Ladies of Blessed Sacrament Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, September 12th 2023

President Eileen Foster opened the meeting at 1:30 with a warm welcome to all. Prior to the business meeting, the 30 ladies present enjoyed a “chat & chew” (meet and greet) , a time to connect with each other over delicious snacks provided by Tana Zemanek, Ramona Lalka, Elaine White, and Anne Boyd. Our snack table was set up by Connie Latuszek and Dorothy Kociba.

The ladies brought a huge assortment of school supplies to the meeting which will be donated to Floyd Elementary in Bullock Creek.

We welcomed new members Janelle White, Julie Silvis, Linda Wilson, Joyce Cushman, Carol Osier, Gail Schroeder, and Joanne Dana. We wished a happy September birthday to Mary Derr (2nd) Susie Rademacher (12th), Helen Singer (12th) , Wendy Shields (16th), Naomi Granum (22nd) and Angela Buske (26th). Secretary Elaine White didn’t read the minutes of our last business meeting which was in April. Instead, a few printed copies of the minutes were on all the tables. Minutes previously posted online.

Tana Zemanek, Treasurer, reported our current balance is $16,311.17. The ladies will vote at our November meeting as to what 10 charities will receive $1,000 each. We work together throughout the year to make money, and then we donate money to better our community. In 2022 we donated $1,000 to these 10 charities: Blessed Sacrament Emergency Fund, Global Compassion, Shelterhouse, Toni & Trish House, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Saginaw Emmaus House, Midland Community Former Offenders Advocacy and Rehabilitation, Home to Stay, Wings of Mercy, and the Guatemalan Stove Project. Charities on the ballot last year but didn’t receive funding were Camp Fish Tales, Caregiving Network, Saginaw East Side Soup Kitchen, Emergency Food Pantry, and Tall in the Saddle. Tana asked the members what additional charities should be considered to receive money in 2023. Members suggested the Bridge Food Center, Gateway Family Urgent Care, and Phoenix Community Farms.

Signup sheets were passed around for Cider and Donuts workers on October 15th and 29th, Blanket Making Days on October 11th and 18th, and for bringing snacks to our next meeting.

Ramona L introduced our speaker Deb Plaver from The Bridge Food Center, a 501©3 nonprofit grocery store which is run entirely by volunteers. This grocery store provides opportunities for lower income families to choose and purchase high quality groceries at low costs by providing goods at wholesale prices marked up by 5 cents. This store is located at 1539 Washington St in Midland. The Bridge welcomes individual volunteers or teams for three hour shifts with an experienced supervisor. Please contact Deb Plaver to volunteer. The Bridge has purchased the former Save-A-Lot at 1826 S Saginaw Rd so that they can expand their offerings and offer extended hours. They hope to open at the new location in early 2024. Ramona presented Deb a small personal gift and a check for the Bridge Food Center.

The ladies then played a fun game with a partner and then introduced their partner to the members. Many new interesting things were learned about each of us. Elaine White closed the meeting with an inspirational reading called “Smile”. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, October 3rd at 1:30. Please come.

Respectfully submitted, Elaine White, Secretary

Parish Family Movie Night

“Everybody is somebody. Even a nobody.”
-Rafiki

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You’re Invited!

Please join us for a parish family movie night on Sunday, October 8, from 5:30 to 8:00 PM! Not only will we be showing the movie The Lion King, but we’ll also have a dinner and themed activities. If you’d like to join us, please RSVP using the online form!

The Lion King is a 1994 film about the adventures of the young lion Simba, the heir of his father, Mufasa. Simba’s wicked uncle, Scar, plots to usurp Mufasa’s throne by luring father and son into a stampede of wildebeests. But Simba escapes, and only Mufasa is killed. Simba returns as an adult to take back his homeland from Scar with the help of his friends Timon and Pumbaa.

Permission to show The Lion King obtained from Swank Motion Pictures #1932861-1

Not familiar with The Lion King?

