As was announced at Masses this weekend, I encourage you to begin your Memorial Day festivities by participating at Mass. We will have our normal 7:00 AM Mass at SJA, but we also have the combined liturgy with parishioners from Our Lady Star of the Sea, St. Lucy, and our parish at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish at 9:00 AM. Please join us!

"On this Memorial Day, we pray for all members of the military, especially those who died in service to others. May we honor them by loving and caring for all those they have left behind. Give them strength and strengthen our commitment to caring for those who mourn their loss. Amen."

As was announced at the masses and explained in a separate email, our parish has been asked to participate in a parish-wide survey about discipleship conducted by the Catholic Leadership Institute, a non-profit Catholic apostolate that does leadership training and development around the world.

We want as many parishioners as possible to complete a 10-15 minute survey. As of today, 336 people have completed the survey. I'm hoping for a 1,000! It's a loft goal but certainly doable.

The survey, which will only be available until June 4, will ask you to reflect on your own spiritual growth and enable you to provide feedback on what our parish is doing to help you grow.

The survey is done online and will only take 10-15 minutes to complete. The questions are easy and simple. All responses will be confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole.

The survey results will be invaluable to me, our leadership team, and our many volunteers as we seek ways to best support everyone in their discipleship journey.

I look forward to sharing the findings with you when the project is complete!

Please take the time to complete the survey TODAY!

This 75-question survey is a tool that invites parishioners to reflect on where they are on their journey of discipleship and enables parish leadership to make data-driven decisions to help parishioners grow in their faith.

Comprehensive and useful reports will be prepared including interactive software that allows the parish to dive deeper into responses of interest.

The context for the parish's data will be made available so we can compare our results with national trends, other parishes in our diocese, and the top three performing parishes in the country.

Faithful and expert consultation will be provided by CLI as they help us interpret survey results and create a plan to translate the data into action.

Attitude and Beliefs – Stage and pace of spiritual growth, personal beliefs, parish effectiveness in helping people connect with a community and helping them evangelize

Participation – Frequency of parishioners’ participation in various parish activities

Relationship/Satisfaction – Parishioners’ satisfaction with their parish, pastor, and parish activities

Demographics – Gender, age, ethnicity, etc. to understand who is responding

Last Monday, we held our Early Bird Drawing as part of our Annual Raffle.

Thanks for your continued support of our 54th Annual Raffle. So far, we have about $75,000 in ticket sales. THANK YOU!

I hope and pray you will consider buying or selling $100 worth of tickets! Your generosity will go a long way to help our amazing Parish to continue doing everything it does. PLUS, you might be lucky enough to win one of the raffle prizes!

Last year, we netted $119,000 from the raffle and proceeds from the food trucks. I am grateful for your extraordinary generosity in what you did to make last year’s event a fantastic success!

You can continue to turn in your raffle and applicable 100% tickets until the drawing on June 11, 2023. At that time, we will draw five (5) of the 100% tickets from the entire pool of tickets, and each will win $500.

Raffle tickets can be dropped off at the Parish Center (through the mail slot in the door), in the Sunday collection boxes, or mailed to the Parish Center (although please be aware that if you MAIL your tickets you run the risk of your tickets not arriving in time for the drawing). And please read through the enclosed checklist to help make sure your tickets can be processed quickly and accurately.

Tickets will also be on sale in the Gathering Place after all the masses over the next two weekends.

Please contact the Parish Center (586.777.3670) or visit tickets.stjoan.church if you need additional tickets.

From Detroit Catholic: DETROIT — Five men answered the Lord’s call and stepped forth to be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Detroit at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on the eve of Pentecost, May 27.

Richard Dorsch, Jeremy Schupbach, Michael Selvaraj, Andrew Smith and Ryan Walters all sat with their families at the start of the liturgy, symbolic of how it was their families who brought them into the faith.

But when Fr. Stephen Burr, rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, called out their names, each of them answered “present,” and stepped forward to be ordained by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit.

“The spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ has set upon us all here in the cathedral, as Christ makes five men in our archdiocese priests and sharers in the gifts of our Church,” Archbishop Vigneron said at the beginning of the Mass.

