Newsletter for Friday, June 12, 2020

“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
Pope Francis’ General Audience, Wednesday, June 3, 2020

This week, St. Mary will be hanging a “Black Lives Matter” banner on our church above the doors on Thompson Street. Underneath these three words we’ve added the phrase “Unconditionally Pro-Life.” This phrase is taken from Pope John Paul II’s final pastoral visit to the United States back in 1999 when he summoned Catholics to “eradicate every form of racism” as part of their wholehearted and essential commitment to life.

We recognize simply hanging a banner isn’t enough. During this time of social distancing, there are some valuable resources on our website you can use now to deepen our mission to live a faith that does justice. Our parish launched our Big Read program in 2016 and the first two selections were:

Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson (click here for blog)
Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, by Fr. Bryan Massingale (click here for blog)

Each title features a chapter-by-chapter reflection blog on our website with contributions from parishioners and staff members. If you haven’t read either book, or have read them and would appreciate a refresher, we invite you to visit the blogs.

Additionally, 100 parishioners and students gathered last Sunday to participate in a prayer service for racial justice. If you were unable to join, you can watch the prayer service here.

We are excited to announce that we are developing plans for our parish office and church to open to the public:

Beginning Wednesday, June 17, our parish office and church will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday – Friday. During this time the office will be staffed to assist with scheduling, questions, donations, etc. You may also enter the church for individual prayer. Masks and social distancing will be required.

Beginning Sunday, June 21, we will offer communion distribution between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon. We will provide additional details for communion distribution in next week’s newsletter.

We will continue to live-stream our Sunday masses in English and Spanish for the foreseeable future. We are finalizing plans to add a public Sunday mass and hope to share those with you in next week’s newsletter. When we do reopen for public mass, we will continue to live-stream mass as well, prioritizing the health and safety of all parishioners and students.

Read below for our weekly parish updates, including a link to a video supporting our annual Diocesan Services Appeal, and scroll all the way to the bottom for some inspired Faith Doing Justice links and a virtual webinar about the immigration crisis and our faith later this month.

SUNDAY MASS, DAILY REFLECTIONS, AND SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

We will continue to live-stream mass on Sundays. English mass at 9 a.m. will stream live on our website, followed immediately by Spanish mass at 10:10 a.m. Recordings will be available immediately following the masses at the same location: https://michigancatholics.org/category/live-english-mass/

Scheduled mass intentions will be offered by the Jesuit Community, but not necessarily on the scheduled date.

DAILY REFLECTIONS

Our quick reflections on the daily readings continue with many wonderful contributions from SMSP staff members, parishioners and Jesuits. With most reflections under 2 minutes, we invite you to watch these as a great way to start your day or to take a quick break during your day. All reflections can be found on our website here: https://michigancatholics.org/category/daily-video-reflections/

SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

Let us pray for the sick who have been entrusted to our prayers. We pray especially for Les Guinn and Dianna Nati. May all be comforted and cared for in their suffering, we pray to the Lord.

For those who chose to eat and drink of the Son of Man during life, and who now have recently died, especially: Remedios and Maria del Refugio Avalos, Geoffrey Riches, and Debbie Gilbert. We rejoice for they continue to draw life from Creator God until Jesus raises them on the last day, we pray to the Lord.

For wise and decisive action on the part of local and national leaders, that the scandal of racism may be eradicated from our society, we pray to the Lord.

For all faith communities, that they may not succumb to indifference or accept the status quo, but press on for fundamental change, we pray to the Lord.

If you would like a name added to either of these special intercessions, please email [email protected].

ONGOING STEWARDSHIP

DIOCESAN SERVICES APPEAL (DSA)

Thank you to everyone who has made a gift or pledge commitment to our Diocesan Services Appeal (DSA). Our gifts to DSA enable our diocese to provide services crucial to our parish. The programs and services funded by DSA offer direct assistance to individuals and families, and to parishes, schools, and Catholic Charities agencies. “Every good work” of the Church occurs through dozens of ongoing ministries made possible by our contributions to DSA.

As of June 8th, St. Mary Student Parish has raised a total of $16,225 towards our goal of $97,785. If you have not yet made a gift or a pledge, you are invited to do so online today: www.dioceseoflansing.org/dsa. Your DSA gift will support the vital services and ministries that help bring the love of Christ to all we encounter.

