Dear Friends in Christ,
Here are a few updates from the parish for the week of May 23, 2021.
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1) The 52nd Annual Raffle: We are down to the home stretch. The drawing will take place at 5 PM TONIGHT (Sunday, May 23, 2021). You can join us LIVE in Church or watch the drawing online at livestream.stjoan.church.
You have until 4:30 PM to get your raffle tickets in. Raffle tickets can be dropped off at the Parish Center or dropped in the offertory box in the Gathering Place at Church.
If you need or want more tickets stop by the Parish Center. The office is open from noon until 4:30 pm TODAY (Sunday).
If you have any questions about the raffle, please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Center at 586-777-3670 or info@sjascs.org.
THANKS for all you are doing to support our 2021 Raffle.
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2) Fair Food Drive-In - Sunday's Line UP:
North American Midway
BBQ Daddy
Full Rack BBQ
Estia
Raquel's Cocina
Deutschtroit
Aruba Freeze
The Fair Food Drive-in will be open until 6 PM tonight. Feel free to bring some lawn chairs and sit on the Church or School lawn or any available spot in the Parking Lot. Of course, you can also use the picnic tables located near the Athletic Field.
Thanks for your support of SJA!
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3) Save a Life - Contact Congress to SAVE the Hyde Amendment |
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WHAT
Congress is trying to force Americans to pay for abortion.
HOW
The Hyde Amendment and similar laws have protected taxpayers from funding elective abortion for 45 years. Now, powerful members of Congress want to take away these laws that both Democrats and Republicans have supported for nearly half a century.
WHAT HAPPENS WITHOUT THESE PROTECTIONS?
Billions of taxpayer dollars could be used to pay for abortion.
TAKE ACTION
Sign the petition to Congress!
PETITION
Save Hyde. Save lives.
Taxpayer dollars should NOT pay for abortion.
The majority of Americans agree with this - both Democrats and Republicans.
For 45 years, the Hyde amendment and similar laws have protected taxpayers from being forced to pay for elective abortion.
The Hyde amendment has been signed into law every year since 1976, whether the Congress and the White House were led by Republicans or Democrats.
The Hyde Amendment has saved nearly 2.5 million babies and mothers in difficult circumstances from the tragedy of abortion.
An overwhelming majority of Americans, including low-income women and women of color who are most impacted by it, support the Hyde Amendment and laws that prevent government-funded abortion.
We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to ensure that the Hyde Amendment and all similar life-saving appropriations riders remain in place during the 117th Congress and beyond.
Do not force Americans to subsidize the taking of innocent life. Oppose any bill, including any appropriations bill, that expands taxpayer funding of abortion.
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4) Electronics Recycling Event for Holy Innocents / St. Barnabas Parish |
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5) PRAY: The Story of Fr. Patrick Peyton |
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6) This Sunday's Readings - Sunday, May 23, 2021 |
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7) Grow+Go for the Solemnity of Pentecost |
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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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8) Sunday Reflection by Jeff Cavins: |
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In this week’s Encountering the Word video, Jeff Cavins reflects on the readings for Pentecost Sunday
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9) Stimulus Check 3 Gift to SJA: With each of the Stimulus Checks, many in the parish have called inquiring if there was a family that could use the help. The answer is YES ... your parish family!
As was mentioned a few weeks ago, the first Saturday of March would have been our annual School Gala, the 15th Annual Gala. But because of COVID, the Gala couldn't take place. That annual fundraising nets approximately $100,00 per year. Then given the decline in Sunday offertory and Christmas collections because of the reduced number of people coming to Church, the income we rely on to carry out our many great works has been on the decline. So, we created, and are widely publicizing, the Stimulus Check 3 Gift to SJA. I hope you can be a part of this little project and fundraiser.
I realize not everyone can afford to give part or all of their stimulus check, but to those who can, I would ask that you consider this easy gift to the parish.
Checks can be written to SJA with a memo: Stimulus Check 3 Gift. You can also donate electronically by clicking on the button below.
Thanks for your ongoing and generous support of SJA!
