Pentecost is the end of the Easter Season and the birthday of the Church.  Come join us for Mass as we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit with tongues of fire and a mighty wind. 

Lots going on this weekend as usual . . . 

We congratulate the Class of 2024 at the 10:30am Graduation Mass and Brunch this weekend.  Please note, the brunch is ONLY for those who RSVP’d.  It is NOT a parish breakfast.  It was great to see the Lumen Christi seniors when they visited all the Jackson Catholic Grade Schools with their cap and gown on Thursday morning (see picture below).  A reminder to those joining us for Mass – though we prefer you wear cap and gown, you are still welcome even if you don’t have it.  Seniors are asked to meet on the Carlton porch before Mass.  You will walk in with the servers, deacon and me.

Queens Knights of Columbus Council 609 is looking for new members.  If you are a Catholic male who goes to Mass, loves your faith and you are aged 17.5 or above, you are eligible to join. 

Knights support the Holy Father, Catholic education, the pro life movement and pregnant women and those with special needs.  They donate their time, talent and treasure to raise money for all these important causes while being a force for good and fatherhood in the community.

The four tenets of the order are:  Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism.  These are fine values for any Catholic man and the Knights grow in them together as brothers. 

You can see a Knight at the doors after Mass this weekend to sign up or you can use the quick and easy link below: 

Here are just a few examples of what the Knights have to offer:

Bring yourself or your family and have some good old fashioned fun playing board games with friends in Vincentian Hall.  It is a great way to ‘detox’ from all the technology and screen time that occupy so much of our lives.  

The Knights are sponsoring a Fathers Day Dinner at the Cascades Manor House on Friday evening June 14th with former NHL MVP John Scott, father of 6 daughters, who retired from playing hockey and now lives in Michigan up in Traverse City.  Tickets are $75 per person.  Even if you can’t come, you can donate toward the event and make it possible for someone else to attend.  See any Knight for a ticket or stop by the parish office during the week.  

And you can see below where I speak about the Knights and patriotism when it comes to Memorial Day.

ALL the children of the parish and their families are invited to attend this Sunday 11:30 – 2:15 in the parking lot by the school.  There will be a free lunch of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with chips, cookies and watermelon and the KONA Ice Truck will be on site.  Kids will get a ticket for a free snow cone.  Adults will be charged for Kona Ice.  

Come enjoy an inflatable slide and an obstacle course, the bouncy house or a game of corn hole.  This is fun for the whole family and everyone can come whether they go to Catholic school, public school or homeschool.  

Volunteers are needed to help serve the lunch and make the event run smoothly.  We have different duties and times that might suit your ability and availability.  Please visit the Sign Up Genius Link here to find out more and take a shift.  Help is badly needed at this point as the sign ups for helpers thus far has been slow going.  

The next big event for the children of the parish will be SCUBA – Queens Summer Vacation Bible School, July 8 – 12.  This program is open to children in pre-school thru grade 6.  It runs Monday to Friday 9am – 12:15pm each day.  

Use the link below to register your children and take advantage of the early bird discount.  

If you are willing to volunteer or you have a student at home who will help in order to gain service hours, contact our Faith Formation Director, ‘Bible School Betsy:’

bkoval@queenschurch.com

Corpus Christi has special significance as there are four separate nationwide Eucharistic processions that will soon be making their way from the north, south, east and west heading toward the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, July 17-21.    Most of us won’t be able to participate in that.  Bishop Boyea has instead asked each Deanery in the Diocese to work together for a more robust celebration of Corpus Christi this year, to publicly manifest our shared Eucharistic faith, and to throw our support behind the upcoming Eucharistic Congress.

That is why the parishes of the Jackson Deanery are joining forces with the Jackson Catholic Schools to have a Eucharistic Procession on a scale never before seen in this area. 

The 2024 Corpus Christi Eucharistic Procession will take place at 3:00pm on Sunday June 2nd at Lumen Christi Catholic School on Spring Arbor Road.

There will be an outdoor procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament, stopping to pray at four handsomely decorated outdoor altars with hymns of praise, children ringing bells and dropping fresh flower petals in the path Jesus will travel with us that day.  

By having this event at Lumen Christi, we are hoping to engage people from all our parish and school communities, especially young families who have never attended before.  It is the pastors’ express hope that this year’s First Communicants will be in attendance dressed once more in their beautiful suits and dresses.  

