Calendar of Events.
I. Meetings.
March 12. Luncheon Meeting, 12:00 Noon, Louis Benton Steak House.
March 26. Prayer Service and Luncheon Meeting, Sacred Heart.
Other Events in March.
March 13-16. U. S. A. Council Executive Committee Planning Conference.
Diocesean-Wide Lenten Mission, March 8-12, 2008 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew.
March 8. Mass at Cathedral of St. Andrew, 4:00 p.m.
March 9. Mass at Cathedral of St. Andrew, 10:00 a.m. and Mass at the Catholic Information Center, 6:00 and 7:30 p.m.
March 10-12. Special guest, Paulist Preacher Fr. John E. Collins, CSP. Evening mission events include special music, prayer, fellowship, and talks.
March10. "What Good is God?" 7:30 p.m.
March 11: "Why Prayers Don't Work." 7:30 p.m.
March 12: "Ten Kinds of People We Don't Have to Love." 7:30 p.m. Find Internet links at http://www.catholicinformationcenter.org/ or search Paulist Fathers Grand Rapids.
March 14. St. Patrick's Day celebrated, with dispensation from abstinence from eating meat.
March 17. Holy Week Begins.
March 21. Good Friday
March 22. Easter Vigil
March 23. Easter Sunday.
March 29. Spring Leadership Training, St. Stephen's, 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 Noon. R. S. V. P. to District Governor Nate McKenzie. See the following for important details:
WHEN: Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:00-12:00 Noon
WHERE: St. Stephen's Catholic Church
Wege Center--Konrad A/B
750 Gladstone SE
East Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Parking at north end--Reed Street Lot
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: All Officers
New Incoming Officers
New Serrans
All Serrans
This is an excellent opportunity to get new ideas and help the club as you begin to plan our club's 15-month calendar.
Please RSVP before March 26:
Nate McKenzie
District Governor
fderlance 71@att.net
616-893-5235
Other Important Upcoming Dates.
April 1. Adoration, St. Jude's, 9:00 a.m. Abe Rossi has made the arrangements for the March and April adoration hours.
April 12. Sisters' Appreciation Dinner, St. Jude's. Mass begins at 4:00, with social hour, dinner, and entertainment to follow. Join us for an excellent evening. We need hors d'oeuvres for Saturday's social hour, which immediately follows the mass. We also need help with cooking, setting up and decorating the dining room, and clean-up for Friday and Saturday evenings. Notify Dinner Chairman Joseph Scoville by e-mail at jscoville8@comcast.net or call him if you'd like to contribute your time and talent to this event.
April 13. World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
May 12. Charter Night. This year's Charter Night promises to be the best ever as we celebrate our club's 60th anniversary. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Andrew begins at 5:30, with dinner to follow. Bishop Hurley will celebrate Mass, with the following priests concelebrating: Moderator Fr. Ed Hankiewicz, Msgr. Ancona (Moderator Emeritus), Msgr. Duncan (Vicar General and former Serran), Fr. Morrow (Chancellor), Fr. Hutchinson (Director of Vocations), Fr. Cron (Rector of the Cathedral), and Fr. Mark-David Janus (Director of the Catholic Information Center). Reception and a catered dinner in the Parish Center will follow. Mark Kubik will serve as Master of Ceremonies, and International President Lloyd Crockett will speak. We will extend invitations to others, within the maximum seating capacity of 240. Black tie optional.
June 18-22. Annual Meeting, Board Meeting, and Super Weekend.
August 12-17. Serra International Convention at Aguas de Lindois, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Congratulations to New Serrans Robert D. VanderLaan and Nancy Mulvihill.
Add the following information to your Serra Club directory: Robert D. VanderLaan, 822 Brownwood, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. Telephone: Hm. 454-0054, Bs. 454-0900. e-mail: vanderlaan@triton.net.
Nancy C. Mulvihill, 2247 Anderson Drive SE, E. Grand Rapids, Mi 49506. Telephone: 245-1672. e-mail: ncmulvi@cs.com.
In Memoriam. Our thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends of Reverend James C. Kowalski, who died Friday, February 22. He was ordained December 20, 1968, at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. He served a number of parishes in the diocese, including St. Adalbert, St. Mary of Muskegon, St. Mary Magdelen, St. John Vianney, St. Robert, Holy Family, and St. Paul the Apostle. He also served as chaplain at St. Mary's Hospital and Father Friar of the Squires of the Michigan Knights of Columbus. His contribution to Catholic education in the diocese was significant as well. He was principal of Catholic Central High School in Muskegon and St. Joseph's Seminary and was active at Catholic Central and West Catholic High Schools Aquinas College, and the diocesan deaconate formation. At his family's request, memorial contributions may be made to Grand Rapids Catholic Secondary Schools, St. Paul the Apostle/Daniel J. Donnelly Education Foundation, or the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony.
We thank the Lord for his vocation and for his many contributions to our Diocese.
(Source: Grand Rapids Press.
Paper Copies of our club's directory are available upon request. Notify Nancy King at njking50@hotmail.com if you would like one.
Nominations Committee. Bob Paul will chair the special committee to nominate officers for 2008-09.
