us, and that we, too, can be superheroes of our faith.

· We kept a prayer journal to remember our heroes.   We can continue to discover strengths of our own and those of others, and add them to our journal.

· We made a prayer box and other crafts to be reminders of our time together.

· We learned a song, “Jesus is My Superhero”.

· We witnessed experiments that made the ordinary quite extraordinary.

Joan and I were blessed with 48 registered students and 21 volunteers! Words cannot express the thanks we have in our hearts for such an amazing week of faith! Our thanks would not be complete without thanking those who helped guide us through our program: Bonnie Danic, Fr. Henry, and Fr. Socorro.

The most amazing part of this week was discovering the superheroes within each and every one of our students this week. We didn’t have to look very far to discover their powers of love, friendship, and devotion to God. They wrote a prayer together that was said each day. The words are proof of their powers…

 

Children’s Prayer

Our Lord is our hero.
Jesus is our hero.
Our hero is brave,
He doesn’t give up.
He loves us.
He saves people.
He is strong and generous.
He protects us and keeps us safe.
He saves us.
He fights for us.
He is smart.
Thank you for being our superhero, Jesus.

Amen.

Written by the students of the St. Valentine Vacation Bible School Program 2018 

God is good all the time…all the time, God is good!

With Thanks and Praise,

Amy Davis and Joan Ricotta

St. Valentine Parish Council Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Kathy Parish Activities

Meeting was opened at 7:30 PM with a prayer from Fr. Henry

 

Old Business

· Fund Raising

· Discussion of Events

· Raffle (Action Item: Ron to explore possible arrangement with local dealerships)

· Horse Racing  (Action Item: Ron to discuss with Mike Kelly)

· St. Vincent De Paul Fundraiser will be held at AOH Hall on 13-Jan-2018.  Irish Night

 

Commission Reports

School Advisory: Rachel Damuth

· Father Socorro indicated that a Catholic School Advisory Board; will be formed

· Participants: Two people from School, Principal, two other people from parish

· Goal to develop a new strategic plan (last one was completed 5 years ago)

· Part of money from School Outreach Funds will be spent on new Window covers. Will assist in fuel cost and glare reduction in classrooms

· Vicariate News:  Closing of Ladywood High School (Current enrollment is 166 students; 33 in freshman class)

· Academic School Advisory is looking for new math assessments

· Worship Commission is working with school on three events

· Catholic Schools week (Last week in January) activities

· Retirement Home door decorating

· Parable projects – Dramatic parables

· Hymn Sing-along

· Mr. Cushman (Athletic Director) reports that there are 5 basketball team for 2017-2018 season

 

Christian Service: Rosemary Fox  (email)

· Giving tree was a big success; All tags were taken and returned (plus 25 more)

 

Pastoral Update: Fr. Henry

· We are in need of a volunteer to maintain the Notice Board in the vestibule of the church

 Worship: Mike Nowak

· The Prayers of the Faithful will continue to be read by the Deacon when he is present at Mass

 Vicariate:  Walt Bankowski

· Best practices will be shared by parishes starting in the March 2018 meeting

 Meeting was closed at 8:16 PM with a prayer from Fr. Henry

 Next Meeting is January 16, 2018—7:30 PM


Future City Wrap Up

We send our congratulations to the 8th grade class on their 2nd place finish at the 2018 Future City Competition—Michigan Region held January 22nd at the Suburban Collection in Novi.

Although they didn’t come in 1st they were a very strong 2nd and came home with a Special Award titled, Quality Improvement Award, sponsored by The American Society for Quality, Greater Detroit Section 1000.

Congratulations to the presenters, Ariyon Toney, Malena Smith and Edward Austin on their fine presentation and to their teacher, Mrs. Meghan Ciechanowski, mentors Mr. Dan Brooks and Mr. John Danic. Well done! Your school and parish are proud of all of you.