After benediction, everyone is invited inside the school for a farewell reception for Lumen Christi Chaplain Fr. Brian Lenz who will be leaving in June to become the pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Church and School in Flushing. 

Please join us at Lumen Christi on Sunday June 2nd during the Great Hour of Mercy, 3 o’clock, and experience the wonders and mysteries this special event has to offer.  

Parents of high schoolers, please encourage your kids to get involved in the new Jackson Catholic Youth Group.  This is our first effort in the Jackson Grouping to work together with St. John and St. Mary, sharing a staff position.  The new Director of Youth Discipleship, Jake Gerber, has his office is at Queens though he has responsibility for serving youth of all the city parishes. 

ALL teens will be welcome and encouraged to participate in these youth events.  This includes those at Lumen Christi AND all local public school districts, private schools and homeschoolers.

The first event will be a picnic and cookout on the beach at Vandercook Lake on the afternoon of Saturday June 22nd.  See the ad below.  The Knights will be grilling. There will be games, music, fun and making new friends.  It is all free and it will be fun!  Youth can use the QR code to get signed up to attend.      

The success of this event and the new and improved youth ministry program in the Jackson Grouping that combines the three city parishes will depend on volunteers stepping forward to assist Jake Gerber in making more events like this happen.

If you are a young adult or parent of high school aged youth who realize that this often overlooked age group in the Church needs our help, time and attention, please consider signing up to be a volunteer in the Jackson Catholic Youth Ministry Program.  Volunteers need to complete a brief online safe environment workshop and have a background check.  This can all be facilitated through our parish office at no expense to you.  Please consider becoming part of this new ministry and making a difference in the life of a young person, many of whom are at risk of losing their faith during their high school years and especially once they go off to college.

If you are willing to undergo the simple steps mentioned above and volunteer with the Youth Ministry Team, please contact Jake Gerber at the Queens parish office, 517.783.2748 or write him at:

jacksonyouthgroup8@gmail.com 

Some of you may be unaware of the robust and growing Catholic ministry in the prisons of Jackson County.  Sadly, we have no foothold in the county jail but hopefully that will change some day.  Most of the priests and deacons in the area are involved at one or more prisons, with the help of dedicated lay volunteers.  From Queens, the deacons go every Monday night to the Charles H. Egeler Reception and Guidance Center located on the grounds of the Southern Michigan Prison.  Occasionally I join them for confessions and Mass.  I am also the chaplain on call for the Duane Waters Prison Hospital.

The inmates who attend the Catholic Monday evening program are always in need of rosaries and bibles.  So far, Queens has been absorbing the cost for bibles at Egeler Reception and the Parnall Correctional Facility, but the need is growing and I need your help to keep these Catholic bibles coming.

If you have an interest in donating toward this important cause, we would welcome a gift of any size.  Checks could be made payable to Queens and marked ‘Prison Bibles’ and put in the collection at Mass or dropped off at the parish office. 

Please help us help these men who are seeking to walk a new path out of darkness and into the light of God’s love and mercy.   

Join us in the St. John Cemetery on South Street at 9:00am on Monday May 27^th for the Memorial Day Mass of Remembrance.  There will be NO 9:00am Mass at Queens that day.  After Mass, you are invited to head down the hill from the chapel and outdoor altar to the Memorial of the Fallen Soldier for a wreath laying ceremony.  This monument was funded and built by the Fourth Degree Assembly of the Knights of Columbus, the patriotic degree of the Order.  It commemorates those who fell in battle, along with prisoners of war and those missing in action.  The Color Corps of the Fourth Degree Jackson Area Assembly of the Knights of Columbus will lead the ceremony, during which we will honor the 80^th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion at Normandy. 

Please consider coming to the Memorial Day Mass to remember the fallen and all the faithful departed.  While so many gather in large crowds on university campuses to break the law, disrupt the peace, burn flags and spew hate for America and for those of the Jewish race and faith, we can outdo them by coming together as One Jackson Catholic Community to rally around the graves of these brave heroes.  We don’t know them all, but we owe them all.  

We need God to bless America, and that is more likely to happen if we as a people become more faithful to God and better citizens and patriots in this country, teaching children to love America right along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim (Acts 2: 2-4).

“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

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church

606 S. Wisner St.  Jackson, Michigan 49203

(517) 783-2748  www.queenschurch.com