Generation Christ - Ann Arbor at 530 Elizabeth Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 US - 9-18-2009
| 9-18-2009 |
Friday of the Twenty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time (OF) / Feast of St. Joseph of Cupertino (EF) Greetings GenChrist, Our big pancake breakfast kick-off is this Sunday - Please invite any young adult to join us for breakfast after the 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Masses and for adoration in the evening! Fr. Bob Roggenbuck, a founder of Generation Christ, will be leading our meditation on Sunday evening. Generation Christ Communications Coordinator ------------------------------ September 20: Pancake breakfasts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News This fall, from September 23 - November 1, our community will be uniting with over 212 other cities across America for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history - the second nationwide 40 Days for Life campaign. The 40 Days for Life campaign is made up of three key components: Learn how you can "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" here in Ann Arbor by contacting Paul Dobrowolski (734) 944-7790, debbsy at verizon dot net or by visiting the website. Upcoming 40 Days for Life events: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Veritas Retreat - from Emily Schrag Please address questions regarding the weekend to Emily Schrag, weekend director (eschrag at med dot umich dot edu) Refresh Retreat - from Nick Danne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every-Friday Adoration has begun at our parish - adoration has begun for today and will continue at St. Thomas until Benediction and Mass tomorrow morning.
In Christ,
Paul Schultz
News in Brief
September 20: School of Community - 4 p.m.
September 21: Angelology Catechesis - Room 252, 7:00 p.m.
September 22: Fr. McGivney House Fellowship Dinner - Rectory, 6 p.m.
September 22: 40 Days For Life kick-off - Christ the King gym, 7 p.m.
October 23-25: Veritas Retreat, Brighton
November 13-15: Refresh Retreat, Howell
GenChrist notes: Housing opportunity; Core Team needs; Pope Benedict's prayer intentions; Ember Days - Next Week
Pancake Breakfast - September 19th and 20th
On Sunday, September 20th, we will be holding pancake breakfasts to welcome new parishioners and returning members to this year's Generation Christ fellowship. In order to bring as many people as possible closer to Christ through our Sunday evening Holy Hours, we need volunteers to help serve the pancakes and to advertise the breakfast throughout that weekend.
In particular, for the Saturday vigil Mass as well as for all the Sunday Masses, we will need a GenChrist member at each Mass to read an announcement or to speak about GenChrist and we'll need several members to greet people at the doors after the final blessing and to hand out invitations/fl yers. During the 9:00 and 10:45 Masses, we will need eight persons to cook the breakfasts that will be served following those Masses.
If you will be attending any Mass at St. Thomas that weekend and can help in any way, please email Mark - meinhart at gmail dot com.
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School of Community
School of Community meets throughout the year. If you haven't gone before, but would like to learn more this Sunday, contact Adam at the email address below. This Sunday's meeting will be at 4:00 at the Skoczylas' apartment.
This week's meeting will continue of "From Faith, the Method", pages 20 - 26, beginning with the section 3 "The irreducibility of a fact", and ending just before "2) Who is this man?" The text can be found at this pdf.
askoczylas dot 1 at gmail dot com
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Angels and Demons - a Catechism on Angelology
9 video lectures by Servant of God - John A. Hardon, S.J., followed by Q&A and Discussions.
Every other Monday, starting September 21st - 7:00 p.m., Room 252 in the parish office building.
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McGivney House Dinner
Tuesday, September 22, is the fourth Tuesday of the month, which means the Father McGivney House Fellowship Dinner will be held at the St. Thomas rectory beginning at 6:00 p.m. Men who have not fully discerned a call to marriage and are not closed to a vocation to religious life or the priesthood are welcome to attend. Please contact Colin - colseanm at umich dot edu - if you plan on attending. We will begin with evening prayer at 6:00 p.m. Dinner will be followed by a talk, and will end around 8 p.m.
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40 Days for Life
· Prayer and Fasting: inviting people of faith throughout our city to join together for 40 days of fervent prayer and fasting for an end to abortion
· Peaceful Vigil: standing for life through a 40-day peaceful public witness outside Planned Parenthood, 3100 Professional Drive, Ann Arbor. To sign up to pray and witness at the vigil, go to the Ann Arbor website and click on Vigil Schedule.
