Last Saturday morning I went out hunting with my brother-in-law for early doe season. While walking into our blind he was sprayed by a skunk. We didn’t get a deer that morning either so he summed it up the best - we were skunked literally and figuratively!
Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale is holding their annual Faith in Action fundraising dinner on Tuesday, September 27th at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Michigan Center. The evening includes the celebration of Mass at 6 pm followed by dinner and presentations at 7 pm.
This year's event will highlight our work across our service area and in Hillsdale County in particular. Hillsdale County has recently asked for more of our services to be available to their youth. Catholic Charities is in the process of setting up a new Child Advocacy Center in the county to serve abused and neglected children. With this new center, Catholic Charities will now be able to offer these services in all three counties that they serve. Honorable Michelle Bianchi, Probate Court Judge of Hillsdale County will be speaking about the work Catholic Charities is doing in their community.
We would love to see a table of parishioners in attendance! For more information, please see Angie Atkin or Bea Cuthbertson. You may also register on their website at catholiccharitiesjlhc.org or see the contact information in our bulletin.
We all know and hear Jesus’ call for us to serve the neediest in our communities but often we feel helpless. By supporting Catholic Charities we can support an organization that has the expertise that we don’t have. Through our support of Catholic Charities, we help many, many people we will never meet - this dinner helps us meet and hear from a few of them.
I am particularly proud that our new first grade teacher, Becky Boak, will be speaking with her husband Nick about being able to adopt their three boys through the help of Catholic Charities. It has been a joy to watch them grow as a family and celebrate their baptisms. They are a blessing to our parish and school. Hopefully I will see you there.
As was announced last week we are mobilizing to start a 54 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Want to join the 54-Day Rosary Novena aimed at defeating the extreme Proposal 3 that seeks to insert abortion-up-to-birth into the State Constitution of Michigan? Text FightLikeHeaven to 84576. When you sign up you'll receive a daily text reminder of the Novena plus a burst of campaign information and inspiration that you can also share with friends and family.
It is not too late to join and think about what kind of fasting you would like to offer up. Remember that fasting can take many forms besides food - our intake of media, the way we spend our time, etc. You really can be quite creative. It can be helpful to have a partner you fast with that can help keep each other accountable and encouraged. My twin brother, Fr. Gary, and I are working this one together.
God Bless, Fr. Todd Koenigsknecht