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10) Giving to SJA: I'm truly grateful for all of your support of SJA during this pandemic. 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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11) This Week's Edition of TALLer Tales |
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Taken Out of Context: Our COVID world has brought about a whole new set of chores, tasks, and responsibilities for each of us. Like all of you, I’m doing all the things I used to do before COVID, plus additional items that came about because of COVID. Some of the additions result from the reduction in staff and somebody has to do the task (like handling the scheduling of baptisms where ALL baptisms are now private). Other items are new things we’ve started since COVID (like mailing the bulletin or streaming every liturgy). I’m grateful to our staff, who’ve had to balance many things. The beautiful thing is that EVERYONE on staff goes above and beyond to get it all accomplished. Our staff comes in on weeknights and weekends and takes work home, putting in many more hours than that for which they are paid! When you see any of our staff, please thank them for the outstanding work they are accomplishing and for all that they do for SJA! We have an incredible team at SJA! THANK YOU!
One of my new additional tasks is taking care of the technical aspects of the streaming operation and making sure we are maintaining production-quality work. Ask anyone on staff. I take this pretty seriously. Who wouldn’t take this new ministry seriously, given our viewing statistics? Most 7 AM daily masses see an average of about 225 unique connections. THAT’s amazing. Although Father Rich certainly has a fan club. The numbers always spike on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when he has mass! Last Wednesday, for example, we had 332 unique viewers! The Saturday 4 PM mass, at a minimum, has 400 unique viewers/connections. Two weeks ago, it hit 520. That’s 520 additional connections, and we don’t even know how many people are behind each of those connections. The next most popular liturgy is the 8 AM Mass on Sunday. It usually has about 250 unique viewers. These numbers are mind-boggling to me. That’s why our streaming quality has to be top-notch. The streaming of our liturgies has become an essential ministry in our parish. It’s also awesome to hear from families who couldn’t attend a wedding, funeral, or baptism in-person compliment us for what we do with our streaming ministry because what we do has allowed them to participate in this important family event. It’s worth the time and effort we put into this ministry.
I’m sure people know by now that when they see me messing around with an iPad during mass, I’m either tweaking something with the sound or possibly controlling the streaming operation because we didn’t have someone scheduled to handle the cameras. My new routine in the Sacristy is that I first dart for the iPad when I arrive. I confirm the right sound system scene has been selected based on the mass or who is handling the music. I then make sure I can connect to the cameras. If I need to make one last bathroom break before mass, I do (this is important for the story). Once these initial tasks are done, I head to my vestment closet, get vested, head to the mirror that is way too short for me to see my head, and comb my hair. I then head for my phone because our system should be broadcasting, and I confirm that we are live. If all of this checks out, I give the thumbs up. Next, Father Andrew will dutifully turn off the sacristy lights to help diminish any glare or odd reflections from the cameras. Someone will then hold open the sacristy door, and off we go.
I’ve shared this in the past, but it’s also important to know for this story that my mom is our primary off-site quality control/production specialist. She will text me if she notices anything odd on our Facebook, ROKU, or website feed. They should technically be the same feed, but every once in a while, there are glitches. She also lets me know when we have sound issues online. My goal is to correct the problem(s) before we start getting calls or Facebook posts.
Now on to the story. A week ago this past Saturday, I came flying into the Sacristy like I always do: usually ten minutes before mass. Thankfully, Father Andrew, Deacon Tom, and Deacon Dom handle all the setup, so I just have to show up. Usually, I’ll be at the Parish Center working on a project or something, and I rely on my Alexa or phone alarms to get me out the door when needed. I squeeze every second I’ve got. Once I got to the Sacristy, I checked the iPad, checked the sound, and confirmed I could connect to the cameras. I then decided I needed one last bathroom break. As I was washing my hands, I felt my watch buzz. It was a text from my mom. She told me that we had sound but a blank screen on Roku and Facebook. It was only three minutes to mass time. THIS was a five-alarm situation! With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore … I spring from the Sacristy to see what was the matter. Away to the choir loft, I flew like a flash, tore open the choir loft doorway, and ran up in a dash. As I did so, I shouted to those around me, “We’ve got STREAMING PROBLEMS!”
