1) Welcome Fr. Bob Voiland | |
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Greetings St. Joan of Arc Parish Family!
I am Fr. Bob Voiland and I would like to introduce myself to you. First, please know that I am happy to be with you as an associate priest. I truly pray that I am able to serve our Lord Jesus well through my service to you. Thank you for being patient with me as I learn parish routines, personalities, and names. Please forgive me if I ask your names several times – eventually they will stick!
I am 64 years old, born and raised in Mount Clemens. My Mom and Dad, now deceased, were the best parents ever. (I know everybody thinks that, but mine actually were the best . . . well, Mary and Joseph probably figure in there, too!) I am the second youngest of five girls and two boys. I have nineteen nieces and nephews, and 30-some grandnieces and grandnephews. St. Peter Parish in Mount Clemens is where I grew up and received all of my sacraments. I attended the parish school, St. Mary’s, through eighth grade. I graduated from Mount Clemens High School. I have never married.
I started college by going into an electrical engineering work/study program with General Motors, but changed course after a semester and a half. Fortunately, GM let me stay on with them as a general laborer at the Tech Center in Warren while I waited for an electrician apprenticeship opportunity to open. During the wait, I was able to complete an Electronics Engineering Technology degree and Macomb Community College. Just as I finished at MCC, the apprenticeship became available. The rest was history. After thirty years, I was able to retire from General Motors.
Upon retirement, I was a caregiver for my parents and some other family members. It was a rewarding but challenging time. After that period, when I found myself back at a point in life where I could “do what I wanted,” I thought I would simply return to electrical work in my own business. God had other plans. I had found the time to attend Mass frequently during my caregiving years. In the process, I fell in love more deeply with Christ and our Catholic faith. I had been an active parishioner at St. Michael Parish in Sterling Heights for years (as well as back at St. Peter’s during my caregiving stint). I felt moved to make a deeper commitment to Christ and the Church. I was giving serious consideration to maybe becoming a permanent deacon. God had still other plans. He wanted more. Some priest friends suggested the possibility of priesthood. After a conversation with the Detroit vocations director, I stuck my toe in the water. I completed my philosophy studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Theology studies were finished at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Boston.
I was ordained a priest in May 2021. My first parish assignment was at Our Lady of the Lakes in Waterford – a wonderful gift to begin my ministry. God has now brought me here to serve you. We can certainly talk more, but I hope this gives you a basic picture of my background – not exactly your average priest story. What I hope you might pick up from this little story is this: none of us get off easy when it comes to our Catholicism. We don’t get to coast into the sunset . . . like I thought I would do. We’ve all got a mission that doesn’t end until we step into eternity with Christ. Let’s lean into that mission together!
God Bless,
Fr. Bob
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2) Summer Storybook Hour for Preschool and Elementary Children | |
3) Faith Formation Registration | |
4) Parish Center Hours During July | |
During the month of July, the Parish Center will be open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. The Parish Center will be closed on Fridays. | |
If you have not yet given to this year's CSA, you can give online by clicking on the link below, by calling in your pledge/gift, or by picking up a CSA packet in the Parish Center or in the Gathering Space of Church. Your gift is important and enables us, the Church in Detroit, to carry out Christ's ministry of mercy and love throughout southeast Michigan and beyond — works no one individual or parish could possibly do alone! |
6) Ascension's Bible and Catechism App |
It's Here: The Bible & Catechism App!
The word of God and the complete teachings of the Catholic Church. Answers and commentary by Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, and other experts. Video, audio, and textual commentary. Right on your phone.
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The Ascension App Includes:
The full text of the Great Adventure Catholic Bible with color coding interwoven throughout so you can immediately recognize where you are in the story of salvation history.
The full text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church with The Foundations of Faith color-coding built in.
Every episode of Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz for easy access and cross-referencing with your reading plan and Scripture.
Every released episode of the Catechism in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz so you can easily stay on top of your daily readings.
Summaries, the exact wording of Fr. Mike’s daily prayers, and extra content for every single episode of Bible in a Year.
Over 1,000 commonly asked questions about the Bible with answers right in the text from experts like Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, and others.
An interactive reading plan for both podcasts that tracks your progress.
Notes and bookmarks so you can quickly pick up where you left off and write down your reflections and prayers along the way.
…And we're just getting started. More to be announced soon!