Watch the trailer!

Need to know if this movie is appropriate for your children? Check out Common Sense media here.

Movie Night Registration

Join us for a movie, dinner, and activities!

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Joint Pastoral and Finance Councils Meeting Minutes | June 7, 2023

Blessed Sacrament Parish Joint Pastoral and Finance Councils Meeting Minutes | June 7, 2023

Attendees: Annette Clark, Dick Dolinski, Joe Dostal, Kathy Fothergill, Pam Gandy, Fr. Rob Howe, Jim Marinek, Lyn Pajk, Jeff Paulus, Patrick Regier, Cathy Richard, Dennis Thiel, Barb Warczinsky

Excused: Judy Gross, Dan Kozakiewicz, Jim Mahoney, Andy Pasztor, Kevin Spencer

Minutes

Meeting began at 6:34pm
Jeff Paulus moved and Annette Clark seconded the approval of the minutes of the April 19, 2023 Pastoral Council meeting. The motion carried.

Opening Comments—Fr. Rob and Patrick

An agreement in principle has been reached with the city of Midland to accept the Blessed Sacrament playground as city property. The city will be responsible for all maintenance, liability, and any other obligations as sole owner. The current equipment has deteriorated, cannot be repaired, and must be replaced to meet current standards and mitigate potential future injury-related liability claims. In turn, the parish will provide funds not to exceed $200,000 to purchase new playground equipment to meet existing standards including Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requirements. Funds will come from COVID-related federal funds that have been received from the government by the parish. This is a “win-win” situation; the city (and the neighborhood) gets the playground as part of Wallen Park and the parish no longer has maintenance, insurance, and liability risk-exposure costs.

Faith Formation—Lyn

Lyn updated the Council on the various Faith Formation programs including the following:

Cedar Point Trip—45 youth are registered to date for the trip.

Outreach—Justin is leading the trip leaving on June 11 with about 17 youth who will be working on four projects including a soup kitchen and fire damage repairs.
Planetarium Trip—visit to the Delta Planetarium in Bay City is scheduled for middle school students on June 14. Faith and science will be part of the discussion.
Baptisms—Baptisms are up—described as “blocks of babies!”
Vacation Bible School (VBS)—VBS is coming soon. About 70 youth are already registered. The program is in partnership with St. Brigid and Our Lady of Grace.
Adult Faith Formations—The program is proceeding well. 12 new small faith groups have been formed. A current project is making prayer beads. Another session of Theology By The Glass is scheduled for June 14.

Corpus Christi Bike Ride—The annual “procession” will be the bike ride from the Tridge to the Cottage Creamery on June 8.
Garden Stroll—Four parishioners’ houses will be open for a stroll through their gardens at the end of this month.
Emily Janoch Presentation—Greg and Nancy Janoch’s daughter, Emily, is employed by CARE working on various projects assisting the poor. She has just returned from a project in Ethiopia and will be speaking about her experiences there at the Parish Center on June 27 at 1:00-2:30pm.
“Kingdom Builders” will be the theme for next year’s programs
Organization Changes—With Lyn’s retirement, Justin Rose will become the Director of Youth Programs and Christy Granda has been hired to be the Director for Adult Programs. She will begin on June 22.

Finance Update—Patrick

Patrick reported on Parish finances through the period ending May 31, 2023. The balance sheet increased by $652K to a total of $2.84 million largely due to a $333K payment from the federal COVID program, the $187K bequest from the Glenn Waters Estate, and higher weekend collections.
The Christian Service Commission outreach balance was reduced reflecting the payment of $125K made to 50 different recipient non-profit organizations.
Weekend collections through the end of May are up $75K over budget. Overall expenses are higher than the budget by $23K driven primarily by increased utility costs and a CMA deficit of between $30-45K.

