Georges unflappable presence (like Jesus with his Apostles on the Sea of Galilee in the storm) was there. He stresses the importance of reconciliation and reception of the Eucharist. The year was 1984, while Fr. That statement was proven to be true when we were informed that our much-loved pastor, Fr. He brings people together, inspires you to be a better person, to love and trust the Lord, to pray all the time, to talk to Him as a friend who loves you no matter what. Zbigniew is always ready to listen and guide you on Gods path. He understands, firsthand, the frustrations and blessings of health challenges from the perspective of care receiver as well as caregiver. He developed friendships with so many people it was hard sometimes to schedule a day to take him to dinner. I am not a volunteer. Darrell Roman welcomed us with open arms. I cant tell you the number of people who came back to the Church because of Fr. Fr. I am praying to God every day that Fr. Tell them when you've liked their homily, invite they and their families to dinner on occasion. His smile invites friendliness and caring. That's because Catholic priests must commit to a vow of celibacy. Greg and prayed hard for everything to work out. Msgr. Needless to say, it was again a meaningful tribute to his years of service to God, to his Church, and to all his fellow human beings. We are grateful for the time and patience he devotes to our Catholic Church. They already have a commitment and that commitment is to God, his Church, and God's people. His down-to-earth calmness helped us weather this situation. Ron could bake awesome cakes. Father always makes everyone feel special; he is a caring, loving, and compassionate person. I go to Daily Mass, and sometimes I find myself looking at Father longer than I need to. He borrowed the words of one of the most loved and cherished priests of our archdiocese (the late Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw): Hi, my name is George. Because he is so down-to-earth, he makes the parishioners feel at ease. When Fr. I would like to take this opportunity to honor Fr. He visits the sick and gives the anointing of the sick sacrament. Although Fr. Sean Bonner, who arrived this summer, and Fr. To honor this occasion, I embrace the opportunity to explain why I love my priest. Try one of these to melt his heart. Zbigniew also has brought two parishes together, not closed them. I see the smile on his face and realize that he is truly following the path that God has chosen for him. Like many gay people he was wounded and rejected by the Catholic Church. Bob said that if there was any chance of him surviving, he should be given that chance and rather let nature take its course, words that gave a sense of relief, lifting a great weight from our hearts. When duty calls, he is like a fire engine. The pastor is basically the CEO who has to be mindful of the business to ensure that the parish survives and thrives. An ordinary priest is not allowed to excommunicate you. Fr. Joe and I have laughed, cried (and argued) through many ups and downs. Always Pray for Your Priest We often ask our priests to pray for us, but don't forget how much they need our prayers too, regularly and unstintingly! Zbigniew Grankowski, has been a blessing to me when I needed an annulment, and he did everything to see to this. Dear Father, Thank you for a pastor that seeks You with a whole heart. As a parish, we will do our best to remember all that Fr. Second gradeOur Lady of Victory School, Northville. Aaron and pray God will give you the help you need. He has his face painted at our festival, keeping the children enthralled, and dances the polka with the grandmas. You may now kiss the bride! Fr. He is always there for us, whether it be the choir (he has a wonderful voice), education, outreach programs, youth ministry and worship. Let's be clear: To leave in the middle of a confession is. He is a true shepherd of God and lives the Gospel of love. We are getting married in the Church that his extended family belongs to. He then relays powerful messages that are enlightening and inspirational. I know that my fiancee Emily, and my mother and aunt, all of Michigan, are so thankful for his blessing as well. David Cybulski is to his parish (St. Joseph in Erie). Stanley for less than five years, I honestly feel like I have known him my whole life. Thank you, Pat. Joe for all that you have done and all the sacrifices you have made for the IC community. Sometimes I just cant see the way, but Father never wavered. You can't control your neighborhood, the traffic, the weather, or the economy. Joe!Thank you, Fr. We have been at St. Alfred for 50 years, and when Fr. He is always available to anyone who needs him and he greets everyone, personally, before each Mass. I am a parishioner of St. Mark Parish in Warren. Stanley. Fr. Fr. Rooney is a caring priest and it is apparent to me that he cares so much about people. Kishore Battu, SAC, now at St. Michael the Archangel in Livonia, were assigned to St. Valentine. Marlene JohnstonSt. Mary, Our Lady Queen of Families, Warren. So many memories you have left with us. John Hedges has been a priest for 25 years. What a time to be alive and a Catholic! Moloney also oversees the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, yet he always has time to care for his flock. Joe takes the time to recognize our parish volunteers, whether its during a Mass or in person, even though he is the one who deserves our thanks. Darrell is a very holy priest, a perfect homilist, has a beautiful singing voice and is very much a people-person. Our parents were (and continue to be) so proud. He led us in rebuilding our parish into a home that speaks to each of us of Gods will for us in our lives. During the past 11 years, Msgr. As a member of the former Our Lady of Lourdes Church in River Rouge, which went through an extremely painful merger process with St. Francis Xavier Church in Ecorse to become St. Andre