Please join us for a Rosary Rally on Saturday, June 7 at 12:00 Noon. We will meet on the sidewalk across the street from the Riverside Market in Montrose. Our intention this day is to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Hope you are able to join in this powerful prayer.
The World Apostolate of Fatima Diocesan Morning of Prayer in Reparation for World Peace will be held at Good Shepherd on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at 9:00 AM. The morning will include Divine Liturgy, investiture in the Brown Scapular, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hour of Prayer, and Rosary.
Please call Brad at 810-744-6508 with any questions or concerns, or visit www.wafgc.org for more information.
Happy 5th Sunday of Easter! And a continued prayer of blessing for our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. Long may he reign, and may he be for the universal Church a good and holy shepherd. I learned this past week that our new pope has a bit of history here in Genesee County. You may be aware that St. Matthew Parish in downtown Flint was at one time administered by the Augustinian Order, of which Pope Leo is a member. The Augustinians began their ministry there with the arrival of new pastor Fr. Mortimer Sullivan in 1926 and for nine decades they remained at St. Matthew until 2016. During the pastorate of Fr. Fred Taggart (1995-2015), then-Fr. Bob Prevost once subbed at St. Matthew during the summer of 1999 while Fr. Taggart took his annual retreat. Among the beneficiaries of his brief ministry was the family of Jim Skellet, a former teacher of St. Robert School and Powers High School, whose daughter was baptized by Fr. Bob. What a small world! So basically, what we gather from this information is that we’re on familial first-name terms with ‘Uncle Leo’, haha. I thought that was so cool and wanted to share the joy.
I mentioned in my homily last weekend that I was very impressed by Cardinal Prevost’s choice of Leo XIV as his papal name. He chose it in homage to his name-sake predecessor, Leo XIII, who reigned from 1878 to 1903, during the explosion of the late industrial revolution. He was called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a rapidly changing world whose technologies and means of commerce were undergoing seismic shifts, and whose people were often being swallowed by new, atheistic economic and social orders. Leo XIII composed the St. Michael prayer which we recite at the conclusion of each Mass. Our own Leo begins his papacy amidst the explosion of this current technological revolution, called to preach the Gospel in a rapidly changing world undergoing seismic shifts of economy, polity, and society, a world which very often swallows Christian notions of human dignity, morality, and truth. At his first papal Mass, Leo preached on Matthew 16, Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, and included these remarks:
“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure. These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”
“Today, too, there are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism. This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ the Saviour. Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Fr. Brian
Join us for a day of Cars, Fun, Friends & Food with a Wide variety of classic cars on display.
Plenty of opportunities to connect with friends, family, and fellow car enthusiasts. We are aiming to surpass last year’s numbers and make an even bigger impact.
June 6 at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Flushing
from 4:00—8:00 pm
Applications for sponsorship opportunities are available by
the parish office.
The Knights of Columbus will host the Blessing of the Bikes on Sunday, June 8, 2025 after 11:15 a.m. Mass. Be there by 12:00 pm. There will be a Poker Run, Food/Drinks, T-shirts and Raffle. Bikes and Cars Welcome. $25 per driver/ $15 per passenger and includes a meal, soft drinks and cash prize drawing at the Last Stop After Party at 5 pm at the Montrose Pub, 10174 Vienna Road, Montrose. All are welcome to attend the party. The cost is a $5 donation, $15 with a meal (for non-riders). There will be live music by Reziliance. All proceeds will go to support local veterans.
Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Hope for the universal Church on Christmas Eve 2024 in Rome. Pope Francis released a papal bull proclaiming the Holy Year 2025. The Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee Year is entitled Spes non confundit (“Hope does not disappoint” and can be found here). In addition, the Apostolic Penitentiary has published this decree.
The Jubilee of Hope Opened in the Diocese of Lansing on December 29, 2024,
The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
To Strengthen & Share Hope
A central aspect of the Jubilee Year is the Jubilee Year Indulgence.
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY
INDULGENCES FOR JUBILEE YEAR 2025
A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
The indulgence applies to sins already forgiven. A plenary indulgence cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptized. Plenary indulgences obtained during the Jubilee Year can also be applied to souls in purgatory with the possibility of obtaining two plenary indulgences for the deceased in one day.
To obtain an indulgence, the usual conditions of detachment from all sin, sacramental confession, holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope must be met. (Usually, an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be).
Holy Doors are to be opened at the Papal Basilicas of St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls (no. 6) and at the Rebibbia Prison in Rome. The Dicastery for Evangelization notes that the distinguishing mark of the Jubilee Year is not the Holy Door, but rather the Jubilee Indulgence, received through the Sacrament of Penance and acts of charity and hope. The various ways and many places where this indulgence may be obtained are summarized above and are outlined in the Apostolic Penitentiary’s Decree on the Granting of the Jubilee Indulgence issued May 13, 2024.
Click here to learn more:
+Find out conditions for how to obtain the Jubilee Year Indulgences
+Diocesan Events for the Jubilee Year
+Places of Pilgrimage in the Diocese of Lansing
+Questions Regarding Indulgences