The 2023-24 budget was approved by the Finance Council at their last meeting in May. It calls for Revenues of $1.7 million and an “Operating” surplus (excluding Major Expenditures) of $136K. This is an increase of $11K from last year. Wages are projected to increase 6% and Benefits by 4% while other expenses are expected to remain flat. An overall budget Revenue less Expenses shortfall of $64K is planned after anticipated expenses of $136K for Major Expenditures.

Roundtable Updates

Annette—reported that “One Week, One Street” program is underway.
Jim and Barb—expressed heartfelt appreciation to Lyn for all of her contributions to the parish with her many skills, competencies, and enthusiasm along with her unique joy-filled personality. They wished her well and Godspeed in her future endeavors.

Barb—reported on the CRHP 17 celebration at Richard’s home and their desire to keep the effort moving forward. An 85-year-old woman is interested in participating next year.
Lyn—had the last word (as usual?) 😀 She thanked the Council members for the gift of their time and for being the first line of parish support. She urged the Council to continue doing what St. Mother Teresa always advocated, viz., “do small things with great love!”
The next meeting of the Pastoral Council will be held on September 6.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:19 pm followed by refreshments in honor of Lyn.

Men’s Morning of Reflection

All men of the parish are invited to attend the Men’s Morning of Reflection on October 28, 2023.

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Sculpture of the Lord's Prayer with scriptures from Bible

Guest Speaker
Sally McCuen presenting
The Lord’s Prayer – Much More than a Memorized Prayer

Come and join us, along with guest speaker Sally McCuen, and discover aspects of this familiar prayer that you never knew, even after praying it all these years. You’ll also learn how Jesus’ instruction on the Our Father prayer can help you get closer to God.

Jesus gave the disciples simple, yet profound words to pray to God. But how often do we mindfully utter the words of The Lord’s Prayer? Do you ever ponder and explore the spiritual depths of this prayer?

Sally’s presentation will offer us a wonderful opportunity to explore the Lord’s Prayer so that we dare not only to pray it but also truly dare to live within it.

When: Saturday, October 28, 2023
Time: 8:30 am – 12 pm (lunch follows)
Where: Blessed Sacrament Parish

Register Below

About Our Speaker

Sally McCuen guides others to enter into the mystery of God’s love through scripture studies, spiritual direction, and retreats. She works full-time at the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit. Her background spans high school religion teacher, college adjunct professor, campus minister, RCIA coordinator, and spiritual director. Sally holds a Master of Arts Degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. She has been happily married to Patrick since 1986 and is raising two young adult daughters.

What is Men’s Morning of Reflection?

It’s your chance to come and be with other men who, like you, are striving to be good men in the world. We have unique challenges as catholic husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, grandfathers… you name it. Doesn’t matter whether you are married or single, employed or retired.

These typically occur twice a year on a Saturday morning at the parish center. There’s a guest speaker for a given topic and you get to just listen, and if you want, talk with a few guys at your table.

Regardless of the topic, we don’t get a lot of chances to be around other men who are just trying to be a little better at this Catholic man thing.

Coffee and donuts are provided and if the event goes til noon we usually provide a free lunch.

Grief Recovery

“I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow.
Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process.”

-C.S. Lewis

Grief is our response to a loss. There are many types of losses. The Grief Recovery Series is a six-week program, which enables you to become aware of the process of grief and how grief affects your life. Blessed Sacrament will be hosting the grief recovery process beginning October 3rd. The sessions will run on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:00 and are for anyone who has experienced a loss three or more months ago. The sessions are led by trained facilitators and provide time for reflection and sharing. The process is free, but please register below or by calling the Parish Center.

candle lit in memory/ grief of loved ones

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CROP Hunger Walk

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…

~Jesus

What are you doing on Sunday, October 1st at 2:00 pm? Would you like a way to visit with friends, make NEW friends, enjoy the outdoors, get exercise, AND change the world?

