February 3. World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life.
February 6. Ash Wednesday.
February 11. Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House.
February 18. Board Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House.
February 22-24. Serra USA Planning Conference for District Governors and Regional
Directors.
February 25. Meeting, 12:00 Noon at Sacred Heart Parish. Prayer service and luncheon.
March 6. GVSU Radio fundraising event, 8:00-11:00 p.m.
Important Upcoming Events. Programs Chairman Joseph Scoville has just notified us that the Sisters' Appreciation Dinner will be held at St. Jude's Church on Saturday, April 12. Mass will be held at 4:00 p.m. with dinner to follow. Charter Night will be held on Monday, May 12 at 5:30 p.m. Details to be announced. We are beginning to plan for these occasions. Anyone interested in serving on the planning committee for either evening should notify Joseph Scoville by e-mail at jscoville8@comcast.net We especially invite our new members to participate in the Sisters' Dinner. It's great fun and an excellent way to get to know fellow Serrans.
Even those who cannot attend that evening are invited to furnish appetizers, aka hors d'oeuvres, for the occasion. We need many of them, and they go fast! Check your recipe books for your favorites. Also, we need help with cooking, setting up the dining room, and cleaning up.
We'll keep our readers posted regarding our needs for Charter Night.
Thank you Notes from Seminarians.
Dear Serra Club Members: Thank you so very much for the gift card that I received for Christmas! It came in handy for many of the small post-Christmas purchases I had to make. Thank you also for your support of the Grand Rapids Seminarians and your many prayers for us. It helps more than you will ever know. May God bless you all! In Christ, David Gross.
Dear Serra Club: Thank you so much for the gift card. Your prayers and support are much appreciated! God bless each one of you! Deacon Mike Cilibraise, Mundelein Seminary.
Dear Serrans of Grand Rapids: Thank you for the Christmas gift. I appreciate your generosity. Thank you for continuing to think of me during the Christmas season. Please continue to pray for me and all of the seminarians of our diocese. Also, know that your prayers do not go unanswered. You are all in my prayers. In Christ, Scott Nolan.
Thank you very much for your generous gift this past Christmas season. Your prayers and support are much appreciated. Know that I will continue to keep you in my prayers as I hope you will continue to do for me. Thank you again and God bless! Prayers, Lou(is Krupp).
Notes from the Board's Planning Meeting, January 19, 2008. Facilitator Bob Paul gave an overview of the process and the expected outcomes of the meeting.
Father Hankiewicz reported that he spoke to Msgr. Duncan, the Vicar General, concerning the Bishop's expectations for the club for the coming year. Msgr. Duncan stated that the Bishop wants us to continue in our supportive role of the Diocese's efforts to foster vocations. "The diocese leads, we follow." Father also shared his vision of the educational component of future luncheon meetings, which will focus on Catholic social teaching, with an emphasis on life issues, across the board.
Dan Grady presented a thorough five-year financial recap of income and expenses. He said that future financial statements will more clearly show the relationship between dues and membership activities. He also presented an analysis of the results of the Vocation Dinner, which is our principal source of money to support vocations activities. He emphasized the small surplus that we have to fund requests by third parties to support their projects.
In addition, board members identified a variety of issues important to the club.
As for future steps, we will work on improving the results of the Vocation Dinner, including a new venue, perhaps a new date. Dan will work on reformulating the financials. We will reinvigorate the committees and get every member assigned to at least one. Mark will review other issues, prioritize them, and bring them to the board throughout the coming year.
Submitted by Joseph Scoville, interim secretary.
Serran Weldon Schwartz submits this article from Juratus, an on-line publication of West Michigan Catholic Lawyers' Association. One of the most difficult challenges in deciphering vocation data is the risk of over-generalizing based upon absolute comparisons. For example, it is often reported that there are fewer priests now than in 1965. Hidden in this comparison, of course, are recent trends in vocations which suggest signs that some positive change is occurring.
