All posts by Dana Kingrey

St. Joseph – A Just Man

z2021 Lent

We are nearing the end of our Lenten journey. In one week we begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday and then on Good Friday we walk with Christ in His Passion and Death; finally celebrating Easter Sunday, the greatest feast day of our faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

What else do we need to finish our Lenten journey with Jesus? Who might we turn to for further encouragement, advice, and guidance? 

St Teresa of Avila, a great Doctor of the church, had a very strong devotion to St Joseph and to our Blessed Virgin Mary. 

During a period of desolation in St Teresa’s life, she was not only very distraught over her sinfulness but was also experiencing a great many problems in the establishment of one of her convents.

One day during Mass, on the feast of the Assumption, St. Teresa had a vision. She felt a white robe being placed around her shoulders, and when she turned to look, she saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on her right, and St Joseph on her left. —The white robe signified the forgiving of her sins—. 

In the vision, Mary took Teresa’s hands into her own, and told her that it gave her great pleasure that she was serving St Joseph, and that the convent would serve both St Joseph and Mary very well. St Teresa had a great understanding of Mary’s role in the salvation of souls by the fact that Our Lady was present in Christ’s suffering and walked with him throughout his passion and death. 

Of St Joseph she wrote in her autobiography:

“I do not remember that I have ever asked anything of St Joseph, which he has failed to grant.” 

As we move toward the last part of our Lenten journey, let us turn to the examples of St Joseph and our Blessed Virgin Mary to accept Jesus’s will for us in our lives and to have the courage to follow through on whatever He asks us to endure and accomplish. 

Recently, Father Max gave a reflection to the young adults of our parish during a Friday night Lucernarium. The message was simple, ‘Jesus suffered greatly because he loved greatly.’ 

Jesus is calling us to love greatly.  He’s calling us to show true sorrow for our sins and to conversion of our hearts.  He is calling us to trust in him even when there is suffering and challenges in our life.  We can turn to St Joseph and our Blessed Virgin Mary as examples of how to love deeply and accept the suffering and challenges before us. 

St Joseph was considered to be a just man because he followed the laws of his faith very deeply, and he took his responsibilities very seriously. When he learned that Mary was pregnant with a child that was not his, he sought to follow the laws of his faith in a way that would not put Mary to shame; however, as we know, an angel appeared to Joseph and explained to him that Mary was carrying the Son of God. Joseph was not only obedient in accepting what the angel was telling him, but he had great courage to meet the responsibility that was placed before him. 

And we know the story doesn’t end there. Joseph was visited several other times by an angel, where he needed to act quickly and with courage to save Mary and Jesus from destruction. 

We will need courage like that of St Joseph to walk along with Jesus on our Lenten journey in order to seek true contrition for our sins and understand the great mercy and love that Jesus has for us. 

Our Blessed Virgin Mary told St Teresa of Avila to turn to St Joseph for guidance and protection as she did in her own life.  Mary is also, herself, the ultimate example, guide and role model of how we are to walk with Christ this Lenten season.  

We need only to turn to the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary for Mary’s guidance.  Let us turn to Mary and ask her to help us experience sorrow of the suffering of her son; in his Agony in the Garden, his scourging at the pillar, his crowning with thorns, his carrying of the cross and his crucifixion and death.  

During Holy Week, let us invite Mary to join us in our walk with Jesus, seeking her guidance to develop true sorrow for our sins in our thoughts and words, our sins of pride – and for what we have done and in what we have failed to do.  Let us ask her to help us experience the sorrow that she felt as she watched her only son give his life -for our salvation, and to beg her to make us good sons and daughters to her. 

My prayer for us during this final journey of lent is for the Blessed Virgin to be on our right, and St Joseph on our left to give us courage to accept God’s will; to love deeply, to feel sorrow for our sins, and to endure any hardships or sufferings, trusting that the Lord will make good come out of bad as we prepare for the ultimate celebration on Easter morning. 

Amen

Deacon David Krajewski
St. Joseph Parish
Battle Creek, MI

 

Fr. Roch Greiner, CFR

Youth Rally

Fr. Roch Mary Greiner, CFR

Fr. Roch Mary Greiner, (formerly Keith David Greiner) AA, BA, STB, MA, M-Div, has been a member of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal for twelve and a half years (Sep. 2007) and is originally from Orange County, Ca. He was ordained to the holy priesthood in May 2017, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. He completed his philosophical studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and his Theological formation at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, New York. Before he was a friar, he served the Church as a layman for four and a half years in juvenile hall jail ministry and was heavily involved in the Charismatic Renewal. He was a tradesman (welder & metal Fabricator) for eleven years as a layman and owned his own business for four and half years before joining Religious life. His work included Aerospace work, sheet metal, welding, and car restoration. He is also a vintner.