After readings from the prophet Jeremiah and St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, describing how throughout salvation history God has appointed certain men to be mankind’s representatives, each of the five men stood before the archbishop for the Election of the Candidates, during which Fr. Burr confirmed they were worthy of ordination.

“Relying on the help of the Lord God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, we choose these our brothers for the order of the priesthood,” Archbishop Vigneron said, as the congregation erupted in applause before Detroit’s chief shepherd delivered his homily.

Archbishop Vigneron said it is Christ, through very simple human gestures such as the laying on of hands and recitation of prayer, who transforms the men into priests, using the ordinary to do something extraordinary.

Below is the link to the archive of yesterday's ordination liturgy. If you have never been to or watched an ordination, you may wish to take some time and view it. It is a moving a beautiful liturgy.

SJA is moderating a Facebook group for our parishioners and friends embarking on the Catechism in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz and Ascension Press.

You can find the link to join on the SJA Facebook page or click the button below. We already have 90+ participants!

In this week’s Encountering the Word video, Jeff Cavins reflects on the readings for Pentecost Sunday and Father Mike Schmitz of Ascension Presents makes a guest appearance. The readings are:

First Reading: Acts 2:1-11

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3B-7, 12-13

Alleluia: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts …

Gospel: John 20:19-23

Friends, we come to the great Feast of Pentecost—the feast, par excellence, of the Holy Spirit. A critique of the Western Church is that we don’t speak sufficiently of the third person of the Trinity, and there might be some truth to that. I’d like to follow Vatican II in trying to bring the Holy Spirit very much into the forefront. Our readings today show us the great power of the Spirit—a power that unleashes great saints, fiery speech, and a liberating unity. Surrender your life over to the Holy Spirit, and—trust me—you will tap into this source of power to change things for the better.

Walking with the Neighborhood Hero: A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that one of my goals in recovering from knee surgery was to join Rachel Allemon and her family on one of their strolls around Overlake, Goethe, Edmunton, and E. Eight Mile Road. While dear Rachel and her family are regulars at Mass, she is also a regular walker during the summer months. When she is walking down Overlake, she and her family often stop by the Parish Center and pay a visit to the Lord in the Chapel. Immediately after that is a chocolate exchange. First, she will offer up some of the chocolate she might have stashed as energy for the journey, and then Rachel or Dina will offer her some of our precious stash that is ALWAYS sitting around the Parish Center.

Now the thing you need to know about Rachel Allemon is that she is a young 99 years old! She will join the esteemed Centenarians of our parish in late October. We currently have 4 parishioners over 100 years old (the oldest being Lionel Montagne at the young age of 102.5) and 4 who will reach that milestone in the coming year! Speaking of Lionel, I always enjoy pointing him out to some of our youngest parishioners after Sunday masses and asking them to guess his age. When I tell them he’s 102+, watching them gasp with a prolonged “WOW” and wide-open eyes is fun!

But watching Rachel walk around the block with her esteemed and trusted walker is moving and inspirational. So, I’ve been on the lookout for her for a couple of days because I wanted to join her for a quick walk and, more importantly, get a photo op with her!

Last Sunday after Mass, I was sharing the story with, well, let’s say for the sake of this story, their names are Chris and Lisa Nicholas (you may remember Chris is my orthopedic surgeon). They stopped by after Mass to visit my mom and me and mainly to check up on me because I had a little setback during the week. Dorkus here, got out of his chair wrong a few days before the weekend and twisted and bent his bad knee, sending his pain into orbit. My mind forgot that my knee just had surgery! I had to get X-rays to ensure I didn’t dislodge anything. Thankfully, the x-rays confirmed I didn’t mess up anything. One good thing that came out of the mishap is that I had doctor’s order to skip therapy and my exercises for a few days so my knee and whatever I did would calm down. So I was “parked” on my recliner with my infamous “ice sandwich” around my knee for a few days … and it worked! Blessed be God! As everyone kept telling me, ice would become my best friend. They weren’t kidding.

