Tomorrow Queens is hosting a Pancake Breakfast in Vincentian Hall to raise funds to maintain the Victims of Violent Crimes Monument at the Cascades.  Breakfast is served from 8am to noon, Saturday October 19th.  

I hope you’ve seen this monument.  It is next to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial built by Queens parishioner Stan Mazur and the 9/11 Memorial, across the street from Cascades Baptist Church. 

Queens was honored to host a candlelight vigil last April for the families of the victims whose faces appear on the monument.  There’s nothing we wouldn’t do to support these families who have been so impacted by the rise in violent crime in our community. 

The proceeds from this breakfast will provide for the maintenance and cleaning of this monument.   

I was just talking to my boss, telling him how excited we are for him to come to Jackson this Sunday afternoon to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation at Our Lady of Fatima in Michigan Center, including 31 ninth graders from Queens and youth from St. John, St. Mary and the Sagrada Corazon Community.  This is a great gift and a big responsibility for these young people and their sponsors.  Please pray for them:

Lord God of Power, Might and Mercy, bless all the young people from Queens Parish and the Jackson area receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday.  As they confirm their Baptism and complete their sacramental initiation in the Church, may they prove themselves worthy recipients of the great gifts of Your Holy Spirit soon to be entrusted to them.  In this ever-changing world where nothing stays the same, may they come to know that You and Your Son are always and forever at their side through Your Church.  May these young people use the gifts given them in Confirmation to live for heaven here on earth.  All this we ask through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Pick up an empty baby bottle from the doors of Church as you go out of Mass this weekend.  Fill it with loose change piling up around your house and bring it back to Mass the following weekend.  The money raised will go to support mothers in crisis pregnancies at the Center for Women right here in Jackson.  

You might recall I went to Tampa in June to celebrate their Bishop’s 25th anniversary of priestly ordination, Bishop Greg Parkes.  Both recent hurricanes have devastated the parishes and schools of his diocese.  He had to evacuate for both storms.  I asked him how we up here can help them down there.  Bishop Greg said the hardest hit parish was St. John Vianney in St. Pete Beach.  Every building on the campus was devastated by the storm surge of Helene and then suffered destructive wind damage from Milton.  The school children are now attending other diocesan schools until their facilities can be repaired and reopened and the parish is having Mass in a tent.  See a short video here:

If you are willing to help this parish to rebuild and reopen, you can make a secure online gift using the link provided here.  Bishop Parkes and his whole diocese are grateful for any outside support they receive.  Now that these stories are covered less and less in the news, the giving starts to dry up right when it is most needed.

It has been a blessing this week to speak with several parishioners who are enthusiastically supporting the S3 campaign with pledges and gift commitments to be paid out between now and 2030.  My team of volunteers are actively engaging with key donors in the parish to ensure the success of the S3 campaign.

Our Queens goal is $2,600,000.  This is 1.25x our annual offertory, and part of a diocesan goal of $70,000,000.  While the vast majority of these funds will go to increase financial aid and scholarships for families using our Catholic schools, and giving raises and retention bonuses to Catholic school teachers, 20% of S3 raised at Queens stays at Queens.  This would be over half a million dollars that we will bank toward the support of the administration and programs of the Jackson Catholic Schools.  Any amount we raise over goal will stay in the parish.   

Though a specific gift amount is suggested in the Bishop’s letter, every gift is optional, and every ‘ask’ for your gift is ‘aspirational’.  A bold vision such as S3 requires bold requests and even bolder pledge commitments in order to be a success, and that is why we are aiming higher.  

Please consider the specific gift amount requested as an amount to pledge and pay over time on a schedule of your choosing, not as something you have to give now.  All of us are able to give more when we extend the gift for a period of years. 

The Catholic Foundation would love to hear from you if you wish to discuss gifts of stock or real estate, planned gifts or IRA distributions.  I would be happy to put you in touch with them.

If you did not already do so, I invite you to go back in your e-mail inbox to find the message I sent out about the campaign last Monday evening October 7th.  There, in the ‘Pastor’s Plea for S3,” I laid out the campaign priorities, why we are supporting Jackson Catholic Schools, and the process going forward with the campaign.  I also included the link to the video shown at Mass for those who may have missed it or had trouble seeing or hearing it.  Here again is the link to the S3 campaign video:

CAMPAIGN PRAYER

Lord, everything we have is a gift from you. 
You call us to receive your gifts with thanks,  
to develop these gifts fully, 
and to share them generously.
Through the Stewardship for Saints and Scholars campaign
help every young person in the Diocese of Lansing
see your truth, beauty, and goodness;
help families to raise their children in the Faith;
and help parishes make a truly Catholic education
available to all.
May the work of this campaign bear abundant fruit
in the Saints and Scholars you are raising up for the future.
We ask these blessings through Christ our Lord.
Amen.   

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us 

Join the middle school and high school youth group on Sundays at St. Joseph’s Oratory. They meet in the youth room next to the Church. Middle school meets from 3:15 to 4:45 and high school meets from 6-7:30. There is always food and plenty of snacks. Bring a friend!  Come for the 5pm Youth Mass!

The link below takes you to the online giving page of our Queens website.  There are so many worthy causes to support and some are hard to find.  Scroll down until you see ‘Youth Ministry Donation.’  Thank you for your support!  Our kids deserve it.  

For more information contact the Jackson Director of Youth Discipleship, Mr. Jake Gerber:

youth@queenschurch.com

Please make sure to read in this week’s bulletin about the upcoming holy day of obligation, All Saints Day on Friday November 1st.  Queens will have Mass at 6:45am, a 9am school Mass, and 5;30pm.

At the 5pm Mass on Saturday November 2nd, Queens will have our annual Mass of Remembrance, welcoming families who have lost a loved one to come and light a candle in their memory. 

“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