Giving thanks: This weekend we give thanks to God for two new priests– Fr. Peter Lawrence and Fr. Brian Lenz– that Holy Family Parish helped form while they were seminarians. Fr. Peter will celebrate his thanksgiving Mass at the Noon Mass while Fr. Brian will celebrate his thanksgiving Mass at 6 p.m. Both will begin parish assignments in Jackson. Fr. Peter will be at Queen of the Miraculous Medal Parish and Fr. Brian is assigned to St. John the Evangelist Parish.
Priesthood Discernment Dinner: Speaking of vocations, the Diocese of Lansing is hosting a couple of events this summer for men discerning the call to the priesthood. The first is the annual diocesan Lansing Lugnut baseball game on August 5. It’s open to anyone, but it’s a great way to meet all the seminarians and religious who attend the game. The second is the priesthood discernment dinner with Bishop Boyea on August 14 at 3 p.m. in DeWitt. If you are interested in attending, please let Fr. Gary know.
Summertime: With school out, the summer schedule slows down somewhat, but there are always events to attend. Fr. Gary and I have enjoyed attending graduation parties (which run through July) and weddings are in full swing now. Speaking of weddings, I really enjoyed my niece Katie’s wedding last weekend. I told the story in my homily of when Katie called me while I was in Rome just to say hello and to see how I was doing. I asked her if there was any other reason she called. She said “no.” And then I told her that it just happened to be 2:30 a.m. Rome time! It was nice to talk anyway.
Other events: I hope everyone enjoys the summer and the beautiful weather we have been having (praying for rain though!) Two big events are scheduled in July at our parish:
July 11 – 15: Mission Makeover – The youth of our parish will help with projects not only here but other places in Genesee County. They plan to work at our parish on a flower garden by our school.
July 23 – 24: All-School Reunion and Parish Picnic – Please mark your calendars. On July 23 we are having our all-school reunion gathering in the parish hall. Anyone can attend and tickets may be purchased on our school website: www.hfsgb.org. And then on Sunday, July 24, we are having an alumni Mass at noon followed by our annual parish picnic on our school grounds. Hope to see you there.
Capital Campaign: We are still waiting to hear back on the in-pew survey filled out a couple weeks ago on the capital campaign. They had at least 700 of our cards and many other parishes to go over too. We should hear back from them soon.
Pictorial Directory: I got my picture taken for the pictorial directory. It’s a pretty simple and painless procedure! If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so.
May God bless you and your family.
Msgr. Jerry
Saint quote of the week: June 28 is the memorial of St. Irenaeus, a 2nd century bishop and martyr of the Church. A couple of quotes from him:
“The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
“The business of the Christian is nothing else but to be ever preparing for death.”