Come walk with us in the CROP Hunger Walk to raise funds to fight hunger in our community and around the world. When you walk, you are walking in solidarity with people around the world who are walking daily for food, water, and firewood. Solidarity is part of our Catholic Social Teaching. The walk begins and ends at Farmer’s Market Plaza by the Tridge. We have a Blessed Sacrament Team and plan to meet at 1:45 pm so we can all walk together. If you can’t make the walk, then please consider making a donation. To learn more about CROP, to sign up to be part of the team, or to make a donation, click the button below.

If you have questions, please contact Christy in the Faith Formation Office.

Get ready to “BEE the Change.”

Join Our Team!

More CROP Walk Information

The Chosen

You won’t want to miss this!

At each of the eight Thursday afternoon sessions, we will watch an episode of the crowd-funded series, and enter into simple conversations about the lives of the people who encountered Jesus and how the encounter changed them. We will also take time to reflect on how the story relates to our own faith stories.

The first gathering is on September 14 at 1:30 pm at the Parish Center.

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THE CHOSEN received a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Read below to see what people have to say about it:

*This show has helped me understand the Bible in ways I never thought possible. Highly recommended!

**Amazing! Has brought The Gospels to light for me in a way that I could never have imagined. The series has drawn me closer to Jesus.

***This show brings to life so many scenes that could before only be imagined. I was skeptical about this show at first but it exceeded my hopes and just gets better and better.

Find out more here: https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen

Wednesday Morning Scripture Study

You are invited to join us from 9:30-11:00 on Wednesday mornings.

On Wednesdays beginning September 13^th from 9:30-11:00 am, we will be diving into Little Rock’s Scripture Study’s The Gospel According to John Part One. This covers the magnificent prologue of John’s Gospel and a portion of Jesus’ ministry filled with the signs of his divine nature.

The cost of the book is $12, and you may drop by the Faith Formation office to sign up and pick up your book.

About The Gospel According to John Part One

The Gospel of John is a testament to the divine nature of Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Light of the World. Part One of our study (John 1-10) covers the magnificent prologue of John’s Gospel and a significant portion of Jesus’ ministry. This ministry is highlighted by miraculous “signs” that reveal Jesus’ true nature and his relationship with the Father.

High School Youth Ministry Coordinator

Blessed Sacrament Parish is hiring for the full-time position of High School Youth Ministry Coordinator.

Are you passionate about your faith with a strong desire to inspire and guide high school youth? If you have a deep commitment to your faith, excellent leadership skills, and a heart for youth, we encourage you to consider joining our vibrant community.

Position: High School Youth Ministry Coordinator
Location: Blessed Sacrament Parish, Midland, MI
Application Deadline: Until filled.

Responsibilities:

Lead the design, implementation, and assessment of our high school youth ministry programs.
Foster engaging and meaningful interactions with students, parents, and volunteers.
Provide essential pastoral support within the youth ministry programs.
Collaborate actively with the Faith Formation team, contributing to annual programming plans and departmental budgets.
Demonstrate a commitment to your own professional development through continuous learning opportunities.

Requirements:

Practicing member of the Roman Catholic Church.
Holds a degree or higher in Theology, Religious Studies, or an equivalent field.
Strong leadership and interpersonal skills.
Competence in writing, speaking, communication, and technology.

How to Apply: If you are excited about this opportunity and meet our requirements, we would love to hear from you. Please send your letter of interest and resume to Patrick Regier, Business Manager by via email or mail:

Email: patrickr@blessed-midland.org.

Mail:
Blessed Sacrament Parish
Attn: Patrick Regier, Business Manager
3109 Swede Avenue Midland, MI 48642

For a detailed overview of the position, please click here to review the full job description.

At Blessed Sacrament Parish, we are dedicated to creating a nurturing and impactful environment for our high school youth. If you share our vision and are ready to make a difference, we look forward to receiving your application. Join us in this rewarding journey of guiding and inspiring the next generation in their faith.

“Everybody is somebody. Even a nobody.” -Rafiki