Faith Magazine

The magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Lansing

Prayer service held as future priests are ordained at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing
    Catholic Charities’ of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties invites the community to a special evening of prayer on June 11, 6:30 p.m. at St. John Vianney Catholic Parish, 2415 Bagley St. in Flint. This event will be held as four men are ordained in Lansing at St. Mary Cathedral and will mark the closing of the “Year of the Priest.”
    The prayer service will provide the opportunity to offer intentions for current priests, as well as those being ordained. Taking vows that evening in Lansing are Deacon Anthony Strouse of Williamston, Deacon Mathias Thelen of Fowler, Deacon Pieter VanRooyen of East Lansing and Deacon Thomas Wasileski, Poland native and resident of East Lansing.
    Pope Benedict XVI declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009. The year will conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father from June 9-11, 2010. With the announcement of this Year for Priests, the Pope declared St. John Vianney as the universal patron of priests, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death. In honor of the patron saint of priests, the holy evening of prayer is being held at St. John Vianney Catholic Parish in Flint.
    Light refreshments will follow the service. For more information, please call 810.232.9950 ext. 129.

"The Angel Jewelry Box Boutique” Used Book Sale andRaffle

My name is Kathy Jacoby and I am the president of the Catholic Women’s Ministry. We are a group of ladies from St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Swartz Creek, Michigan. Our groups’ major purposes are to support the priesthood through prayers and a fund raiser, to provide a funeral luncheon for the families of our parish at the time of the death of a loved one, we sell Mass cards for Mothers Day and Fathers Day, we have the Angel Wings Prayer Shawl Ministry and we provide social activities for the ladies of our parish such as a Christmas Tea and an Ice Cream Social to name just a few.

I have been reading the Faith Magazine for many years and love to learn of all the wonderful things the parishes throughout the Diocese of Lansing are doing within their churches and their communities. I thought you might be interested to know what our group has been doing to help seminarians. We are very proud of our accomplishments and that is why I decided to share our story with you.

In 2004 my good friend, Molly Lixey (who is also the vice-president of the Catholic Women’s Ministry), and I were trying to think of a way that we could help raise money to support Jim and Marcie Ward who are members of our parish and also the parents of two boys who are seminarians within the Legion of Christ. At that time, Russell, their oldest was already enrolled in the Immaculate Conception Apostolic School in New Hampshire and their second son, Thomas, was just entering. We wanted to do something that would help in some small way; whether it be to go visit the boys or to help defray some of the cost of their tuition.

Both Molly and I are avid readers and love a good book, so we decided to host “The Reader’s Delight Book Fair” and raffle. We solicited prizes from local merchants and asked our parishioners for donations of used books. Another of our parishioners, Delbert and Lynne Roy, allowed us to use their farm to host this endeavor. We asked for volunteers to help sell the books and to buy our raffle tickets. We were delighted to raise over $3000 that we sent to the Immaculate Conception Apostolic School.

We were so pleasantly surprised at our success of this first sale that we tried it again the next year. This sale was bigger and better than the previous year, due in a large part to the support and assistance from the Knights of Columbus Council 6694. We had a new theme, (Second-Hand Christmas) another raffle and more volunteers from the ladies of our group as well as the Knights. That year, 2005, we sent a check for $4700 to the Immaculate Conception Apostolic School. Needless to say—WE WERE HOOKED!

Since then our sale has grown in leaps and bounds. We now have lunches for sale, as well as a Sweet Shoppe with baked goods donated by members of the Catholic Women’s Ministry. The men of the Knights have worked with us hand in hand to make this sale the success that it is today. We also have members of the Challenge and ConQuest Clubs (which are groups for the youth of our parish) directing traffic and helping out in many other ways.

Our prizes are now beautifully hand crafted quilts and woodworking quilt stands from members of our parish. We have been able to offer many other wonderful prizes due to the generosity of the good people of St. Mary Queen of Angels. Our little sale has become a parish-wide supported activity, with wonderful volunteers, many of who have been with us since the very beginning.

To date we have raised over $36,000 for seminarians--$36,712.00 to be exact! This year we will be splitting the proceeds four ways: one half will go to the Legion of Christ--one-fourth in honor of Russell Ward who will be studying in Rome and one-fourth in honor of Thomas Ward who will be at the Novitiate in Cheshire, CT. We will be sending one-fourth to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, Denton, NE in the name of our parish’s newest seminarian Josh Houck; and this year we are pleased to be sending a fourth to the seminary for the Diocese of Lansing.

Our parish priest, Fr. Steve Mattson, has been very supportive of our endeavor as was our former pastor, Fr. Amos Wishchmeyer; both these men have given us their blessings and offered prayers for our success. We would not be able to do what we do if it were not for Fr. Mattson, the ladies of the Catholic Women’s Ministry, the Knights of Columbus, and all our kind and generous volunteers.

This year’s theme is: “The Angel Jewelry Box Boutique” Used Book Sale and Raffle. The sale will be at the Roy’s Farm and Greenhouse at 2073 Morrish Road, Swartz Creek, Michigan on Thursday, August 19 and Friday, August 20 from 9:00 a.m. until 6 p.m. Our prizes are a Gateway Netbook, a quilt and quilt stand, a Pandora bracelet and angel charm and a beautiful sculpture by Timothy P. Schmalz all donated by parishioners. We are hoping to have another successful year, especially since this is “THE YEAR OF THE PRIEST”.

Brian Flynn’s new CD - Beyond the Veil

    Born in Stockbridge Massachusetts, Brian Flynnis a Catholic singer/songwriter that has a true heart for serving Godwith his musical gifts.
    Many of Brian’s songs from his previous two CDs, Built on Faith(1999) and In the Sight of Angels (2004), have been featured onCatholic Radio stations across the United States. He has also beenfeatured several times on EWTN.
    The new album is out now! Beyond the Veil features 11 all new songsincluding the Eucharistic songs, I Believe and Panis Vere, along withthe pro-life song, American Anthem for Life and the perfect song for this Year for Priests, You Are a Priest Forever. Check out the tunes onhis Web site player and order the album from his store by visitingwww.brianflynnmusic.com or stop at your local Catholic bookstore.