Perhaps the most significant change is the renewal of female religious life. There is a persistent and growing trend of young women ansering the call to serve, according to charisms ranging from teaching to the comtemplative, cloistered life.
One order worth noting is the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor, Michigan). Over 80 women have entered this community since its founding in 1997. Another, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia (Nashville, Tennessee), have seen well over 100 new sisters enter its community since 1988, for a total of 226 sisters. A new high school staffed by the sisters is scheduled to open next year. Local attorney Leo Clarke of Drew, Cooper & Anding is the proud father of two young women who have joined the Nashville Dominicans.
Comtemplative orders such as the Cistercian nuns in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, have also witnessed growth. The Cistercians in Wisconsin are known for baking altar bread for use at Masses across North America. They are currently involved in a capital campaign to construct a new monastery, in part to accommodate an unanticipated influx of new postulants over the past two years.
Certain male religious orders parallel this trend. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, for example, which started in 1988 with 12 members, now has over 180 priests and 107 seminarians, with a median age of 33. The recently-formed Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, which began in Chicago in 1998, currently has 6 priests, with an additional 12 either in formation or currently enrolled in seminary. Other orders like the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, founded by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, have experienced similar growth. With growth, however, come new challenges: in new religious orders, demand often outpaces resources, stunting growth that would otherwise occur.
Vocations at the diocesan level can be more difficult to measure because often demographic changes is a significant factor. The southern states have witnessed an unprecented growth in the Catholic population over the past decade. The Archdiocese of Atlanta, for example, ranked third in Crisis Magazine's report, The State of the Catholic Church in America, Diocese by Diocese. From 1995 to 2005, Atlanta witnessed a 50 percent increase in the number of active priests, while the relatively new diocese of Tyler, Texas, topped the list with an increase of 128 percent, jumping from 25 active priests to 57. The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, topped the list of most ordinartions, (3 in 2005), followed by Savannah, Georgia (5 in 2005). To account for the varying sizes of dioceses across the country, Crisis ranked ordinations as measured against the diocese's total presbyterate (i.e., Las Cruces ordained three new priests per 21 active priests.
If measured according to absolute methodology, Chicago would top the list with 17 ordinations in 2005, followed by St. Paul, Minnesota (15), and Newark, New Jersey (12). Chicago and Newark are two of the 10 largest dioceses in the country, with 2.34 and 1.3 million Catholics, respectively. As measured against the total presbyterate, Chicago ranked 38th, while Newark ranked 43... and Detroit ranked 112th. The Diocese of Grand Rapids ranked 99th.
Like any methodology, the one employed by Crisis is not perfect....In addition, the study does not account for the percentage of "homegrown" vocations, which is a fundamental indication of the state of a diocese's overall spiritual health.
There are noticeable trends by which vocations can be measured, and not merely demographic trends, but social and cultural trends, a renewal in faith, fidelity, and tradition. A more in-depth look into vocations reveals that, where this renewal ocurs, vocations often follow.
Source: Juratus, Volume I, issue II, P. 3.
We Pray with our Feet. Those of us who participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, D. C. look upon our activity as a prayerful exercise, as opposed to a march. This year anecdotal reports point to the January 22, 2008 event as largest march ever, with participation by young people at an all time high.
Many of my fellow parishioners said that they would not have heard about the March for Life if I hadn't told them. While we may lament the lack of coverage by mainstream media, we do not march for television cameras. We know that the Lord hears our prayers, and that is enough for us. Added to the usual Right to Life Convention, the Vigil Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the Youth Rally and Mass at the Verizon Center on the day of the march were additional masses to accommodate the overflow and Holy Hours conducted by seminarians, not only from the Washington, D. C. diocese, but also from throughout the country, with adoration in the Crypt Church from midnight to 6:00 a.m. on the 22nd.