Recommended Reading: Magisterium: Teacher and Guardian of the Faith, by Cardinal Avery Dulles, S. J. Sapientia Press, 2007. $12.95. To order: http://71.149.198.161/shop/ or 1-888-343-8607. Review by Stephen Mirarchi, writing from St. Louis.
Imagine if religion were like a mystery novel: secrets of salvation hidden in benighted catacombs, furtive clerics aspiring to domination, and we, the tortured heroes, unsure of what to believe at any turn.
Such esoterica does not lead to heaven; like the fate of the star-crossed detective embroiled in such a miasma, it drowns in its own chaos. Thankfully, religion is not a mystery. We are certain and sure of what we believe, and we trust those who teach us--right?
Therein lies the heart of this volume from Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the foremost experts on why we trust those who teach authoritatively in Christ's name. A weighty subject indeed, yet the book is both approachable enough for inquisitive believers and footnoted enough for those who keep a Catechism by the bedside.
Cardinal Dulles begins with two oft-overlooked truths about the magisterium, ordinarily the College of Bishops with the Pope as their head (CCC 880). , the magisterium is the servant of the Word of God. No bishop may "make up" a law, directive, or dogma; everything necessary for the salvation of mankind has been revealed through Christ. The Church's heirarchy, therefore, serves the whole Church across time and space, transmitting the sving truth of the Gospel to every creature.
How, then is the Gospel preserved from contamination, error-prone as humans are? A crucial question, and for the answer Cardinal Dulles points to the Incarnation.
"In establishing the magisterium," he writes, "Christ responded to a real human need. People cannot discover the contents of revelation by their unaided powers of reason and observation.
...If God deems it important to give a revelation, he will make provision to assure its conservation.
As the title of this book hearalds, the magisterium guards the deposit of faith it teaches, clarifying beliefs an dmaking moral certainties explicit for every generation. The salvation of souls can never be a matter of mystery, for Christ promises us the eternal assistance of the Holy Spirit, who guides our priests in teaching, sanctifying, and ruling.
The cardinal's extensive experience at conferences and synods shines through his writing. He imagines his readers around a Harkness table following right along with him. As we rightly expect, Cardinal Dulles draws freely from Tradition and Scripture, highlighting especially the patristic sources that make pellucid the irrefutable origins of apostolic faith. When the cardinal progresses into daunting topics such as dissension and natural law, he achieves an engaging combination of the conversational and the academic, at once succinct and profound.
And like that full-on press to snag the professor after class, readers are going to want more. With the main text coming in at only 113 pages, many discursive inroads remain unexplored.
If the book's brevity is its shortcoming, it prompts the cardinal to update his aging tome
Models of Revelation, a perfect companion for Magisterium.
Buttressing the cardinal's momentous treatments is an anthology of document excerpts relevant to the topic of teaching authority in the Church. Collected appendices, the treasury of works allows the reader to investigate subtopics from infallibilitiy to non-definitive teaching.
Mystery novels make for good entertainment, but as Cardinal Dulles reminds us, every believer has the right to know and rejoice in the absolute truth of the Gospel. Case closed.
Source: National Catholic Register, February 24, 2008.
A Message from our President.
Dear Serrans:
The other day I was reading an article on organizational leadership in The 1999 Best of the Harvard Business Review. There was an article by Peter Drucker entitled, "Managing Oneself." The article discussed scenarious where individuals in corporations were asked to perform duties that did not coincide with their skill sets. Such requests in turn led to underperformance with regard to their professional duties and responsibilities.
You may have heard me comment before on the overall strategy of the Serra Club of Grand Rapids. "We are a group of Catholics who meet not only to promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood and religious life, but also to foster our own Catholic faith formation."
Our club's activities are centered on this strategy. Our monthly meetings cover (1) the annual theme for our lecture series to foster our own faith formation, and (2) the working meeting and
midday prayers at the second meeting. Our various activities within the diocese are focused on promoting and fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
In order for these activities to run smoothly, we have been blessed by an abundance of talented members who volunteer their time and talent to our cause. As we prepare for our 60th Anniversary Charter Night, which includes the investiture of new officers, please consider participating in our club activities that coincide with your skill set.
Over the past two years Bob Paul has been leading the board in the development of our strategy which developed the current model on which we operate our club. His efforts have resulted in an intellectually stimulating lecture series, leading to a substantial increase in our membership and a business model of checks and balances for our dlub operations.
I am grateful to Bob for agreeing to chair the 2008 Nominations Committee. He will maintain a consistency with our club business model and objectives as the membership is integrated into club operations. This successful operations model we developed in Grand Rapids has provided a high profile for our club, as we are now the fastest growing Serra Club in the United States.
At the 2007 International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, I was asked to serve on the nominations committee for the International Board. I will be meeting with the nominations committee on March 7-10 in Nashville, Tennessee. We will spend three days meeting and interviewing candidates from around the world who are interested in serving on the International Board for the next year. I will be traveling back to Grand Rapids on March 10 and will not arrive until after our luncheon meeting. I look forward to seeing you later in the month at Sacred Heart of Jesus for midday prayer and our working meeting.
Sincerely yours,
Mark A. Kubik
Monday, February 25, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)