After sharing the story with my mom, Chris, and Lisa about wanting to join Rachel for a walk, I said that if I didn’t see them out walking today, I would call them. Well, I didn’t need to call. As my guests were leaving, guess who they saw in front of the Parish Center going for a walk! Yes, none other than Rachel, her daughter, and her son-in-law! Knowing it would take me a few minutes to get myself downstairs and knowing I didn’t want to do anything stupid again, they asked Rachel if she could take a quick break so I could meet her outside. And wait they did. My mom and I then took turns using the chair lift to descend to the lower level. I got my walker, and my mom grabbed hers and her phone so we could meet them outside.

Rachel was kind enough to join me for a photo op, and then we went for a little walk up the driveway! There was no way I was going to join them on a walk around the block! As we began our little journey, I was stunned by what I saw. This couldn’t be. There is NO WAY this was happening. I knew I had a little setback, but I didn’t think I was walking THAT slowly. Rachel was OUTPACING ME! Wait a minute! NO WAY. Then to add salt to the wound, she looked back at me and said, “Let me know if you want me to slow down!” I was done! It was time to go back upstairs and park it on my chair with my ice sandwich.

I guess this means I need more physical therapy! I’ll be asking for a re-do in a few weeks … so get ready Rachel!

Here’s the photo op from the experience.

And here's a cute 60-second video of our little walk:

God bless you, Rachel … our Neighborhood Hero!

Memorial Day: As we gather with friends and family this Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to share with you an extract from a speech given by Billy Graham decade and a half before Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971. He was in Boston to deliver a memorial address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in, but perhaps his words, and the challenge he presents, have gained an even great need for repetition in recent years:

“As we think of the selflessness and heroism [of those we remember today], we are reminded of the words of Jesus Christ who said: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

[They] found, as have brave men of all ages, that there are principles well worth dying for. Their noble, unselfish sacrifice is a silent, eloquent rebuke to the self-centeredness of this generation. Let those who want “peace at any price” remember this day that thousands have died for honor and freedom and that what we have today has come at the price of shed blood.”

Even though the sacrifices of our war dead have been great, yet the greatest sacrifice of all time was made by a man on a cross who died that men might live. We have neglected Him too long! We have rejected His plan for peace, and as a result, we have fought, bled and died for centuries! I challenge the world at this hour to accept His program of heart regeneration that can transform the society in which we live, and we can know the meaning of genuine peace in our time. 

Yes the bells of liberty ring in America today because these men we honor today got through for us. The sacred memory of their sacrifice will always live in our hearts, and we have a sacred and holy trust—and we cannot fail them!”

And we must not weaken in our efforts to live out the Gospel, because Jesus Christ sacrificed everything for us.… for our freedom from the chains of evil that destroys life. We owe him our effort. We owe Him our time in the trenches, doing the work, sacrificing where needed.

Today I offer you this prayer. Maybe you and your family can keep what I hope is a restful day together in true perspective by praying this together at some point of Memorial Day.

Pentecost: Pentecost is not only a Christian feast. As part of the Old Covenant, the people of Israel were supposed to travel to Jerusalem for three feasts each year. Pope Benedict writes that by doing this, “Israel remains, as it were, God’s pilgrim people, always journeying toward its God and receiving its identity.”

The Feast of Tabernacles, celebrating God’s saving presence, is fulfilled in the Transfiguration; the Feast of Passover, the sacrifice that saved Israel from death, is fulfilled in the Eucharist. Now we celebrate the third of these three Jewish pilgrimage feasts, Pentecost, brought to glorious fulfillment in the New Testament.

This feast took place every year, about fifty days after Passover, giving the feast its Greek name: pentekoste. This feast commemorated God’s giving of the Law to Moses and, through Moses, to all the people.

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain [Sinai], and wait there; and I will give you the tables of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction”…

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the sons of Israel. (Exodus 24:12, 15-17)

God spoke to Moses from the cloud of fire, and gave him the Law, explaining how proper worship should look - how to construct and carry the Ark of the Covenant, how to offer sacrifice, how to ordain priests, how priests are to behave, and how to decorate the Lord’s tent. It was only after Israel received these laws about worship—and after Israel broke them by forging the golden calf—that the Lord gave them the Ten Commandments.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit brings the Feast of Pentecost to its glorious fulfillment. God comes down as fire upon His appointed messengers, and sends them to proclaim the New Covenant to His people. St. Peter, primary among the Apostles, leads them out into the large crowds. It’s no coincidence that the crowds have gathered there from every nation – they have travelled to Jerusalem on their pilgrimage of Pentekoste. And Peter proclaims to them the fulfillment of the Old Testament:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it… Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:22-24, 36)

Here, just as Moses attended to God on Mt. Sinai and received the Law, the Apostles attend to the Holy Spirit and receive the new Law. They do not yet prescribe regulations for worship, but they definitively proclaim the truth around which all worship is now centered: that Jesus of Nazareth, who is Lord and Christ, died and was raised from the dead.

