A REMINDER OF OUR NEW SECURITY MEASURES FOR WEEKEND MASSES:

The locking of all church exterior doors during weekend Masses has begun:

• We wait until 5 minutes after Mass begins before locking and then keep an usher at the doors for another ten minutes to let in latecomers. 
• If you can’t get in one door, try another and someone will admit you.
• Please note – you can always get out when the doors are locked, just push the panic bar in the middle.
• Try to be prompt for Mass to make less work for our ushers and ministers of hospitality. 

While tardiness for Mass is sometimes unavoidable, for others it might be for lack of effort.  If you are not often late for work, school, sports, or social engagements, but you are often late for Mass – stop and think about that, and the importance you attach to an event by the effort you make to be on time for it.  

THE PUBLIC ROSARY will take place at 2:00pm this Sunday October 12^th at the Horace Blackman Park next to the old Hayes Hotel in downtown Jackson.  There will be the patriotic rosary, the sung chaplet of Divine Mercy and a Eucharistic Procession through the streets of downtown.  There is limited seating, you might bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on.   If recent events teach us anything, this country needs God and we need to pray. 

If you have never prayed the patriotic rosary before, it includes the naming of all 50 states in the country and praying one Hail Mary for the leaders and people of each state.  Here is more of its purpose from www.rosarycongressusa.org: 

This Rosary is prayed to invoke blessings on every state in the US, asking for God’s guidance over elected officials, government branches, and citizens alike. It emphasizes conversion, peace, and the protection of religious freedom. Our elected officials are certainly exposed to temptations and harm, and are in need of our prayers. Praying the Patriotic Rosary unites individuals and communities in focused spiritual efforts to bring about healing and renewal. 

The Queens Social Justice Commission Annual Shop ‘n Share begins this weekend.  At the end of Mass, volunteers will pass out brown bags with shopping lists attached.  You are asked to fill as many bags as you can and bring them back the weekend following.  This food will fill the shelves of local pantries that are in constant and increasing demand from the needy and hungry families in our community.  There are envelopes at the ends of the pews for those who can contribute by cash or check.  Checks should be made payable to Queens and marked for the Shop ‘n Share. 

Knights from Queens Council 609 will be at all the church doors this weekend accepting donations for to support those with special needs.  At the state level, this money is used to fund the Michigan Special Olympics and the fine work done by the Servants of Charity at the St Louis Center in Chelsea. 

The Mother Teresa Circle of the Queens Ladies Guild will be accepting orders for Christmas wreaths after Masses this weekend and next.  You will find them in the Carlton lobby or downstairs by the elevator after all Masses.  Their ad is in the bulletin or place an online order using the link provided:

Your $150 ticket gets you dinner for 2 and many chances to win great prizes including the grand prize of $10,000!  Tickets will be on sale by the elevator after some Masses and at the parish or school office during the week. 

THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION will be conferred by Lansing Bishop Most Reverend Earl Boyea next Sunday October 19^th at 2pm at Our Lady of Fatima in Michigan Center.  Please pray for the 42 young people from Queens who will be joining youth from every parish in the Jackson Deanery to be sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and have the eternal, invisible mark of faith placed on their soul.  This sacrament completes their initiation into the Church after Baptism and Eucharist.  Pray for them that they might keep the faith as they mature and always stay close to the Bible, the Mass and the sacraments.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST OCTOBER 25, 8AM – NOON:  When you’re at the Cascades, hopefully you have stopped to visit the monuments and memorials across from Cascades Baptist Church.  There is the 9/11 Memorial with a steel girder from the World Trade Center, Stan Mazur’s recently funded USS Arizona Memorial recalled Pearl Harbor, and there is the Jackson Monument for Victims of Violent Crimes in the community.   This monument is maintained by the Victim’s Rights Division of the Office of the Jackson County Prosecutor.  Queens has partnered with that office to provide a Victim’s Candlelight Vigil each spring and a fundraiser to maintain the monument each fall.  Supporting these victims and their families is an extension of our Gospel call to care for the least among us and to shine light into the darkness.

JOIN US in Vincentian Hall on Saturday October 25^th anytime between 8:00am and noon for the Victim’s Rights Pancake Breakfast.  The cost is children $5/ea, adults $10, a family for $40.  Cash only.  All proceeds go to clean and maintain the memorial.  Sadly, money must also be set aside to add new names and faces if and when another life is lost to violent crime in our community.

“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