St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day is October 4^th.  As that date falls on a Sunday, we will have our annual Blessing of Pets at 10am tomorrow morning, Saturday October 3^rd.  Feel free to bring your pet to the Memorial Garden on the northwest corner of the church grounds and we will have a brief ceremony.

Join us this Sunday at 2:30pm along with pro life believers from 80 other Jackson Churches to form the Life Chain. It is a silent hour of prayer, not a protest. This 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.

Pray the Rebuild My Church Challenge on the Hallow Queens Parish page from October 4-11.

Over 800 years ago, St. Francis of Assisi knelt in a crumbling chapel and heard Jesus say: “Rebuild my Church.” Launching on his feast day, in the 800th Jubilee Anniversary year of Francis’ passing into eternal life, this 8-day prayer challenge invites you to discover how Jesus rebuild His Church: not through grand strategies or massive programs, but through the ordinary, holy lives of people like you.

Each day of the prayer challenge journeys through the life of different saints who answered that call, from St. Francis and Mother Teresa to Carlo Acutis, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pier Giorgio Frassati and others, exploring the foundations Jesus built His Church on: prayer, the sacraments, community, generosity, invitation and mission.

Whether you’re at Mass every Sunday or haven’t been to Mass in person for years, this challenge will help you discover that Jesus is still building His Church, and He is inviting you to become part of His story, the greatest story ever told by the greatest story teller.

HALLOW ‘HOW TO’: 

How do I join our parish on Hallow?

Everyone is invited to be a part of our Queens community page. There, you can create a profile, add friends, share and respond to prayer intentions, and take part in prayer challenges with the parish. The steps are simple:

New to Hallow:

• Download the Hallow app from the app store on your smart device.
• Rather than following the prompts to create your account, begin at the church icon in the top right corner.
• Search for our parish use zip code and then Join.
• Continue creating your account by following the prompts.

Already have a Hallow account:

• Open the Hallow app.
• Tap the Church tab at the bottom of the screen.
• Follow the prompts to complete your profile.
• Tap Explore and find our parish (enter parish ZIP code if needed).

All of you are welcome to join us in Blackman Park downtown at 2:00pm next Sunday afternoon October 11th for this annual event that includes the patriotic rosary where we pray for each state by name, a sung chaplet of Divine Mercy, a Eucharistic procession and benediction.  Outdoor seating is limited so please bring a lawn chair if needed.  Both this and the Life Chain allow us a chance to profess our faith and beliefs publicly beyond the walls of the church, a witness that is badly needed in today’s society. 

I stopped by my mother’s grave and then went to see my dad on my way back from the Convocation in Frankenmuth a couple days ago. My dad and I were discussing his upcoming concert here. Be our welcome guest at 2pm on Sunday November 1st. No tickets or reservations are required. We will take up a free will offering to support the music ministry here at Queens.

My father will be playing movie soundtracks from famous films and taking your requests. Afterwards, during a reception hosted by the Guild in Vincentian Hall, there will be a book signing of his 4th book, Oscar Snubs. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, or you can use the Amazon link below.

Dad’s two great passions are music and movies, and he loves to research and write about music and film. In this book, he looks at the movies that he feels should have won Oscars but didn’t.

Laurence MacDonald’s other published works include The Invisible Art of Film Music (1998), 100 Greatest Film Scores (2018) and Best Picture: A Critical Look at the Academy Award Winning Films 1927 – 2022 (2024).

“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