Bessette Parish, I am convinced that God blessed us by sending us Fr. Msgr. Joseph M. Esper for being our pastor. St. John Vianney describes a priest as He who is not for himself, he is for you. Thats our pastor, Fr. Im writing about Fr. Zbigniew Grankowski has touched our lives at St. Barbara in Dearborn and St. Cunegunda in Detroit in so many ways. We are very saddened to see him transferred to St. Timothy next week. We had been without a full-time pastor since his predecessor, Fr. Second, Jos was a true and sincere seeker of spiritual truth. Fr. . "God doesn't need us to give Him our money. He has enriched my life and his familys lives. We look forward to traveling with him as he leads us on the road to strengthening our Catholic faith. Cornelius Okeke at St. Andre Bessette Parish in Ecorse. He took interest in our youth group and came to our activities. Paul Snyder came to St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak this past year. Im here to be your waiter. Just transpose that to be servant. Our pastor, Fr. Fr. To summarize, what draws people to Fr. Greg has been appointed as pastor of our parish! Lesniak taught us, to continue to grow as a people of faith, and we are so much better as a parish because of his leadership, guidance and friendship. He takes a genuine interest in his parishioners and even their extended families and makes a point of greeting all who came to Mass. O loving and gracious God, Father of all, you. He does daily Mass, which is rare anymore. Zbigniew has welcome arms for all the children even if they are crying; his arms gave them comfort. With love he gave me this gift to learn his idiom. He has devoted his life to the Catholic Church and made many sacrifices to help us grow in faith. For his happiness and that he may be well-rested: Pray that your priest is happy and he finds things that give him life . Although Fr. But then a thief stole my heart. This happened about a year and a half ago, and we were called Mission One, Two and Three. I am just a member of his church, thank God. He is constantly looking for ways to improve and grow the school, not only in number of students, but to grow the faith of kids and parents alike. Fr. Our entire parish community has reaped so many benefits from having Fr. A rough year past, a better one coming. You aren't just my sun. Confessing to a priest makes you even more aware of God's mercy, because once the priest absolves your sin, you know immediately that God has forgiven you John 20: 23) The church has agreed that all Catholics must confess to the priest as a sign of true repentance, obey humbly, and stop finding reasons and justifications to disobey. Fr. Ron Babich for the 20 years of his dedication and service to the parishioners of Our Lady Queen of All Saints, Fraser. Authentic, genuine, caring, conscientious, smart and loving, Fr. 8 A third time the Lord called, "Samuel!". Who could not love Fr. Once a priest presents himself as a chaste, committed celibate but is actually sexually active, he has destroyed one of the pillars of his mental health It is easy to feel outrage at a priest. Our vocations have increased since hes been at our parish. Paul Ballien as our pastor. 6 Ways To Support Your Parish Priest 1. Hendrico Rebello, SAC, associate pastor, are serving our parishes and are truly blessings in so many ways. His qualifications as a priest go beyond the calling of the faith. Lesniak, the St. Alphonsus Parish family wants you to know how special you are to us, how thankful we are to God that He gave us such a wonderful priest, even for such a short while, and we pray God continues to bless you. His energy, leadership and support breathe life through our building. He went off the highway to avoid fallen trash and debris; hitting something off the highway killed him. The way that he personalizes his homilies is a very special gift to all of us. 4: He always positive and smiling. Jim Grau, during Priesthood Sunday. 3. Tim, Maya, Ava and Emma StacySt. Alphonsus, Dearborn. The members of the Friendship Club St. Anselm Parish, Dearborn Heights. He tells good stories. Fr. People felt his aura and our parish has been growing by leaps and bounds! Fr. Im sure he will bring his own special qualities and ideas that we are eager to embrace. "Giving in a regular, disciplined, generous way-up to and beyond the tithe-is simply good sense in view of the promises of God.". Im referring to our pastor, Fr. We LOVE you Msgr. Dealing with Rejection Next, comes acceptance. Tom took time from his busy schedule to visit her wake. 201. Mike is a priest I admire for his daily example of being holy and an example of virtues in action. He always stresses that we are a family of God. He started the community dinner to feed the homeless people on Sundays. He is the most approachable priest I have met in my 50 years of being Catholic, from explaining Scripture or practices of the Catholic Church that are not understood to taking time to talk one-to-one with parishioners who have suggestions or concerns about our church. However, I have never been magnetized to a priest until Fr. Give me only Your love and grace. Ray Stadmeyer, OFM Cap., is the priest of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Detroit. We thank GOD for Fr. Studying to become a priest did not isolate my brother from the dramas of family life. With or without Fr. We love him because he loves our children and knows how to reach out to the young. Okeke can make you cry because hes helped you realize that in any type of situation we encounter ourselves we are not alone; we just need to open our hearts to God. I met Fr. He inspires everyone with his wise words, always entwining the Gospel into daily life in his homilies. Generally, if one of you is not Catholic, or you do not attend Sunday Mass regularly, the priest will recommend the Wedding Ceremony (without Mass). But, we were very blessed to have him choose to serve as our pastor at All Saints Parish in southwest Detroit. What makes Fr. Greg is young because he worked very hard with people of all ages. Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. A priest should wear his clergy attire when giving direction to a woman. See if these three simple prayers don't usher you into a more intimate, loving relationship with the Lord Jesus. Tom suffered as Christ and rose above adversity with the help of the power of his parishs prayer. Greg has gotten to know his flock pretty well in the year we have known him. We would like to express our appreciation and gratitude for our priest, Fr. Brian kindly lent me his ear when I sought his advice. He taught us the meaning of love and brotherhood, and also I thank him because now I can write in English. David Lesniak, has been at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn for more than 11 years. 1: He makes us happy to be Catholic!God Bless,Lawrence Ricard Principal Immaculate Conception Catholic School, Ira Township. He keeps our hearts on fire for God!We deeply cherish having Fr. John is mindful of our needs and our capacity to carry on the Catholic tradition. 11K views, 428 likes, 445 loves, 3.6K comments, 188 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from EWTN: Starting at 8 a.m. They also have been wonderful blessings to our faith community and are dearly missed. Both friars are stewards of our church and its surrounding grounds; the church was built 90 years ago by faithful Hungarian families, many newly arriving from the old country with a shared goal of building a place of worship for Hungarian Catholics. If you are forcing yourself into a love relationship with a priest, it means that you are pushing him into a situation where his f. That is the message of Malachi 2:10-12. 2. He leads by example just as Jesus did. James Arwady as the pastor of St. Christopher Parish in Marysville. When you need help with bills, he is there to give a helping hand. At the end of the confession, the priest gives to the penitent what is called a "penance," a certain number of prayers to say, or fasting, or the giving of alms, or acts of mortification, or a way of the Cross, or a rosary. Our pastor invokes the Holy Spirit before he delivers his homily. Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous: teach me to serve You as You deserve: to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward save that of knowing I am doing your will. (This might be because he often brings treats to share.) Fr. So far its working out pretty good; I love working there. Noels light is his willingness to share of himself. By sharing his personal experiences (facing seminary life; befriending a solitary, elderly person at a wedding reception), he opens our eyes, ears and hearts to the messages of Jesus, our Good Shepherd. Regardless of how I may feel coming into Mass, I always leave uplifted and refreshed. Simply Say "Thank You" - While blatantly obvious, sometimes weeks go by for a pastor without someone verbally saying thank you. Rita CastorenaSt. Andre Bessette Parish, Ecorse. Whatever needs to be done for the greater good, he does with humility, dedication and love. There are many things about this very humble man that I am appreciative of. I am sure that he will truly be bilingual upon his return to Michigan. This new ministry, Gianna House, would initially open as an outreach, then become a residence for pregnant teens in need of housing, sustenance, education and support. Thank you Fr. Barnabas Kiss, OFM, and our associate pastor, Fr. Priests are indeed a blessing to our Church and our congregations. My love and respect for Father continues to grow and I honor him and pray that he will continue his work as our parish pastor. Archbishop Allen Vigneron is a great archbishop because he loves God. Thank you, Fr. He is not afraid to give hugs. We werent sure about our future for several months in 2013, having to rely on the gracious contributions of numerous guest priests for many weeks. For our sons to have this presence of Christ an integral part of their lives has been profound. One of our authors explains: "My spiritual sisterhood in college gave the friars a spiritual bouquet once, and they cried with joy and loved it. Fr. Father prayed with us, encouraged us, and loved us. However, if he knows that you committed some kind of sin that automatically leads to an excommunication and therefore you are already excommunicated, he might inform you about that fact. We are blessed to have him as our pastor. Joe takes time during faith formation so that we can make things right with Jesus again. I love my priest because he is so gentle and kind. I would love to praise my priest Fr. Get ready for mushy love texts all the time, my love! Rooney. Hes back! He knows that life is short, and each day, each hour, each minute brings us opportunities, gifts and blessings if we are open and willing to recognize and receive them. He is a blessing to me and everyone he comes in contact with. Fr. It is brilliantly done in a way that allows children to interact with him through skits, providing lessons for all, while at the same time helping the children to grow in their faith. He is very approachable and we are very happy he is our pastor. Lifes leaders like him provide us with the purpose and motivation that we need to be better followers of Christ, neighbors and citizens. He owns everything. He is never too rushed to listen, too busy to make time, or too tired to be available. Pauls amazing costumes! What a blessing this shepherd at St. Veronica Parish has been!Gianna House Board of Directors St. Veronica Parish, Eastpointe. I think he is a good priest because he cares about everyone. Stanley Obloj is my priest and pastor. I am so proud to have him in my life. He uplifts us spiritually and helps us remember our humanness and strengths, and encourages us to overcome lifes situations with faith and grace. Prayer #14. 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