Week of September 22, 2024

Rest in Peace Fr. Bob Shafer

Earlier today, Fr. Bob Shafer, who served our parish as an Associate Pastor in the early 2000s and most recently as an in-resident priest from 2016 - 2020, entered eternal life.

Funeral arrangements are still pending, but once information is available, I will send out another email.

May Fr. Bob rest forever in God's gentle and loving hands.

1) Donate to Crossroads TODAY

2) GALA Save the Date - Saturday, November 2, 2024

Tickets for this year's Gala at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club on November 2, 2024, are now on sale for $125 per person. Click on the button below to purchase your tickets today.

3) Upcoming Retrouvaille Marriage Weekend

4) Interested in becoming Catholic? Do you need to complete your sacraments of initiation? Join the next OCIA class!

5) Faith Formation Registration

6) Exceptional Needs Registration

7) New Study Series: Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary

8) Walking with Purpose - Women's Bible Study Opportunities

9) Men's Fellowship

10) CSA Update

If you have not yet given to this year's CSA, please do so soon. We still need to raise $5,564 to reach our goal.

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!

11) Celebrating Marriage with the Saints of Umbria with Deacon Dom and Teresa

Get a $250 Discount Through Septembe

12) Blessing of Pets

13) Pregnancy Aid Detroit Gala

14) 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.

15) Holy Hour on Thursdays

16) This Sunday's Readings: September 22, 2024 - the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

17) Sunday Reflections by Jeff Cavins

The First Shall Be Last

In this week’s Encountering the Word video, Jeff Cavins discusses how to cut out the things we do, the places we go, and the things we watch that cause us to sin, as he reflects on the Gospel reading for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

First Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

Responsorial Psalm: 54:3-4, 5, 6 and 8

Second Reading: James 3:16—4:3

Alleluia: Cf. 2 Thes 2:14

Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

18) Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

The Ladder Doesn’t Matter



Friends, why was the story of Jesus with the little children, versions of which appear in the three synoptic Gospels, so vividly remembered by the first Christians? I think they intuited that it got very close to the heart of Jesus’ teaching. The way Mark sets up his account of this story in our Gospel for this weekend is frankly funny, and it’s an example of the disciples completely missing the point of everything.

19) Grow+Go

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 the button or image below to download a PDF copy of this Sunday's Grow+Go.

20) Giving to SJA:

I'm truly grateful for 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.

21) TALLer Tales

Traveling with Ms. Daisy (Part 1): This is the beginning of my travelogue about my journey with “Ms. Daisy” (aka my mom) on our Eastern Seaboard Journey on board the Viking Mars. As I mentioned last weekend, this trip included stops in Montreal, Quebec, Saguenay, Gaspe, Halifax, Boston, and New York. As I write this (last Monday), we had a full day at sea as we traveled from the beautiful seaport town of Saguenay to the Gaspe Peninsula. This trip has given me MANY opportunities in just four days to be grateful for and to marvel at GOD’s incredible creation. The scenery has been so incredibly breathtaking!

Equally incredibly breathtaking has been what PEOPLE created to give thanks and praise to God. The Churches we visited in Montreal, Quebec, and St. Anne de Beaupre were just as incredible and breathtaking as the scenery we experienced. No words I write here could adequately describe the beauty we saw regarding God’s creation or the beauty of the churches. So, this travelogue will give more space to the pictures we took rather than my words to describe what we saw.

Before I begin, however, I must tell you about one Uber driver. We’ve had a few harrowing Uber moments because yours truly misjudged his timing in his effort to fit in too many things before we were supposed to be at our next stop. My mom and I didn’t do many of the standard tours because we wanted to hit some of the famous cathedrals and basilicas at our destinations. Many of our stops were an attempt for my mom to retrace the journey she and my dad took on their honeymoon some 62 years ago. My mom had not returned to Montreal or Quebec since their honeymoon, so seeing these places and sites was very important for her.