In time, led by the Holy Spirit, they will bring us God’s new law. These men will be the ones to write the Gospels, inspired by the Holy Spirit. They will lead the Church and guide Her, themselves led by the Spirit, in opening up the Church to the whole world. As priests of the new covenant, they will lead God’s people in proper worship and sacrifice in the Eucharist, as they were commanded by Jesus. Following His commands, they will bring Baptism and all the sacraments to the ends of the earth.

We give God thanks today for our new priests, ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit this Pentecost weekend by Archbishop Vigneron: Fr. Richard Dorsch; Fr. Ryan Walters; Fr. Jeremy Schupbach; Fr. Michael Selvaraj; and Fr. Andrew Smith.

adawson@sjascs.org 

The call to holiness can feel like an overwhelming challenge. In fact it can seem downright impossible. But in spite of our brokenness, sinfulness and littleness God keeps calling us to “walk on the water” with Him.

Today Fr. Mike contrasts our “mercenary heart” – which so easily is swayed to pursue the pleasures of the world which draws our gaze away from Jesus – with the “Merciful Heart of Jesus” that seeks to draw us to Himself.

18) Words on the Word: May 28, 2023 - Spiritual Gifts 

Whenever there are big groups of people involved, things tend to get complicated. It’s true among local volunteer groups. It’s true in private industry, and it’s especially true, one might argue, when it comes to the government.

A recent story in The Detroit News discussed efforts in Lansing to take “a more transparent approach this spring to deciding which special projects get funding in the state’s next budget.”

Putting aside the political conversations about whether these upcoming government expenditures should be happening at all, and at what cost to taxpayers, simply consider the wrangling the must be taking place among those who may receive funding. The approach suggested by one legislator, for example, included creating various categories of funding to be provided, so that “all of the dollars wouldn’t flow to just a handful of big initiatives,” the story said.

Among the various categories of potential spending are programs around culture and arts, labor market talent attraction and growth, housing projects, small business initiatives, infrastructure improvements, nonprofit support, and more. Even in the absolute best circumstances, where everyone shares a common goal – say, making Michigan a better place for all – the competing voices, agendas and interests would seem to be almost insurmountable.

And that’s why the vision – and reality – described by St. Paul in today’s second reading is so appealing.

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit,” he writes to the Corinthians. “There are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.”

That’s the blueprint, if you will, for the church. God willing, with the cooperation of all, if could work for society as well.

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.

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.

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.

7:00 a.m., Robert Swalec

7:00 a.m., Henry VanEgmond

7:00 a.m., Carolyn Foley

7:00 a.m., Wallie Gray

7:00 a.m., Evan Battani

4:00 p.m., Bonnie Batche, Albert Embo, Virginia Vonderwerth, the deceased members of the Gore family, Frank Nagy, Special Intentions for the J. Champine Family, the Thomas Family, Alison Reslow and Prayerful Appreciation for the Priests and Staff of St. Joan of Arc.

6:00 p.m., John Armaly Sr.

8:00 a.m., For the Intentions for St. Joan of Arc Parishioners

10:00 a.m., Frank E. Adamcik

12:00 p.m., Dottie Lubinski, Edward Baranek, the deceased members of the Rogier & Dettloff Families, and a Special Intention for Alison Reslow

Thursday (June 2):

Friday (June 3):

10:00 AM - Funeral for Phyllis Dedene (Read Obituary HERE)

4:00 PM - Wedding of Jennifer Roehl and Todd McCarthy Wedding

1:00 PM - Wedding of Lauren Jones and Joshua Tadevich