· Community Outreach: taking a positive, upbeat pro-life message to every corner of our city
Kick-off Rally - Tuesday, September 22, 7-9 pm, Christ the King Gym
Life Chain - Sunday, October 4, 2-3:30 pm, intersection of Washtenaw and Huron Parkway, Ann Arbor
Lansing Veritas 9
October 23rd-25th
St. Patrick Church, Brighton, Michigan
Veritas is an opportunity for Catholics ages 18-28 to get away from the burdens of every day life to take a weekend to reflect upon their relationship with the Lord. The weekend consists of a series of talks, prayer time, and music geared toward allowing each person an opportunity to grow in holiness, while also allowing time for fellowship with other young adults from the Diocese of Lansing. Additional information, and the registration form can be found on our website:
http://www.catholic-church.
LAre you interested in making new Catholic friends? Revitalizing your inner-self? Renewing your relationship with God? Finding peace and healing from past hurts? Are you 21 to 35 years of age and single? If so, you may want to consider attending a Refresh weekend encounter.
The next weekend will be held in Howell, MI, November 13th-15th, 2009.
For more information please contact
Carolina: 810-444-6348
Nick: 734-752-5480
email: refreshlansing at gmail dot com
GenChrist Notes
Core Team
Generation Christ is still looking for a few good leaders and workers for the year ahead. Please speak with Mark Meinhart if you can help out.
Pope Benedict's Prayer Intentions
Each month, Pope Benedict XVI announces his special prayer intentions--particular things that he wishes all Catholics to pray for that month. (When, for instance, we pray the rosary and say the prayers at the end for the intentions of the Holy Father, these are the intentions for which we're praying.) Pope Benedict offers two intentions every month, one general, and one for a particular Catholic missionary activity.
His general prayer intention for September 2009 is "That the word of God may be better known, welcomed and lived as the source of freedom and joy."
Pope Benedict's mission intention is "That Christians in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, who often meet with great difficulties, may not be discourage from announcing the Gospel to their brothers, trusting in the strength of the Holy Spirit."
Ember Days notice (slightly edited)
This coming week, we will have an opportunity to observe the Autumnal (or "Michaelmas") Ember Days - Ember Wednesday (9/23), Ember Friday (9/25) and Ember Saturday (9/26), which fall in the week after the Sunday after the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Ember Days fall four times within each year and are days when the faithful can particularly focus on God through His marvelous creation. Ember Days are days of fasting and partial abstinence, which are voluntary under the 1983 code of canon law. Marking the change of the natural seasons by prayer and fasting, we can thank God for all that He has done for us, for the plenty of the earth, and the beauty of the world He created. (See also, New Advent: Ember Days; and the Fish Eaters explanation of how the Ember Days are fashioned after a prior Jewish fasting tradition.)
In our Protestant and/or secular American culture, it is often said that the Church co-opted pagan festivals, giving them a little leavening of Catholicism but otherwise importing them whole cloth. In most important cases, this claim is wholly untrue; but is made by our opponents so as to suggest that Catholicism is a pagan or non-Christian religion. Ember Days are, in a sense, an exception to the rule - not because the Church adopted anything that was pagan but rather because the Church 'Christianized' something that the pagans had gotten almost right - thanking and praising God for a bountiful harvest, a rich vintage, a productive seeding or the blessing of nature in general.
Ember Days began in the Diocese of Rome before Christians were free to practice the Faith in public and gradually spread to all of western Christendom. They were celebrated in the third century and their origins are shrouded perhaps even further in the past. In 1969, in preparation for the introduction of the Missal of Pope Paul VI in 1970, the Congregation for Divine Worship invited all of the national bishops conferences to determine how the Ember Days should be incorporated into the calendar of that Missal within their nations. To date, the Bishops of the United States have not acted on this invitation - and the Ember Days do not yet appear in our Ordinary Form calendar.
Nonetheless, under Pope Benedict's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, it remains our option to take advantage of the Extraordinary Form's calendar and the prayers and readings attached to the Masses of the Michaelmas Embertide. (Please see this pdf)
Please email paulcschultz at gmail dot com if you are interested in a communal celebration of one or more of these days of prayer, fasting and abstinence.