12th Sunday in Ordinary time, “Do Not Be Afraid”

Kathy Uncategorized

Now that we are all aware that Fr. Kishore’s new assignment as the Administrator of St. Michael Parish, Monroe, begins on August 1, 2020. We have to live with the reality knowing that there will be only one priest for both the parishes from August onwards. We may have to do a little adjustment with a slight change in our Mass schedule. After expressing my thoughts and plans with the Parish Council through email, they were in agreement with the new schedule. Our Saturday Mass which was at 5:00 pm will be moved to 5:30 pm and on Sunday our first Mass will have to be at 8:30 am instead of 9:00 am, the 12 noon Mass will be at the same time.  At Our Lady of Loretto the Mass schedule was changed last year, and that is the schedule that will be followed, Saturday Mass at 4:00 pm and Sunday only one Mass at 10:00 am.

 With one priest not being able to be in both churches our weekday Mass schedule will change as well  – it will be like the summer schedule – Monday’s and Tuesday’s 8:30 am Mass will be at OLL, Thursday’s and Friday’s 8:30 am Mass will be at St. Val’s. At both the places daily Mass will be celebrated in the Church. Sacrament of Penance as of now we will keep it on Saturday at OLL beginning at 2:45 instead of 3:15pm. We will see how the confession schedule will work for now. If we have to make some changes, we can work that out as well.  

 I know none of us like change but lately we have seen that many things have changed with the fear of Corona Virus and we have all learned to make those adjustments knowing that it’s for our good and for the good of others.  If we are able to make the above-mentioned changes with a mind of working together, we will be able to move ahead smoothly.

This weekend’s Gospel is part of the instructions Jesus gives to his disciples after he has commissioned them to preach about the kingdom of God – Matthew 10:26-33. IN this Gospel passage we hear Jesus say three times, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus encouraged the disciples not to be afraid, not to give up on their mission of sharing God’s Good News with others. And he promises that we will never be alone in our efforts to do what is right.

What a beautiful piece of advice for all of us as we move forward. Let us not give up in doing what is right. The Lord promises to be with us and with Him at our side we have no reason to fear.

We wish all Fathers, Happy Fathers day and we ask the Lord to bless each one of you in your  roles as dads, godfathers, grandfathers and guardians.

 

A Prayer of Blessing on Fathers

Heavenly Father,
you entrusted your Son Jesus,
the child of Mary,
to the care of Joseph, an earthly father.
Bless all fathers
as they care for their families.
Give them strength and wisdom,
tenderness and patience;
support them in the work they have to do,
protecting those who look to them,
as we look to you for love and salvation,
through Jesus Christ our rock and defender. Amen.

 – Author Unknown

Blessings,
Fr. Socorro

Letter from the Archbishop

Kathy From the Archbishop

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I write today with gratitude for the many blessings God has granted the Archdiocese of Detroit during our missionary journey. Six years ago, we asked God to send his Holy Spirit upon us in a New Pentecost, to fill us with an unshakable inner conviction of the truth of the Gospel and a love that compels us to share the good news with those around us. Two years later, through Synod ‘16 we received clarity that God wanted us to reclaim our Church’s missionary identity and we set out with a promise to trust and follow him.

We began in earnest the work of a generation, to unleash the Gospel in southeast Michigan and beyond. Last year, we announced the next phase of this missionary movement, a plan to transform our parishes and schools, making them places where individuals and families can encounter Jesus anew, grow as disciples, and be equipped as witnesses of the Risen Christ.

This continues to be our mission today, even now in the midst of a historic pandemic. The current health and economic crises have disrupted our lives and the life of the Church. This new reality has exacerbated some of the challenges we were already facing. Even before the pandemic, we knew that the way we function in our parishes needed to change. In addition to the shortage of priests available to serve in our parishes and the shortage of vocations for future ordinations, the parish structures we inherited served our mission well in the past, but they needed to be renewed and aligned for mission.