Our Uber driver picked us up in Mount Royal and was ever so attentive to my mom. He was the most talkative of our drivers. He was more talkative because he spoke fluent Arabic, English, and French; the other Uber drivers in Montreal and Quebec knew very little English. So, we started chatting with him during our 40-minute drive and learned he had a 7-year-old son. We asked how he liked the school system in Montreal. He said it was good; he only objected that religion was not taught or spoken about in the classroom. That was my door to start talking “shop.” I told him I was a Catholic priest. Right away, he smiled and said, “I KNEW IT.” I wasn’t dressed in my clerics, so I asked him what gave it away. He then told me he was Orthodox, and his wife was Catholic. He said he suspected I was a priest when he picked us up. First, he picked us up at the Oratory. Second, I was dressed in black shoes, black pants, and a plaid dress shirt. Third, it was hot outside, and most wouldn’t dress like I was on a hot summer day. My mom and I laughed. “So, I look like a priest on his ‘day off,’” I asked. He just nodded and laughed in return.

So this priest, on his “day off,” and his mom explored some phenomenal churches that my mom and dad visited on their honeymoon in 1962.

Let’s start with the Basilica of Notre Dame in Montreal. These two sentences from Wikipedia say it all, “The interior of the church is amongst the most dramatic in the world and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. Approximately 11 million people visit Notre-Dame Basilica every year, making it one of the most visited monuments in North America.” I was surprised to learn you must pay to visit the Cathedral ($12 per person). They are in the middle of significant renovations that should be completed by 2040. The altar area, the pulpit, the Casavant organ, and all the niches are breathtaking.

Equally stunning, in a completely different genre of building styles, is the Oratory of St. Joseph in Mount Royal, Canada’s largest Church. Saint André Bessette, a lay brother of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, founded it and is buried in this sacred space. They also have an outdoor stations of the cross in which all the stations are created in life-size limestone statues.

Then there is the most beautiful Basilica of Sainte Anne de Beaupré, located about a half hour from Quebec and one of the oldest pilgrimage sites in North America. The basilica is known as a place of many miracles. Many visitors who have prayed at the church and were healed left their canes, crutches, and walking aids at the Basilica as a testament to their healing. The main entry wall into the basilica is completely covered with crutches!

The final church we visited in Quebec was the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame, the oldest church in Canada. Here, there is also a Holy Door, only the eighth such door in the world and the only one outside Europe. We were lucky because the door is open until December 8, 2024, to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Quebec.

It was so impressive to see these churches, the vast number of visitors, and the faith of the people who were reverently praying at each place. It was an unexpected and grace-filled blessing to see them and equally grace-filled to help my mom revisit, for the first time, the churches she and my dad visited as part of their honeymoon in 1962.

Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers!

In Christ,

gmb@sjascs.org

22) Voiland's View

There is a line in Psalm 119 that is commonly translated: “Lord, how I love your law!” The sentence has an exclamation point at the end! Such a sentiment seems so strange. Our normal tendency is to throw off “the law.” After all, “Who needs rules? I want to do my own thing! I’ll decide for myself!” From our earliest years, we push back against the law. Mommy or Daddy say we must share our toys and our response is “NO!” Then we pout over having to even hear such a thought. We want what we want! This desire to make our own rules persists throughout our lives. So, how could anyone say, “Lord, how I love your law!”?

The psalm goes on to speak of becoming wise through observance of the law; that the law will keep us from evil; that aligning with the truth of age-old rules brings a peace of mind that is sweet. Supposedly, the law of the Lord makes life so good that we can say we love the law . . . with an exclamation point!

The genuine goodness of having “lovable rules” is that they bring order into any situation that abides by them. A lack of rules causes everything to break down into chaos. A baseball game where the batter gets as many swings as he wants, until somebody on the opposing team gets so tired of waiting that he goes and beats the batter to a pulp, is not a fun game. We like rules when we feel like they work for us. But, more commonly, we like to freelance as much as possible – without regulations. Examples of our worldly desire to be free of the rules are endless.