Once I got upstairs to the choir loft, I was able to fix the issue quickly. Thankfully, the video mixer which controls the cameras was simply on the wrong output. A simple push of a button corrected the problem. I was breathing a sigh of relief. I confirmed on my phone and with my mom that we were back to “normal.” Once the green light was given, I calmly walked back to the Sacristy. Phew. Disaster avoided. There’s nothing worse than letting down some 400-600 people who depend on the streaming ministry. Unfortunately, we were already a minute or two past 4 PM, and I still had to get vested. Father Rich was sitting in one of the Sacristy chairs just waiting for me to return so he could share what they were laughing about when I went flying out of the bathroom. He was laughing so hard he had a difficult time trying to repeat what they were discussing. “You know,” Father Rich started, “you flew open that bathroom door so fast, and shouted as you did so, ‘We’ve got STREAMING PROBLEMS,’ that anyone who didn’t know you and your routine would have thought you were talking about something personal that needed a doctor’s attention.”
Raffle 2021: Thanks again for all of your support of this year’s raffle. Please remember that you have until Sunday at 4:30 PM to get your raffle tickets in on time for our 5 PM drawing. You can drop your tickets off at the Parish Center; if the office isn’t open, drop your completed tickets in the mail slot. The drawing will take place at 5 PM in Church. If you want to be there live, join us. Otherwise, we will stream the drawing beginning at 5 PM at livestream.stjoan.church. Good Luck. AND THANKS for your support of Raffle 2021!
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Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers!
In Christ,
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12) Tire Tracks in the d’Arc |
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Pentecost: It’s been 4 years this Pentecost since the Archbishop issued his Pastoral Letter, Unleash the Gospel. I remember the day well. I was ordained to the priesthood the morning of the same day. In those few years parishes have begun to look at every area of their ministries and to align them to the mission of that letter. Essentially, the letter charges the Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit to return to its Pentecost roots and to become a Church focused on mission and not maintenance. Nature and the culture assure that maintenance meaning maintaining an ever smaller and smaller, more exclusive and unsustainable Church. Mission means we reach out, grow and thrive. If you haven’t read the letter at all, or haven't read it recently, I’d suggest doing so. You’re in it. It talks about you, about me, about all of us.
My favorite part of the letter comes right at the beginning, in the introduction:
“Just as in the Upper Room at Pentecost, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms Christ’s disciples from ordinary people into Spirit-filled evangelizers.”
Before the coming of the Spirit, the early Christians did not seem a particularly impressive group of people. They had good reason to be filled with fears, concerns, and feelings of inadequacy as they contemplated the awesome task Jesus had given them: to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. They were still struggling to comprehend the events of recent days: the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord. But when the Spirit fell upon them, their hearts were set ablaze with the fire of God’s love and they could no longer keep the good news of Christ to themselves. They went out from the Upper Room overflowing with the joy of the Gospel. Through their witness, the Gospel was unleashed in Jerusalem and from there throughout the ancient world.
Today no less than two millennia ago, there is no limit to what the Lord can do in our midst. His part is to clothe his Church with “power from on high” (cf. Luke 24:49) for the accomplishment of her mission. Our part is to give him our wholehearted “yes”—to let ourselves be transformed, guided, and sent forth by the Holy Spirit, who is the “principal agent of evangelization.” (Unleash the Gospel, 1)
One of the frustrating realities of the modern world is the portrayal of Christians on TV in recent years. They are often shown as feeble, slightly odd and out of touch, sheltered characters, who come together to sing “Kumbaya” in small groups, but are fairly irrelevant in the world and who shrink away when the culture around them looks their way and says, “Boo.”
We ought to all be annoyed by that portrayal. Perhaps what’s most condemning about the image is that these TV shows have played on and promoted a stereotype. And a stereotype doesn’t resonate if it has no basis in truth, however. While the image of the Christian is far from true for all Christians, there is much in the image that is being mirrored from reality. And if there is a reality that is born out in the image, it’s because Christians have allowed it to be seen in them.
