Where May was the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the rosary, June is the month of the Sacred Heart, a solemnity that will be celebrated on Friday June 16th.  Join us for the 9am Mass that day.  For those unfamiliar with this devotion, you should invest some time to learn more about it.

Adrian Dominican Sister Carol Weber helped to found the St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center in Flint during the Jubilee Year 2000.  Since then, she has helped thousands of people to find jobs and regain their dignity and self respect.  St. Carol is in the trenches of one of America’s poorest cities every day, doing what Jesus would do – taking Gospel goodness to where it is most needed, those living on the fringes of society.

Sr. Carol will speak at all the Queens Masses this weekend raising awareness and funds in support of this important life-saving project in Flint.  We all can and should help.  There will not be a second collection.  You can use an envelope of your own or some can be found at the doors of the Church.  Checks should be made payable to Queens and marked ‘Mission Appeal.’  We will collect donations for the Mission Appeal through the end of June.

The Parish Life Commission invites you to join us in Vincentian Hall between the Masses this Sunday for Coffee and Donuts.  Food is served beginning at 8:30am and continues until noon.  

Join us this Sunday afternoon for the Jackson Area Regional Corpus Christi Procession at the St. Joseph the Worker Oratory from 2:30-3:30pm.  Pray with us at four outdoor altars beautifully decorated by local parishes including Queens.  During this time of national Eucharistic Renewal and Revival, we should be looking forward to these opportunities to publicly manifest our faith that Jesus is present in Holy Communion:  Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. 

As you might guess from the picture, we welcome this year’s first communicants to put on their outfits one last time before they no longer fit and help to lead the procession. 

This event will go on come rain or come shine.  If its sprinkling we will be outside and you should dress for it.  If it’s heavy rain, the whole thing will happen inside.   

Thousands across the diocese took part in Disciples Together on the Way and before that The Bishop’s Year of the Bible.  Now, as part of the nationwide Eucharistic Renewal effort, Bishop Boyea invites you to join him on the Road to Emmaus.  Participants will receive daily inspirations about the Eucharist and weekly challenges to complete.  This is free and you can opt out at any time.  With your smartphone, text ‘RTE’ to the number 84576.  

Above is the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, commissioned by King Louis IX to display the Crown of Thorns, opened in 1248 AD.  Building sacred spaces helps our thoughts and minds be directed to The Almighty.  That is what has been happening in the Divine Mercy Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel since it opened its doors 30 years ago in 1993.  The adoration chapel is built into the foundation of the Queens Church building, and that is so right because the Eucharist is the very bedrock of our Catholic faith.  

The Divine Mercy Chapel Committee invites you to join them for a celebration of the Chapel’s 30th Anniversary at 1:30pm on Sunday June 25th.  Lumen Christi Chaplain Fr. Brian Lenz will speak about the Divine Mercy Devotion and the importance of Eucharistic Adoration.  His talks will be followed by a reception in Vincentian Hall.  This event is free and open to the public.  You can come even if you have never once set foot in the chapel.   

This will be a busy summer at Queens.  You will soon see equipment arriving outside the school as we prepare for an ambitious project to replace all the aging school windows.  The school will be closed to the public all summer to facilitate this massive undertaking but the first rule of show business is that the show must go on and that is why we are not canceling Summer Vacation Bible School. We’re just moving it to Vincentian Hall and other parts of the campus.

Registration is underway now for Stellar:  Shine Jesus’ Light, a Catholic Bible School from Our Sunday Visitor.  Monday – Friday July 10 – 14, 9am to 12:15pm with a program and lunch the last day.  You can sign up using the form in the bulletin or the link on our website or provided below: 

In the secular world and the media, June is Pride Month.  That is why retailers like Target, WalMart and Kohl’s have put up displays that have been viewed as controversial by some.  

I was asked recently to provide some insight on LGBT issues from the Catholic Church perspective.  I have been reluctant to say too much because these all too quickly become political issues when it is really about morality, biology and science.  Because the issues of gender, sexual identity and orientation become politicized, they also immediately become offensive to those who disagree, because we live in a heavily divided community, state and country.  

It is no secret.  This is now a post-Christian era where Biblical values are cast as bigoted hate speech.  The younger generations being brought up today are not raised with God and the Church at the center of their lives.  This lack of faith as the anchor in the lives of youth has had some devastating consequences.  There is more depression, anxiety, addiction, self-harm and suicide among today’s youth than we have ever seen before.    

