13,000 children were born in the United States on September 11, 2001. Each year, their birthday has been overhsadowed by the terrifying events that ended the lives of so many on the day when they first came into this troubled world. Millions more have been born since and have no memory of that day. We need to tell them. This is history that they must learn and learn from, lest we repeat it. We honored the 25th Anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the Queens School Mass today, remembering the 2,977 who died that day and the 9,000 who have died since from injuries sustained or diseases contracted by breathing the toxic dust of the debris.

During the Mass, I read the children a poem from Stacey Randall called ‘Meet Me in the Stairwell.’ You can read it in the link below.

I was just over 1 year a priest when that terrible Tuesday occurred. Our church in Lansing was packed that night with people turning to God in grief and disbelief. This is the prayer I said in the church that night:

Good and Gracious God, we your poeple come before you in humility and hope, begging Your mercy and blessings. The death of Your only son Jesus Christ led all mankind to the triumphs of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life. As our nation mourns this national tragedy which has shaken us to the core, strengthen our faith in Your providence, reinforce our patriotic courage and show us the means to love even in the face of hatred.

Help us to see new life rising out of the shadow of death. Send us the comfort and consolation of Your Holy Spirit to be with the deceased, the injured, the survivors and all first responders and medical personnel. Console the families who spend this night in anxious desire to know the fate of their loved ones. Save us from further catastrophe, preserve our freedom, restore our security and guide our political leaders in taking decisive steps to exact justice while ensuring peace around the globe and here on American soil.

Though we walk in the valley of the shadow of death we fear no evil. Instead, we look to Your son Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life, and to our blessed Mother to be a light to our darkness. May we love our neighbors as ourselves and may we never fight evil with evil, with the power of your forgiving love at work within us.

Move in the hearts of those responsible for these abominable and cowardly acts and bring them to repentance and reconciliation. Almighty and ever living God, strengthen our faith, hope and love. May we do with loving hearts what You ask of us and come to share the life You promise. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ Your son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Queens has made a historic multi-year investment to partner with the Hallow App to help bring quality Catholic content and authentic spirituality onto all of your devices and into your life! Founded in 2018 by a Catholic ‘revert’ named Alex Jones. By 2024, Hallow had risen to become the #1 download in the Apple App Store! Hallow offers daily prayers, audio-guided Bible stories, meditations, Christian music and so much more.

We kick things off this weekend signed up on the app. This Monday September 14 we will bein our first Queens/Hallow prayer challenge, using the app to encourage all of our participants and followers to pray for 14 straight days. This will be the first of 6 Hallow prayer challenges we will introduce over the coming months to try to get more people praying more frequently and fervently.

Parishioners who are first time users of the App can sign up this weekend and get 6 months free use of the Hallow App. After that, you can get a 25% discount for the paid subscription content. For those Queens parishioners already subscribing to Hallow, you also can get the 25% discount the next time your subscription is up for renewal, or cancel what you currently have and claim the discount when you re-subscribe.

Having a Queens community within Hallow will allow us to pray with and for each other, for specific intentions that people may choose to share and ask prayers for. It will give us another way to communicate within the parish, especially when there are important upcoming events or sudden changes in the schedule.

Consider signing up for the app and joining us in the prayer challenges on the Hallow Queens Community Page. We will have a table set up after Masses this weekend to help you access the app and your subscription and to answer any questions you may have. If you’re ready now, follow the simple instructions using the QR code below.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The family is the domestic church and the foundation of society. It is where future generations are born, educated, and formed, and where vocations to the priesthood and religious life most often take root. So, how can we help our families grow in holiness and happiness?

Beginning this September, I invite you to join me in a Year of the Family.

This new weekly catechetical series, introduced by me, will feature short films showcasing families from across the Diocese of Lansing. Each family will share how they are striving to live the Catholic faith more fully in their daily lives. Throughout the year, the series will explore family prayer, education, liturgical living, hospitality, discipline, and works of charity.

My sincere prayer is that the Year of the Family will encourage and inspire our families to live in ever greater harmony with God and with one another.

To sign up, simply text YOTF to 84576 or subscribe by email.

I am, sincerely yours in Christ,

+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing

Epic: The Early Church explores how the Church that Jesus established and which we read about in the Acts of the Apostles took shape in the early centuries of Christianity. This Bible study meets Tuesday evenings in Vincentian Hall, from September 15 to November 17. If you attended last year’s Bible Timeline, you won’t want to miss this!

Join us and people from 80 other Jackson Churches to form the Life Chain. It is a silent hour of prayer, not a protest. It is a witness, not a demonstration. Queens covers the north side of West Michigan Ave. from Bowen up to West Ave. We are the only Church that covers more than one block, so we need to spread out to make it all the way from one side to the other.

MONDAY 7AM

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching” (Heb 13:8-9).

Fr. Tim MacDonald

Pastor