As kids, we do not want to be told when to go to bed. Teens don’t want restrictions put on which friends they are allowed to hang out with. We resist punching a clock at work or being required to show up on time for class. We want to eat and drink whatever we desire, even if it destroys our health. Speed limits, stop signs, and traffic lights are obviously meant for somebody other than us. Being required to go to Mass every Sunday strikes us as being boring, old-fashioned, and unnecessary. Furthermore, telling us what we can or cannot do with OUR BODIES is off limits! No rules here!

Oddly enough, Psalm 119 advises doing just the opposite of our natural inclination to “do our own thing.” It tells us over and over . . . and over again, how “happy are those who keep the Lord’s decrees (Ps 119: 1-2). Psalm 119 is l-o-n-n-n-n-g, the longest psalm in the whole book of Psalms. Yet the entire psalm goes on about how God’s decrees, precepts, commands, statutes, commandments, words, ordinances, ways – in a word, his laws – are the best thing since sliced bread. Continuously throughout Psalm 119, we are told that God’s law is guaranteed to make us happy, blameless, pure, secure, wise, respected, honored, liberated, delighted, humble, single-minded, zealous, truthful – and more. All through observance of the law!

If we are thoughtful and honest, the advantages of following God’s rules should ring true in the deep recesses of our hearts, even though worldly temptations nudge us to venture off on our own. Out of love for us, God promised that “I will make a new covenant with my people . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31: 31,33). This New Covenant was established with the coming of Jesus into our world. He broke the power of Satan that shackled us to a inbred hatred for the law and reformed our hearts to be receptive to the beauty of the law. We can indeed love the law because, in Jesus, we can now understand that his truth is true law – and his law sets us free. We are free to love as Christ loves.

We can love the law because Jesus sums up genuine law with the Greatest Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12: 29-31). We can love the law because the law itself is to love.

Every ‘little law’ is a minor manifestation of the Greatest Law. Once we see that connection, we realize that God’s law is life-giving – totally freeing. Eating right and going to church on Sunday is not drudgery anymore. It feels right because it is right. It is the kind of thing a person can love – a law of love.

On a different, wonderful note: this past Monday, I was honored to attend the St. Clair Shores City Council meeting with our business manager Dina Ciaffone, Debbie Bigham, Thelma and Chuck Socia, and Richard Hass to receive a 2024 Beautification Business Award from the SCS Beautification Committee on behalf of St. Joan of Arc Parish. 

The City of St. Clair Shores prides itself on the care we invest in beautifying our city’s surroundings. Debbie, Thelma, Chuck, and Richard have spent countless hours making St. Joan of Arc Parish stand out for its outdoor beauty. If you have ever pulled a weed; planted flowers, bushes or grass; moved piles of dirt or landscape materials; or watered plants in scorching heat: multiply that by the hundreds and you’ll get a feel for the work these fellow parishioners of ours do to glorify God by beautifying our grounds. 

Thank you Debbie, Thelma, Chuck, Richard, and all other St. Joan Gardeners! We will be honoring all of our volunteer gardeners with a dedication of the plaque from the City when Monsignor returns.

And thank you to the St. Clair Shores Beautification Committee for recognizing their generous work! 

Peace,

Fr. Bob

rvoiland@sjascs.org

23) Ascension Presents: Father Mike Schmitz

Fr. Mike Responds to “I Don’t Get Anything Out of Mass

You’ve definitely either said—or met someone who’s said—“I go to Mass, but I just don’t get anything out of it.”

Fr. Mike gets you. He’s said it too. But what he’s learned and cannot stop telling everyone is that Mass is not about you or getting anything out of it. The heart of religion is worship, and the heart of worship is sacrifice.

Mass is not about what you can get, but what you can give to God that is due to him as Lord of the Universe.

24) Words on the Word: September 22, 2024 - War and Peace

An old rock song observes that war is good for “absolutely nothing.”

It’s a sentiment that seems so obvious it need not even be said. But of course, almost nothing these days is absolutely obvious to everyone, everywhere.

