Dear sisters and brothers,
I am pleased to inform our parish that our next pastor has been appointed by Bishop Boyea.
Starting July 1, 2015, Monsignor Gerald Vincke will be the pastor of Church of the Holy Family. Msgr. Gerald (“Jerry”) Vincke is a priest of our diocese, whom many know well because he was vocation director and director of seminarians for our diocese from 2003 -2010. Msgr. Vincke was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lansing on June 12, 1999. Msgr. Vincke has been serving the Church in Rome for the past five years and will be returning to lead our parish. Msgr. Vincke is one of 10 children. He grew up in Chesaning, MI, and attended New Lothrop High School. He has family throughout our diocese and the Diocese of Saginaw. I spoke with Msgr. Vincke this past week, and he is very excited to be coming to Holy Family. He is looking forward to being your pastor, and wanted all of us to know that he is already praying for all of you.
For those who have never met Msgr. Vincke, he will be finishing his responsibilities in Rome in June and returning just before he begins here. I am confident that he will experience the warm and hospitable welcome from our parish that I did when I arrived in 2011.
Speaking personally, I have known Msgr. Vincke since 2005, and know him to be a holy, wise and joyful priest, who both knows and loves the people of our diocese. It is because of Msgr. Vincke that I am a priest here in the Diocese of Lansing (and not somewhere else). He played a vital role back in 2005 in helping me see that God wanted me here as a priest, and he guided and walked with me in such a way that my decision to ask to study to be a priest for our diocese is one of the great joys in my life.
So if you have experienced the love, care, guidance and presence of Christ in anyway in my priesthood and time here, then you have, among others, Msgr. Vincke to thank for this. I consider Msgr. Vincke’s coming here God’s clear hand still at work in our parish, a clear indication that God is caring for us, calling us to trust in Him even more, and desiring great things for us. I believe that in Msgr. Vincke Holy Family parish is getting more and not less. (He’s a monsignor after all, like St. John Vianney, and I am but a lowly priest.)
In the coming days I will be looking for ways that we can pray as a parish for Msgr. Vincke, that God would bless him and us in the months ahead.
May God bless our parish abundantly in this time of expectation.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Jonathan Perrotta