St. John Vianney: August 4 was the feast day of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests. The priests of the diocese were invited to prayer and dinner at St. John Vianney Parish in Flint. This past Friday I attended the Lansing Lugnut game for vocations. Around 2,000 Catholics from the diocese attend the game in support of religious vocations.
Seminarians: It has been a joy to have Deacon Peter Lawrence around this summer. He will conclude his summer with us on August 13. However, we are blessed that Deacon Peter will be joining us most weekends during the school year. We also have been blessed to have Fr. Gary’s little (younger) brother, Lee, with us these last few weeks. He has been a big help serving at Mass and helping with maintenance. We will also be getting another seminarian in early September. More details to follow.
School Playground: As you can see from the pictures in this bulletin, Fr. Gary was running the backhoe to place woodchips under the new swing set. I watched him for a while and I was really impressed! Thank you for all the volunteers who assisted in this project. I’m sure our students will appreciate this addition. I’m not sure the students are excited for school to start, but I am (and perhaps some parents are too!). Speaking of the school, I received a visit from Frank Doherty, who was a member of the parish for 40 years before moving to Arizona a couple years ago. He mentioned how thankful he was for the school for his eight children who attended.
Faith Formation: Under the direction of Larry Blondin, our parish is offering four faith-enrichment courses starting in September. More details will follow in next weekend’s bulletin. I can’t recommend these courses enough – to help us grow in our faith and understanding.
Lights: Because of the many funerals in the past several weeks, we had a delay in installing the new lights in the church. They are planning to instill the new lights from August 5 – 7.
Planned Parenthood: Sadly on August 3, the US Senate failed to advance a measure to halt federal aid to Planned Parenthood. The vote was spurred on by video evidence suggesting that Planned Parenthood is selling the organs of aborted children for profit. Planned Parenthood receives over $500 million in taxpayer funding annually. It is also America’s largest abortion provider, performing well over 300,000 abortions annually. Pope Francis has called abortion the product of a “widespread mentality of profit, the throwaway culture, which has today enslaved the hearts and minds of so many.” I think people forget that Planned Parenthood was started by Margaret Sanger. Her goal was a type of eugenics, to get rid of the weak in order to “create a race of thoroughbreds.”
Solemnity of the Assumption: Because August 15 falls on a Saturday, the Solemnity of the Assumption is not a holy day of obligation. However, we always have 8:00 a.m. Mass on Saturday and it would be wonderful to see you for 8:00 a.m. Mass on August 15. When I ponder Mary’s Assumption to heaven, I think of how beautiful it must have been for Mary and her Son Jesus to see each other again. I often wonder what it will be like when we see our loved ones who have gone before us again!
Rome: For the last five years, around this time (early August), I would be gearing up to head back to Rome to serve at the North American College. It was a joy to be there, but I am very, very happy to here! Be assured of my continued prayers.
Saint quote of the week: “God calls us to be faithful, not successful.”
– Blessed Mother Teresa
Msgr. Vincke