A Franciscan Parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit

Browsing FROM THE DESK OF FR. JEFF

June 1 - 2, 2019

Intercessory Prayer Team 

One of the action steps for parishes at the end of Archbishop Vigneron’s Pastoral Letter Unleash the Gospel states: “I charge parishes to have a prayer and intercession team to pray for the mission of the parish and intentions from the leadership team and to provide ongoing prayer support of that team.” Our parish has recently implemented that charge. Every other Monday evening for about an hour several parishioners gather to pray for us: for me, for the staff, for parish organizations and projects – for YOU! As a means of being “comprehensive” in their prayer, they have initially decided to “pray the bulletin.” They take each page of the bulletin and entrust the people or meeting or project mentioned to the care of God. During Lent, when we provided the opportunity for persons to give their name or an intention for prayer, they explicitly prayed for each intention left in the basket during the weeks before. 

I want to thank the members of this team for this precious gift: Jennifer Kreft, Joanne Selman, Jun Leobrera, and Marian Solon. If anyone would like to join this team, you would be most welcome. We would love to have more members of this prayer team. You can leave you contact information at the parish office, and we will see that you get the needed information. You don’t have to have any special skill or talent, just generosity and a willingness to pray, not just for your own intentions, but the needs of our parish. Jesus has promised to bless those who “Ask, Seek, and Knock,” and to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. (Matthew 7: 7-11) As we near Pentecost, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and a new Pentecost right here in our parish. 

If any parishioners wishes to have a special intention remembered by this team, you can put it in a sealed envelope and drop it in the regular Sunday collection. It will be opened by the team members at their gathering, and you and your intention will be remembered in prayer. James 5: 16 declares: “The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” So even if you can’t join this group, please do pray for our parish; your prayer is powerful indeed! 

Fr. Jeff 

Heritage Weekends 

You may remember that several weeks ago we inserted a flier into the bulletin suggesting that we might form a committee to plan 4 “Heritage Weekends” – the 4 consecutive weekends in July, prior to feast of the Transfiguration at the beginning of August -- to celebrate our parish history. The idea was to celebrate the 4 parishes (St. Beatrice, St. Bede, St. Ives, St. Michael) that merged to form the Church of the Transfiguration. We had suggested that we might review history of each parish, display photos in the Gathering Space, display art or artifacts we might have, write fond memories on boards, put out old bulletins, invite former members/priests/staff etc., but mostly thank God for the gift of parish at Mass. It seems that we have too much else going on right now, so this idea will be tabled for the time being. Perhaps we can do it later if it seems opportune. 

Fr. Jeff

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