Gallup conducted a poll in 2021 that found that among ‘Generation Z’ (people born after 1997), the number of those identifying as ‘not straight’ has risen to 18-20% of the population of that age group. In the same poll, those identifying as transgender among today’s American youth was estimated at 4%. 

This is a cultural phenomenon unlike anything we have seen before.  It is important for all Catholics to know where the Church stands on these issues.  Whether you agree with it or not is another matter.  In the end, the Church stands firmly on the side of the Natural Law and Absolute Truth which are unchanging, regardless of the times or temperaments of the people.  

I will preface this discussion by saying that God is love and we as Church love all of God’s creation and all of God’s people. 

First, we will turn to Dr. John Grabowski, a moral theologian at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. who breaks down gender and sexual identity according to the Bible and the Catechism.  Please follow his line of thought as he unfolds it in the link below.  It mirrors perfectly what the Church’s teaching is on these topics.        

In January of 2021, the Diocese of Lansing released a document about the Church’s Teaching regarding Gender Dysphoria – those who believe they were ‘mis-gendered’ at birth.  Affirming the Biblical truths of gender, marriage and sexuality, this document provides clear and concise reasoning for the policy currently in place at all parishes, schools and agencies across the Diocese of Lansing, including Queens Church and School:

• All school students and their parents will be addressed and referred to with pronouns in accord with their God-given biological sex

• Students will participate in competitive athletics in accord with their God-given biological sex

• Catholic schools will not allow, or otherwise cooperate in, the administration of puberty-blocking or cross-sex hormones

• All students   will   use   bathrooms   and   locker   rooms   that   correspond with their God-given biological sex.  On a case-by-case basis, students who have been clinically diagnosed with gender dysphoria may request the use of a single-person, unisex facility

• The Diocese encourages counseling for those whose sexual identity causes them distress or confusion as well as those who suffer from or are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Counselors or other medical professionals treating those with sexuality-related distress or those with gender dysphoria should hold a correct Christian anthropology of the human person and understand and adhere to Catholic teaching.

• The Diocese opposes any transgender therapies or surgeries that are undertaken with the intent of helping a person “transition” away from his or her biological sex, while also recognizing that appropriate medical care may be necessary in rare cases of true genetic or physical anomalies.  

The Bishops’ Conference has also tackled the delicate issues of sexual identity and orientation.  Their most recent and comprehensive resource can be found here.

This once simple question – ‘What is a woman?’ now has no simple answer.  We have been tampering with God’s designs and have confused issues that were once very clear.  The rule of Natural Law and Absolute Truth were once pillars of strength on which sound and safe societies were built.  Modern Man has stopped embracing these anchors and now we are adrift on the stormy seas of scientific confusion and moral relativism.  

‘What is a Woman?’ is the title of a recent 95-minute documentary produced by conservative and controversial political commentator Matt Walsh.  It has been watched nearly 200 million times in the last two weeks since it was posted on Twitter.

This documentary neither endorses or condemns any political party or candidate.  What it does do is follow Matt Walsh all over the world as he asks the simple question, ‘What is a Woman?’  You might be surprised by the answers he gets.  Most of the people Matt Walsh interviews don’t answer, won’t answer or can’t answer his question ‘What is a woman?’  Instead, they become offended that he is asking.  

‘What is a Woman?’ has some adult language (profanity) and mature content, but no sex or nudity.  Therefore, I would say this documentary is not suitable for children and it is intended for mature audiences only.   

The only thing all of us can agree on is that this is a very complex and sensitive issue that must be handled with care.  As a Catholic Christian community, we seek to bring healing, hope, help and understanding to a broken world and to people who are hurting.  

The issues of gender identity, sexual orientation and the protection of our young people are at the forefront of today’s ongoing Culture Wars.  They are symptoms of a larger problem – a world where God’s Word and Will are muted by the competing voices of social media and social contagions.  

As always, we don’t know what the future holds but we do know Who holds the future.  God has a plan and a path for all of His people – one that will lead us to humility, to heaven and to happiness.  

Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).   

“Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love, and do not accept anything as love which lacks truth, as one without the other becomes a destructive lie.” -Pope Saint John Paul II 

Fr. Tim MacDonald

Pastor

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church

606 S. Wisner St.  Jackson, Michigan 49203

(517) 783-2748  www.queenschurch.com