THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION will be conferred by Lansing Bishop Most Reverend Earl Boyea this Sunday 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.

The Queens Social Justice Commission Annual Shop ‘n Share continues this weekend.  Please bring back your brown bags filled with non-perishable food to feed the hungry.  You can bring other bags, cases or boxes with food in them if you did not get some of those bags.  Donations of cash and check marked ‘shop ‘n share’ are also accepted. 

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 next 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.

The Mother Teresa Circle of the Queens Ladies Guild will be accepting orders for Christmas wreaths after Masses this weekend.  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. 

All Souls flowers for deceased spouses

On Sunday, November 2nd, at 12:30 p.m. at the St. John’s Catholic Cemetery, the Horizons group is holding an All Souls Day prayer service for our departed spouses.  Deacon Pat Gorczyca will lead a brief prayer service and then flowers will be distributed to widows/widowers to place on the grave of their beloved spouse.  This event is free and open to all widows and widowers of Queens parish and all Catholic parishes in Jackson.  Please call the Parish office at 783-2748 so we can get a head count so we know how many flowers to order.  Please do so by October 29th.

Advent “On the Horizon” Retreat

On Wednesday, November 5th, the Horizons group is holding a pre-Advent retreat for widows and widowers.  It is free and open to all widows and widowers of Queens parish and all Catholic parishes in Jackson.  It will start with a Mass at 8:30 a.m. and after we will go downstairs to Vincentian Hall.  Fr. Mike Murray will be our featured speaker and he will give 2 talks.  A light breakfast and lunch will be provided.  It will conclude by 1:30 p.m.  Please RSVP by emailing Beth Philo at beth.philo@gmail.com and please do so by October 29th so we can prepare for the retreat (food and handouts).

“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