St. Peter Parish, Mount Clemens Get a Job. We Even Dare to Tell Them That They Must Mass Intentions for March 4 to March 10, 2019 Work in Order to Make a Living
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ST. PETER CATHOLIC CHURCH 95 MARKET STREET MOUNT CLEMENS, MICHIGAN 48043 March 3, 2019 Phone: (586)468-4578 Website: stpetermtclemens.weconnect.com My Dear Friends, Believe it or not, this article will be a relatively short one. I know you are all shaking your heads but it will be a short article in comparison to the last two weeks which I stand behind. The first major item is that Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday. The schedule for the traditional Ash Services is on the front page. Please take serious note of these times because we are always flooded with telephone call about the times by parishioners as well as nonparishioners. The second item is that the day after, we celebrate Confirmation on Thursday, March 7. Bishop Fisher will be the main celebrant. The schedule for that is also in this bulletin. I always have a concern about Confirmation. Too many people view Confirmation as a form of the Jewish Celebration of Bar Mitzva. This is the Jewish celebration when young men celebrate their passage from youth into adulthood according to the teachings of the Jewish faith. Confirmation is not a Catholic Bar Mitzva. Confirmation is not an end to one’s growth of Faith anymore than a Bar Mitzva is. It marks a moment of growth toward a goal of becoming more than just a book of learning or rules. It is a moment of growth in the practice of Faith and its regular practice in the life of the individual. I find it interesting and hurtful that parents whose children are confirmed will no longer bring their children up in the Catholic Faith. Therefore, the children and the sponsors as well as the parents are lying. It is all too usual for children, by way of example, to stop coming to regular Religious Education Classes. The students in Catholic Schools have to continue to come to Religion Classes because it is part of the curriculum of the school. Still many of them think that they have learned everything they need about their relationship with God because their parents tell them this by word and action such as nonparticipation at Mass. I am asking the parents not to do this because they deserve better and their children deserve better. Ash Wednesday is March 6 8:00 AM: Mass with Ashes I understand that many children get to a certain age when they no longer practice their Catholic Faith in terms of going to Mass. 12:15 PM: Prayer Service Parents can only give children the background and the with Ashes fundamentals of Faith. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the 5:00 PM: Prayer Service young adults to make their own decision about the practice of the with Ashes Faith. However, having said that, I do point out that children who 7:00 PM: Mass with Ashes become adults have no right to other sacraments such as marriage or baptism if they do not practice their Faith. If they want to be adults then they should act like adults and take on the responsibilities of adults. Life is not a “handout.” The benefits of life are earned. I want everyone to think about this. A major problem Don’t Forget! Knights of Columbus Pan- with our society, indeed our world, is that we presume to give our cake breakfast this weekend, March 3 children things they have no “right” to, without working for it. We after the 7:30 & 10:00 Masses in the should make them go to driver’s training to get a license. We tell them that they need to get an education to Fr. Welch Hall! Continued on page 2 Page 2 St. Peter Parish, Mount Clemens get a job. We even dare to tell them that they must Mass Intentions for March 4 to March 10, 2019 work in order to make a living. We also need to tell them and set the example that our Faith should be a Monday, March 4 8:00a.m. cornerstone of their adult life. Fr. TJ Moloney (dec) Tuesday, March 5 8:00a.m. Finally, this past week one of my Staff Members took Special Intention for Joseph me aside and told me that I should be honest with the req: Family Parish Family about something very specific. I have Wednesday, March 6 8:00a.m. not been forth coming about this for many reasons. Jim & Jennie Voiland (dec) req: Family One is that I am really a private person believe it or Adriana Pleban (dec) req: Family not. The second reason is that I have a hard time as an individual in sharing personal items with anyone. Eddie & Irene VanWalleghem (dec) req: Helmut Breiling The third reason is that while I will willingly give the 7:00p.m. shirt off of my back to anyone, I have a hard time Michael & Elizabeth Cooney (dec) accepting what others are willing to give to and for me. Bishop Patrick Cooney (dec) Maureen Cooney (dec) For a number of years, one of my sisters, Maureen, Thursday, March 7 8:00a.m. has been suffering from dementia. As she went Ann Lieberman (dec) req: Family through the various stages she, my other sister, Sr. Friday, March 8 8:00a.m. Lee, and I tried to keep things as regular as we could Catherine Spitzley (dec) req: Don & Shirley Simon while getting her the help that was available. In the Saturday, March 9 4:00p.m. year 2011, my sister, Sr. Lee, retired from her job with Living & Deceased Members of the Marecki Family req: Family the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She remained, of course a Sister of that Religious Order. For five years Abigail Convery (dec) req: Family from 2011 to 2016 she took care of my sister, Eileen Convery (dec) req: Bill & Kelly Karlewski Maureen, in our family home. All through this time we Octavia & Dolores Benacquisto (dec) req: Robert & continued to hold to our family tradition of Sunday Janet Benacquisto dinner together. In 2016, it became too much for Sr. Richard McCrory (dec) req: Bud & Ceil Yates Lee, even with additional help, so on June 29, 2016 Cheryl Greaney (dec) req: Vicky Pranger she and I took our sister, Maureen, to a care facility in Sunday, March 10 7:30a.m. Adrian, Michigan. On the same day I drove my sister, Helen Simonof (dec) req: Pat Cassel Sr. Lee, to the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse in Bill & Nora Rashwam (dec) req: their daughter, March Thomas Adrian, Michigan to live. We agreed to do this because Bob Thomas (dec) req: his wife, Mary my two sisters were born and raised very close to each other and were indeed very close siblings. For five 10:00a.m. years Sr. Lee took care of Maureen the best she could Living & Deceased Members of the Dewan & Donahue Families in our family home. Now, by having them both close req: Jim Dewan & Family together in Adrian, ten minutes apart, they could be Vida Pozar (dec) req: Family with each other every day and Sr. Lee could continue Doris Kallek (dec) req: Family to watch over Maureen as best as she could with a full Darrin Wagner (dec) req: Family medical/convalescent staff. Special Intention for Fr. Dale Redwanski req: Friends Norman Malburg (dec) req: Keith, Sarah, Nora & I could not make the drive of two hours every Sunday Nathan Malburg to keep my family together so I used my half day off, 12:00 Noon Wednesday, for the last two and a half years to For the Intentions of our Parish Family continue to try keep my family together the best I could. Unfortunately, sometimes that meant that I had to be Carl Holland (dec) req: his wife, Eleanor late on some things here at the Parish and not as Santa Panebianco (dec) req: his daughter diligent as I could have been on other matters. The Richard Chesney (dec) req: Kate McDougall Staff, the Best Staff in the Archdiocese, stepped in and Clyde Addis, III (dec) req: Jane Bass helped out immensely. I guess my Staff Member was Special Intention for Lisa Shea req: Religious Education Staff right. It is about time that I should share with you Russell Allen (dec) req: Julie Ireland where I have been and what I have been doing on my half day off. At this time, my sister Maureen is close to death. She has been of the last few weeks. Those of you who have been there know what I mean. As I write this article, I have no idea when Maureen will die and return home to the Father and our Dad, Mom, Brother and so many others. This is Tuesday evening and I have no idea if she will be alive tomorrow. I need to ask forgiveness for the not being the best Pastor here that I need to be. I need to thank our Staff for filling in so well. I must ask your forgiveness for my distraction but if I had to do it over again, I would not change a thing. That is what family is about. That is what we have been trying to form for 29 years. Just as the “Cooneys” are a Family, so is “St. Peter/St. Mary” a Family. Please have a great week. God Bless. Love, Peace, Joy, Fr. Mike’s sister, Maureen Cooney, passed away early Wednesday morning. Funeral arrangements are as follows: Visitation, Sunday, March 3 from 3:008:00 PM at Will & Fr. Mike Schwarzkoff Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be Monday, March 4 at 11:00 AM, instate at 10:00 AM at St.