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7) Holy Hour on Thursdays | |
8) This Sunday's Readings: July 7, 2024 - the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | |
9) Sunday Reflections by Jeff Cavins | |
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In this week’s Encountering the Word video for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jeff Cavins offers some truly inspiring words to help us have faith in the fact that God’s grace is sufficient for us. The readings are:
First Reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
First Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Alleluia: cf. Luke 4:18
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6
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10) Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon | |
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A Thorn in the Flesh
Friends, on this Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, our second reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. The focus of the reading is “a thorn in the flesh” that was given to Paul “to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.” What was it? We don’t know, but whatever it was, it wasn’t trivial. We all have something like this—some physical, psychological, or spiritual suffering that’s chronic and deeply troubling. Yet this struggle with the thorn in the flesh is very often what brings us back to God.
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Grow+Go, content is designed to help you understand what it means to be an evangelizing disciple of Christ. Using the Sunday Scriptures as the basis for reflection, Grow+Go offers insight into how we can all more fully GROW as disciples and then GO evangelize, fulfilling Christ's Great Commission to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) The concept behind the weekly series is to make discipleship and evangelization simple, concrete, and relatable.
Click on the button or image below to download a PDF copy of this Sunday's Grow+Go.
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12) Giving to SJA:
I'm truly grateful for all of your support of SJA. Your support means so much. The increase in electronic giving has been tremendous. Giving electronically, whether on a one-time or recurring basis is pretty simple. For more information on online giving, please click on the following button.
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St. Joan’s Visit to Xfinity: Whenever a priest leaves, and another priest arrives at a parish, there is always tons of stuff to do. In our case, Father Adam’s new assignment to St. Anne’s Parish in Warren meant we had to close out the apartment where he and Fr. Andrew lived. Until recently, Archbishop Byrnes lived in our parish condo. So, with the condo now vacant, we decided that Father Bob would move into the condo on Doremus since we’re still working through what to do with the house (remember, Fr. Andrew had to vacate the house because of all the mold). All of these changes meant we had to close the utility accounts and other items in use at the apartment. One of those items was the Xfinity account.
Regardless of the service provider, canceling an account is always challenging AND time-consuming. Dina, our business manager, started looking for a way to do this online. However, there didn’t appear to be an easy way to accomplish this. There was a chatbot that could be used to move or cancel an account, but in the end, it said we had to call. I thought this would have been simple because we had none of their equipment; I used my modem for their internet service rather than paying $10+ monthly to rent one of their modems. Was I wrong!
Dina got on the line with an Xfinity representative. That representative passed her on to another. The passing of the buck continued until she got to agent number five, some forty-five minutes later. I was standing in her office while she was having this most exasperating conversation with the final Xfinity agent. The bill, and thus the service, was in the parish’s name. The bill showed St. Joan of Arc Church. That was a challenge for the Xfinity representative.
The agent told Dina that St. Joan of Arc had to appear at an Xfinity store for them to be able to close the account! Dina told the agent that St. Joan of Arc had been dead since the 15th century and couldn’t come to a retail store. The agent would not give up. “Ma’am, until Joan shows up at a store, we cannot cancel this account.” This is one of those times you wish you had a video AND an audio recording of what transpired; it was priceless!
I told Dina I would take care of it from here. I decided on the spot that “Joan” would visit the store! I didn’t feel like doing what I was supposed to be doing, and this sounded like an excellent challenge for a Thursday afternoon. Right away, I knew I had to find a St. Joan of Arc statue, and we BOTH would visit the Xfinity store on Harper!
Trying to find a small statue of St. Joan of Arc became a problem, but I wasn’t going to give up. We have the large statues of St. Joan at the Parish Center and the school entrance, but these were too large for my purposes. We found many St. Michael and St. George statues and many statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus. But finding a small and moveable statue of St. Joan of Arc was a challenge, but I was confident we had one someplace at the Parish Center or over at the Church. So, I went on a hunt through each office and room, first at the Parish Center and then at the Church. When I got to the sacristy at Church, I decided the old St. Joan of Arc lamp that sits on the sacristy counter (that no longer had a shade nor was used as a lamp) was portable enough to take to an Xfinity store. This statue has St. Joan of Arc triumphantly riding on her horse. I figured this would be the best I could use, and I would claim that the horse was St. Joan’s service animal! I tucked the marble statue under my arm and returned to the Parish Center. At this point, everyone knew I was on a mission. The ladies who prepare the bulletin each week for mailing were doing their work in the conference room. They saw me pass by with the statue in hand and laughed. I went to Dina’s office and showed her what I had come up with, and her response was, “You’re NOT!” “YES, I am,” I said. “They wanted to see Joan, and this is the best I could come up with.” She started laughing and grabbed her phone for a picture of me, St. Joan, and the bill in hand.