SUPPORTING ST. MARY

Thank you for your generous support of our work here at St. Mary Student Parish. We are only able to do the work of ministry because of your generosity. As we strive to meet the needs of our parish and ministries during this pandemic, we want to make it as easy as possible for parishioners and friends to continue to support our ministries, though we are not able to gather together for Sunday mass in person.

OPTIONS FOR GIVING

Personal Check: These can be sent in our offertory envelopes or in another envelope with a note for allocation, such as offertory, Sunday mass, etc. These can be sent to our mailing address:

St. Mary Student Parish
331 Thompson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Please use precautions in the process to prevent the spread of viruses (washing hands, not licking to close the envelope, but using a sponge blotter or glue stick to seal the envelope, etc.). While our parish office is not open to the public, a few staff members are keeping up with essential administrative tasks.

Online Giving:

ParishSoft Giving Our new online portal!
Many of you have signed up for online giving, which is a great help to us. Thank you. Some of you may be open to doing so. We are introducing a new “online giving portal” through ParishSoft. This will eventually be the only online giving program that we will use. You can sign up (and allocate gifts to particular causes) HERE. Contact Kristen Gowman with any questions about this new online portal.

Legacy Online Giving Our original online portal
Legacy online giving is what we are calling the program we have been using prior to today. If you wish to change your allocations, you can do so using this LINK. (It would be ideal if you would establish an account using ParishSoft and then eliminate your one-time, weekly, monthly, etc., giving in the Legacy system.)

Venmo: St. Mary Student Parish is on Venmo @SMSPumich. Join many students and parishioners who use this payment app on their smartphone to send money from their bank account straight to the offertory each week.

YEAR TO DATE SUNDAY OFFERING REPORT AS OF 6/07/2020

Annual Budget Goal $1,020,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $966,000
Amount Collected:  $959,215
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($6,785)

YEAR TO DATE ANNUAL FUND REPORT AS OF 6/07/2020

Annual Fund Budget Goal: $440,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $432,553
Amount Collected: $383,736
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($48,817)

UPDATES FROM FAITH DOING JUSTICE

“Inspired by Ignatian spirituality, we live a faith that does justice, reaching out to the marginalized.” Our parish mission remains at the heart of all we do. If you’d like to give directly to St. Mary parishioners affected by this pandemic through unemployment and other risk factors, please email Cathy Welch [email protected] or donate online to Faith Doing Justice and add a note to your donation that references helping parishioners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RESOURCES

SMSP COVID-19 Resources Webpage
Our new webpage features a local guide of organizations offering free food, healthcare support, and financial assistance, along with links to spiritual resources and updates from Governor Whitmer.

Huron Valley COVID-19 Mutual Aid Form
Whether you’re requesting a need or offering a service – this is the form for you.

Mental Health Care: Coping with COVID-19
The University of Michigan shared these ideas for caring for your mental health and your loved ones! Even if you’re feeling okay, you’ll find creative ideas on checking in on loved ones and neighbors.

INSPIRED LINKS

Seven Last Words of the Unarmed: A 14-minute performance by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club (2017)

Pope Francis speaks out on the sin of racism and social unrest in the United States with a call for non-violence.

Bellarmine Chapel and the Institute for Spirituality and Social Justice addressed the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the African American population and health care ethics in the prison system. Watch a recording of Monday’s conversation here.

ADVOCACY

Strangers No Longer
Did you know St Mary is a member of Strangers No Longer, a grassroots network of Catholic parishes supporting immigrants in southeast Michigan? Named after the bishops’ pastoral letter on immigration, Strangers No Longer aims to accompany immigrants, educate our communities, and advocate for policies that reflect the dignity of every human.

Strangers No Longer is thrilled to launch a summer educational series, available online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first part of this series is a webinar about the Immigration Crisis and Our Faith. If you wonder how social action is Catholic, why immigrants can’t enter this country the way our grandparents did, or why Central Americans flee their countries, you are not alone. We invite you to a presentation by topic experts on Saturday, June 20th at 10:00-11:00 a.m. OR Tuesday, June 23rd 7:00–8:00 p.m. (You choose your preferred date upon registration.)

Click here to register. If you have any questions, please email Amy Ketner [email protected].