Our world today lives loudly. Making your opinion known seems to be a badge of honor, but who’s the watchdog and guardian of the Truth? Life lived, in and for Christ, is the truth. Christ is Truth. We who have been baptized into His body have been born into Truth. We have God Himself living within us in the form of the Holy Spirit Who is the subject of today’s great Feast of Pentecost. Christ has shared Himself with us in the Eucharist and at Pentecost the great promise of the Father is realized with the descent of the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Holy Spirit Who lives among us to be the power that should help us guard and share the truth of the love of Christ.
There are so many ways in which God has shared His love for us. If you won the lottery, wouldn’t you be itching to tell someone the good news? Still, so many Christians shrink away at the thought of sharing the news of that which God has gifted them. They fall back on the false notion that their faith is “private,” not something I have any need to defend when it is publicly opposed – the expression that “my faith is just between me and God.” That’s a made-up theology that is opposed to Jesus’ own words. The very last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before He ascended into Heaven were the commission to evangelize all people: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
That can’t be done sitting on our hands and never talking about Jesus. That will not be enough to convince the Lord of our love for Him when we one day come face to face with Him and He asks for an account of what we did for Him.
The love of Christ that we celebrate every time we gather to celebrate the Mass is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature, it demands to be shared. What the world needs is God’s love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in Him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the Church’s life, but also of her mission: “an authentically eucharistic Church is a missionary Church.” We too must be able to tell our brothers and sisters with conviction: “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us” (1 Jn 1:3) – Unleash the Gospel 3.4
In his Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis challenges us, “If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life....” We must rid ourselves of the stereotype. We cannot afford to be feeble; nor should we be willing to be portrayed as feeble any longer. And we have no need to be – the Holy Spirit has been given to us. Now take Him places.
I hope we can hear the great drama in the Pentecost Mass readings:
“And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2)
Two years ago at my evening mass, the drama of the readings and the amazing events of that weekend at my parish struck me so strongly that I walked-up to the ambo, read the Gospel, picked-up my homily, went down to the main floor, ripped-up my homily and said “now we’re all in trouble.” But the Holy Spirit told me to preach something other than I had planned. How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you? Are you listening? Let’s not be a part of the stereotype; dare to be bold.
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You are in my prayers this week!
Fr. Andrew
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13) Words on the Word: May 23, 2021 - Bully, Bully
Bullies, unfortunately, are not just limited to the schoolyard or tough city streets.
They can be found in every walk of life including, for many adults, in the workplace.
A recent story in a national publication that reports on show business news discussed how one of the latest trends in Hollywood is something called a “rage coach.” While executive coaches have been around for years, rage coaches are a more recent development.
As the culture overall – and certainly workplaces as a subset of the culture – have become increasingly aware of the implications that abusive behavior can have, increasingly practical steps have been taken to deal with the problems.
In the case of the Hollywood rage coaches, according to the story, they are being tasked with helping powerful executives who have come up through a frequently abusive system learn how not to perpetuate that abuse.
To be nicer, in other words.
“An industry that once romanticized behaviors like … flinging of objects at assistants is now coming to terms with the idea that such behavior is not now and never actually should have been acceptable,” the story says.
That’s welcome news, to be sure, and one hopes the kinder, gentler and more peaceful culture is something that will permeate not only Hollywood, but well beyond.
There’s a lot at stake, after all.
“Now the works of the flesh are obvious,” we hear in one of the options for today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “Sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness…
“I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
© 2021, Words on the Word
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This week's LIVE Stream
Schedule at St. Joan of Arc:
Monday (May 24):
7:00 AM - Mass
Tuesday (May 25):
7:00 AM - Mass
8:30 AM - School Mass (Grades 5-8)
Wednesday (May 26):
7:00 AM - Mass
8:30 AM - School Mass (Grades 1-4)
Thursday (May 27):
7:00 AM - Mass
7:00 PM - Holy Hour (Silent)
Friday (May 28):
7:00 AM - Mass
Saturday (May 29):
4:00 PM - Mass
6:00 PM - Mass
Sunday (May 30):
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 are not able to 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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Click on the image below
to download a copy of our
Bulletin for May 23, 2021
The Solemnity of Pentecost
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Weekly bulletin: 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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