So, St. Joan of Arc and I got in the car and journeyed off to the Xfinity store on Harper. Before entering the store, I took a selfie with Joan and me. I was somewhat glad it wasn’t too crowded, but I got plenty of looks as I carried this statue into the store. I confirmed with the person at the door that I had an appointment. I was told to have a seat, and Joan and I waited patiently at the counter. The agent who dealt with me the previous day when I returned some unused equipment and made some changes for service at the condo was the one who came to help me. I told her my plight; she was very businesslike and went straight to work. As she typed away, I said, “I’m surprised I didn’t get a laugh out of you.” She said, “OH, we see EVERYTHING. I wanted to laugh, but you weren’t laughing, and I didn’t want to offend you if I started to laugh and you were being very serious.” As she continued her work, a gentleman, I assume a manager, came to the table. At first, he had a stern and very concerned look. “Is there a problem here? Why the statue,” he asked. His whole demeanor changed when I told him my saga. He burst out laughing and said, “THAT is the best thing I’ve heard all day.” He then gave me a huge high-five and went back to work. The agent continued her work, got everything squared away, and canceled the account. As we parted, I thanked her for her efforts. She then smiled and said, “You’re welcome.” Then, with a huge smile, she said, “Goodbye Joan. I mean ST. Joan!”
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Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers! | |
14) Ascension Presents: Father Mike Schmitz | |
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When Someone You Love Walks Away From God / Leaves the Church
If you have a family member, friend, or loved one who is far from God, you’re not alone. You’re in good company—not the least of which is God the Father himself, who works so hard to unite us with himself. If someone you love has stopped going to Church, or isn’t practicing the faith anymore, or hasn’t yet said “yes” to Jesus to begin with, what is the best way to love them?
Today, Fr. Mike has 4 simple things you can do to keep loving them on their faith journey, through all of the ups and downs. They’re not easy to do, but they’re always right.
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15) Words on the Word: July 7, 2024 - Strength in Weakness | |
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Anyone who has lived for a while on this Earth knows facing tough times is part of the bargain. Jesus told us, after all, that if we’re to follow him we must take up our crosses each day.
Frequently adding to the difficulty of these situations, though, is knowing that so much of the outcome is out of our hands. We feel helpless and weak.
The Detroit News ran a story a couple weeks ago about a Michigan man who has been held prisoner in Russia for 2,000 days, with little hope or promise for resolution of the situation.
According to the story, the 54-year-old man was arrested in late 2018 in his Moscow hotel room and charged with espionage. He was sentenced in 2020 and has been serving hard labor in a remote part of the country.
Exacerbating the situation, the story said, is the fact that the U.S. government not only has not been able to secure release for the man but has stopped providing any kind of progress updates to the family.
“Information sharing that used to happen has stopped,” the man’s brother was quoted in the story as saying. “Doors that used to be open are shut.”
Those not in a situation like this can only begin to have an idea of how scary and uncertain it is.
For those who are in the situation, we might pray that they take solace in the presence and support of God.
“I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me,” we hear from St. Paul in today’s second reading form the second letter to the Corinthians. “Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
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Our parish has a subscription to FORMED, a premier online platform filled with over 4,000 Catholic studies, movies, audio dramas, talks, e-books, and even cartoons for our children. FORMED has content from over 60 apostolates, including Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, and the Knights of Columbus, with material that is professionally produced, engaging, and solid in its catechism. Best of all, this material is free to you because of our parish subscription.
You have easy access to all of the material on FORMED to support your own faith journey and that of your family members.
You can enjoy FORMED on your computer or on your television with an inexpensive Roku device or Apple TV. You can even listen on your phone as you commute to work or do chores.
To gain access to all of FORMED’s content, follow these simple steps:
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Go to https://signup.formed.org/
- Enter our parish’s zip code 48080 or enter St. Joan of Arc
- Enter your name and your email address
That’s it! You’re in. Now you can get the free FORMED app for your phone by searching FORMED Catholic in your app store.
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17) 52 Stories: Good News from Spirit Juice Studios | |
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Prepare to be Inspired
Spirit Juice Studios is blessed to work with countless Catholic organizations, dioceses, parishes, and schools. We get to help them tell their powerful stories about all the good stuff that is happening within the Church. Sign up for 52 Stories so we can share them with you! You’ll meet the unsung heroes of the Catholic Church, discover the stories of holy women and men around the world, and witness miraculous moments of God’s grace in everyday life.