Aside from the usual considerations and consequences of war, one media outlet reported recently of another factor that would likely come into play, should the United States ever again be in the position of needing to fight a widespread war: there likely wouldn’t be enough troops to do so.

The article went into detail about several factors that contribute to the situation, starting with the elimination decades ago of the draft, missed recruiting numbers for the major branches of our military, the lack of qualified people to serve – given chronic health conditions – and the lack of ability to quickly mobilize in the event of an emergency.

All of which, one hopes, is being addressed by our nation’s top military minds.

But we also are called to look inwardly, as well, and to consider what proclivities, desires and motivations exist in each of us that give rise to war in the first place.

War is a large-scale and international set of consequences, to be sure, but it starts with every single person, individually, and our inclinations toward others.

“Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from,” St. James asks in today’s second reading. “Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war.

“You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but you do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

Our prayer: Let peace begin with me.

© 2024 Words on the Word

25) This WEEK on FORMED:

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:

• 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.



26) 52 Stories: Good News from Spirit Juice Studios

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!

Warrior For Christ

In this profile video, Spirit Juice Studios tells the story of Knight of Columbus and U.S. Army Special Forces First Sergeant Sompaul Vorapanich. A founding member of St. Michael the Archangel Council located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Sompaul annually leads wounded warriors on a Knights of Columbus-sponsored pilgrimage to Lourdes.

27) Hallow App:

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.

28) Mass Intentions for the Week:

Monday, September 23, 2024, Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest (White)

7:00 am: The deceased members of the Krolikowski Family

Tuesday, September 24, 2024, Weekday (Green)

7:00 am: Mary & Frank Fleming

Wednesday, September 25, 2024, Weekday (Green)

7:00 am: Felice DiBerardino

6:00 pm: Marie Margaret Stanley

Thursday, September 26, 2024, Weekday, Saints Cosmas and Damian Martyrs (Green/Red)

7:00 am: Pierre Zaranek

Friday, September 27, 2024, Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest (White)

7:00 am: Catherine Graebert

Saturday, September 28, 2024, Vigil for the Twenty-six Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)

4:00 pm: Raymond Radatz, Earl Pare, Colleen Hemman, Bonnie Batche, Carolyn Casper, Josephine Alberti, Elizabeth webster, Thomas Benoit, Karen Rygiel, Kevin Collins, Marie Ann Easley, Nicholas Nehro, Mary Steele, Robert F. Palonis, Cliff Hastings, Michael Francis Todd, Nancy Barkley, Diane Cowart, Joseph & Angeline Calus, Norman Dolinski, and Special Intentions for the J. Champine Family, the Thomas Family, Alison Reslow and Tom & Diana Ziolkowski

6:00 pm: Huo Calisi

Sunday, September 29, 2024, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)

8:00 am: The Intentions of SJA Parishioners

10:00 am: Barbara Pollack

12:00 pm: Dr. Joel Rojas, C. Pat Walters, Sam & Michael Ciaramitaro, Dennis Lex, Angelina Calbone, Sicilia Grego and Special Intentions for Alison Reslow and Bobbie Timmreck

29) This Week on St. Joan of Arc LIVE:

This week's LIVE Stream

Schedule at St. Joan of Arc:

Monday (September 23)

7:00 AM - Mass

Tuesday (September 24):

7:00 AM - Mass

8:30 AM - School Mass

Wednesday (September 25):

7:00 AM - Mass

6:00 PM - Mass

Thursday (September 26):

7:00 AM- Mass

7:00 PM - Holy Hour



Friday (September 27):

7:00 AM - Mass

Saturday (September 28):

10:00 AM - Funeral for Beverly Freismuth

12:30 PM - Baptism of Delaney G. Rozelle

1:30 PM - Baptism of Camden R. Chwalek

4:00 PM - Mass

6:00 PM - Mass

Sunday (September 29):

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.

30) SJA's Latest Parish Bulletin

Click on the image below

to download a copy of the bulletin

for September 22, 2024

31) 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.



32) Detroit Catholic