And so, in prayer and in consultation with others, I’ve discerned that now is the time to respond in faith to the challenges we face and to take the necessary steps to better equip our parish communities for mission. Over the next two years, parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit will join together to form new groupings called “families of parishes.” These groups – these families – of three to six parishes will work together and share human and material resources to further advance our shared mission. This new model will allow groups of priests, deacons, and lay staff to better share their gifts and talents with their entire parish families.

We are not the same diocese we were six years ago when we began this journey. God has been at work in us, in our communities, in our parishes, and in our schools. We have learned to be more docile to the Holy Spirit. We have learned to walk with apostolic boldness and confidence in God. We are committed to working in a spirit of innovation and collaboration. And most importantly, we have resolved to place Christ and his mission above all else.

Over the next several months, groups of clergy and lay faithful will help me discern the leadership and governance structure of the families of parishes and the ways in which this new structure will help all our parishes become vibrant posts of missionary activity. At Advent, my hope is to announce the groups of parishes that will form each family, with the first of them expected to begin to function as a family in July of 2021.

I invite you to visit the website www.familiesofparishes.org to learn more about this process and to sign up for updates. Please join me in praying for this very important step in the life and mission of our local Church. Let us give thanks to God ahead of time for the great work he is doing in our midst. God is with us. He has given us his Holy Spirit as the initiator, guide, and driving force of our mission.

Blessed Solanus Casey, Detroit’s own priest, pray for us. Our Lady of Lourdes, protector of the sick, pray for us. And dear St. Anne, patron of our Archdiocese, pray for us.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron
Archbishop of Detroit

Pentecost Sunday

Kathy From our Pastor

Today we celebrate ‘the Feast of the Pentecost,” with this Feast we come to the end of the Easter celebration. Now, the Feast of Pentecost was one of the most phenomenal and important events in all of history. There are several reasons why this event was so important.

 · It was “the coming of the Holy Spirit.”

· It was the birth of the Church.

· It was the corporate filling of the Holy Spirit, of the body of believers with the promised

      presence of Christ.                             

· It was the personal filling of the individual believer by the Holy Spirit.

· It was the Presence and Power of God coming upon the believers, gifting, and equipping them to proclaim the glorious message of salvation to men.

 

Above all the Feast of Pentecost was God’s providence. This Feast needs to be understood in order to see God’s providence at work. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the Passover. It was also known as the “Day of the First Fruits” (Num 28:26), or the “Feast of Weeks” (Ex 34:22), or the “Feast of Harvest.” Pentecost was a glorious day of celebration, a day when the people were to heap praise and thanksgiving upon God. There were three particular reasons for which they were to thank God.

1.The harvest of the fields. The very name of the Feast says it is a celebration of the “First Fruits.” It was celebrated when the first fruits of the harvest began to come in, which was around the first of June.

2.The Exodus, the deliverance of the nation Israel from Egyptian bondage (Dt.16:12). The people were to thank God for the day He delivered them out of slavery.

3. The giving of the law upon Mt. Sinai (Ex.19-20). This was the day the people were constituted as a nation, as the great nation of Israel. They were to live as God’s very own people upon earth. They were to thank God for Himself and for His law.

It is important for all of us to note that all three events were fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit. When ‘the day of Pentecost came’ the first fruits were born- the church itself and the first harvest of souls. The new beginning that is, the filling of the Holy Spirit, began fifty days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The coming of the Holy Spirit had a very specific purpose. The Holy Spirit was to live and work within the heart of man, to deliver and free him from the enslavements of this world- from sin, death, and hell. The coming of the Holy Spirit was the birth of the church, the new people of God.

 

New Assignment

Dear parishioners, I would like to inform, all of you that Our Archbishop Allen Vigneron has asked me to become the Administrator of St. Michael Parish, Monroe. I shall be moving to the new parish on August 1, 2020. It is not easy to leave all of you and move to a new place. I consider it as a plan of God. Let us continue to pray for each other during this pandemic. I shall thank all of you in my next article. 

 

God’s blessings and a Happy Feast of Pentecost.

Stay safe.

Fr. Kishore Babu Battu SAC