In a world full of bad news, these stories will give you 52 reasons to believe that God is working through the Catholic faith to transform lives through His love and mercy. Sign up today!
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From "Bad Boy" To Priest
In this profile piece, the true story behind the film Father Stu is told through the words of those who knew him. At the heart of his life is the message that no one is beyond the redeeming power of love.
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Are you looking for a one-stop app for prayer and meditation? Look no further than Hallow. Hallow is an awesome prayer app. Hallow is a Catholic prayer and meditation app that helps users deepen their relationship with God through audio-guided contemplative prayer sessions. The app launched 2 years ago and is already the #1 Catholic app in the world.
We have a number of parishioners who are already using the app and loving it (my mom being one of them and she is on the app most of the day). Great for praying alone or together with your spouse/family, Hallow truly has something for everyone, no matter what you are going through (see below for their different content categories).
Hallow is free to download and has tons of permanently free content, as well as a premium subscription, Hallow Plus.
To get started, simply click the button above/below to activate your free account on the Hallow website. Make sure to select “Sign Up with Email” when registering. For step-by-step instructions, you can visit this process guide. Enter the code stjoanofarcmi to obtain a discount on individual pro plans.
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19) Mass Intentions for the Week: | |
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Monday, July 8, 2024, Weekday (Green)
7:00 am: Anna Sloan,
Tuesday, July 9, 2024, Weekday, Saint Augustine Zharo Rong, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Green/Red)
7:00 am: Special Intention for the Dobrzechowski Family
Wednesday, July 10, 2024, Weekday (Green)
7:00 am: Bianca Calisi
6:00 pm: Tina Roberts
Thursday, July 11, 2024, Saint Benedict, Abbot (White)
7:00 am: Gene W. Clem
Friday, July 12, 2024, Weekday (Green)
7:00 am: Joseph Sloan
Saturday, July 13, 2024, Vigil for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)
4:00 pm: Laura Barkley, Blair Zernick, Bonnie Batche, Sally Cabot, Mary Lou Racine, Ruth Staels, Kenneth Gutow, Eleanor Berendt, Dr. Edmund Aubrey, Otto Warmbier and Special Intentions for Thomas Sloan, the J. Champine Family, the Thomas Family, Alison Reslow, Lorraine Jonas, Pam Haisenleder, and Linda Frank
6:00 pm: Raymond Stanglewicz
Sunday, July 14, 2024, Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)
8:00 am: The Intentions of SJA Parishioners
10:00 am: William Mills
12:00 pm: Joseph Rademacher, Mary Lou Orsini, Thomas Kramer, Sr. Kathleen Mulso, O.S.F., and Special Intentions for Alison Reslow, Pam Haisenleder, Lorriane Jonas, and Linda Frank.
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20) This Week on St. Joan of Arc LIVE: | |
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This week's LIVE Stream
Schedule at St. Joan of Arc:
Monday (July 8)
7:00 AM - Mass
Tuesday (July 9):
7:00 AM - Mass
5:30 PM - Baptism of Florence Temrowski and Ava Temrowski
Wednesday (July 10):
7:00 AM - Mass
6:00 PM - Mass
Thursday (July 11):
7:00 AM- Mass
5:30 PM - Baptism of Paige R. Simon
Friday (July 12):
7:00 AM - Mass
10:00 AM - Funeral for Thomas C. Kler (Read Obituary HERE)
Saturday (July 13):
10:00 AM - Funeral for Theodore Kalkhoff
12:30 PM - Baptism of Romeo G. Kozlowski
1:30 PM - Baptism of James L. Engel
4:00 PM - Mass
6:00 PM - Mass
Sunday (July 14):
8:00 AM - Mass
10:00 AM - Mass
12:00 PM - Mass
Please note that all of our masses and events can be accessed through the ARCHIVE section of our Live stream page if you cannot watch it live!
We also have our own ROKU Channel. Search for "CATHOLIC" in the ROKU channel store, and you will find SJA's channel. A Fire TV Channel is also available.
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21) SJA's Latest Parish Bulletin | |
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Click on the image below
to download a copy of the bulletin
for July 7, 2024
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22) Weekly Bulletin Mailing List | |
Sending the bulletin has been greatly received by so many people. If you are getting the bulletin online and would prefer that it not be mailed to your home, please click on the button below to be removed from the mailing list.
At the same time, if you are NOT getting the bulletin and would prefer to get it, click on the same button and ask to be ADDED to the list.
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Read the latest from the DETROIT CATHOLIC
Click on the image below.
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