This year I was especially blessed by the presence of several family members, including three grandchildren. Our ten-year-old, a first time marcher, standing in the cold and the rain as we waited for the speeches to come to an end, became impatient and wondered whether she would be able to go the distance. "Look at it this way," I told her. "By walking in this march, you might be saving a baby. You never know." That perspective seemed to satisfy her doubts, and she looks forward to going back next year.
I did not see the Fox News broadcast which briefly covered the march, but heard about it second-hand, including the "Fair and Balanced" follow-up in which several observers expressed concern that with so many participants, and with so many young people on the Pro-Life side, the future of Roe v. Wade might by threatened. It just might, if we persist. Let us keep praying.
By Nancy King.
Membership Chairman Tim Hile reports on January 28 Member/Guest Reception.
We had seven guests and three commitments and expect two or three more. Also, Tim has two or three referrals who could not make the Monday meeting but expect to join our ranks soon. District Governor Nate McKenzie and Programs Chairman Joseph Scoville spoke to the group about our programs and about what Serra means to their lives and to their Catholic faith.
"Thank you to all Serrans for keeping the lifeblood of our chapter flowing. We are making a difference and furthering our own formation and quest. God Bless. Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us."
Tim Hile
New! A visit to serraus.org offers the first all-online version of the Serra USA Magazine.
A Message from our President. Dear Serrans: 2008 marks a significant milestone for our club as we celebrate our 60th anniversary. I just received confirmation that the Serra International President, Lloyd Crocket, will be joining us for our Charter Night celebration. Further details will follow under a separate cover from the Program Committee.
The longevity of organizations like ours is not typically 60 years. Many volunteer groups are fortunate if they survive half of that time. We are a vibrant and active organization because of you. Our club has been recognized by Serra International and by the United States Council because of our increase in membership and the quality of our membership.
Last week we hosted the winter Member/Guest Reception, and I would like to thank Tim Hile for organizing the event. Thanks also to Nate McKenzie and Joseph Scoville for their presentations. We are privileged to be members of a club like ours that serves not only the church, but also the fostering of our own Catholicism. Please share that privilege with our professional colleagues, fellow parishioners, neighbors, and friends by asking them to become part of our club.
On another note, I was just informed by the Gerald R. Ford Council of the Boy Scouts of America that our charter member Ralph Hauenstein will be presented with their 2008 Distinguished Citizen Award on Thursday, March 6 at the 2008 Building Character Celebration. Some excerpts from Ralph's Curriculum Vitae which led to this award are as follows:
* Chief Intelligence Officer in Europe during World War II. He describes this time in his life in his book, Intelligence was my Line: Inside Eisenhower's Other Command.
* Philanthropic leader in Greater Grand Rapids. Ralph has created the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at GVSU, the Hauenstein Parkinson's and Neuroscience Center at St. Mary's Hospital, and the Grace Hauenstein Library at Aquinas College.
* Honorary Trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation and Trustee of the VanAndel Institute.
Ralph is 96 years old and he has never retired. I invite you to join me in honoring him. The details are as follows:
2008 Building Character Celebration
Thursday, March 6, 2008
DeVos Place, Steelcase Ballroom
6:00-9:00 p.m.
$50 per person
Reservations are due by Thursday, February 21. Call 888-272-4732 for reservations and mention that you are a member of the Serra Club of Grand Rapids.
I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting, Monday, February 11 at 12:00 Noon at Louis Benton Steak House. Our moderator, Fr. Edward Hankiewicz, will be our featured speaker.
Note from our Editor. Upon request Serran Joseph Scoville has sent Jeanne and me a schedule for the Gregorian Chant Schola at the Latin Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church.
February 10, First Sunday of Lent
March 9, Passion Sunday
March 23, Easter (tentative) OR March 30, Low Sunday (tentative)
April 13, Third Sunday after Easter
May 11, Pentecost
The Latin Mass begins at 12:30 p.m.
Also, we are working on the 2008 Membership Directory. Please keep us informed of any changes in your address, telephone numbers, and your e-mail. I thank John Osterhart for his assistance in preparing this publication.
Nancy King