He is currently assigned to St. Juan Diego Friary in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Dec. 2018-present). He has served as a missionary with the Friars as a lay brother in Honduras (unofficial military chaplain: Soto Cano Military Base) and as a priest in Nicaragua, serving the poor and ministering as the official Prison Chaplain for the Diocese of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. He has also lived and served in New York and New Jersey as a Franciscan Friar.

Some of the various ways he has served and currently serves in ministry includes: hands on work with the poor, work with the youth and immigrants, preaching at retreats, giving Parish Missions, and Healing Ministry. Fr. Roch also has a deep love and appreciation for the Biblical languages and the Word of God, which he uses as his platform for preaching and approach to ministry. Fr. Roch is a faithful son of Holy Mother Church and her Magisterium.  Moreover, he also has a deep love for God’s beauty in creation, and loves to enjoy in his spare time hiking, wine making, camping, fishing, hunting, and praying in solitude.

SKaAmen

Marian Conf Speakers, Uncategorized

SKaAMEN featuring Seminarian Jimmy Jimenez

SkaAmen is a Catholic Band that uses ska, reggae, alternative rock, and a mixture of Latin rhythms to praise the Holy Name of God. The band was founded in 2008 and is comprised of members from different cities all over the Bay Area and beyond. Their mission is to expand the Kingdom of God through art (especially music) and media, encouraging and challenging all those who will listen, to say “yes” to Jesus Christ’s personal invitation: “Come and follow me…”

Joining the band to share his testimony is Seminarian Jimmy Jimenez-Garcia, 27, currently in his fifth year of seminary formation at Saint John Vianney Seminary in Denver, Colorado.

Jimmy’s story is like the prodigal son: cradle Catholic with a very religious family, his mother in particular has a great devotion to the Lord in the Eucharist and to the Blessed Mother and the Holy Rosary. During high school, he stopped going to Mass and started hanging out with a bad guys which soon began a downward spiral that continued until he turned twenty one. By that time, he had already been arrested many times and was a heavy heroin user. A powerful encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist paved the way for his conversion and stirred in his heart to embrace the Gospel and desire to live as Christ did.

Follow SkaAmen on Facebook here.

Schedule

Diocese of Kalamazoo, Schedule

8:00 – 8:30
Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9:00
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Margaret Erich, Superintendent

9:00 – 10:15
Marzano’s Target Elements
Breakout Sessions:

  • Standards Based Planning Grades: P-5 & 6-8
  • Content Focused Standards Based Instruction Grades: P-2 & 3-5
  • Student Focused Standards Based Instruction Grades: P-5 & 6-12
  • Conditions for Learning Grades: 6-8 & 9-12

10:15 – 10:30
Break

10:30 – 11:45
Marzano’s Target Elements
Breakout Sessions:

  • Standards Based Planning Grades: P-5 & 9-12
  • Content Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: 6-8 & 9-12
  • Student Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: P-5 & 6-12
  • Conditions for Learning Grades: P-2 & 3-5

11:45 – 12:30
Lunch

12:10
Mass @ St. Augustine Cathedral

12:30 – 1:45
Marzano’s Target Elements
Breakout Sessions:

  • Standards Based Planning Grades: P-5 & 6-8
  • Content Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: 6-8 & 9-12
  • Student Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: P-5 & 6-12
  • Conditions for Learning Grades: P-2 & 3-5

1:45 – 2:00
Break

2:00 – 3:15
Marzano’s Target Elements
Breakout Sessions:

  • Standards Based Planning Grades: P-5 & 9-12
  • Content Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: P-2 & 3-5
  • Student Focused Standards Based Instruction
    Grades: P-5 & 6-12
  • Conditions for Learning Grades: 6-8 & 9-12

3:15 – 3:30
Closing Remarks
Jillian Kellough, Associate Superintendent

12:20–1:10 pm | Sonja Corbitt

Uncategorized

GICC Exhibit Hall C, D

Sonja erupted on the scene spring of 2014 with her explosive book, Unleashed, How to Receive Everything the Holy Spirit Wants to Give You, where she shared how the Holy Spirit works in the patterns of our relationships, habits, circumstances, and desires.

Now she’s showing up everywhere. Her 13-episode Unleashed TV series, perfect for study groups, aired weekly on CatholicTV. Soon after, her radio show, The Bible Study Evangelista Show, launched on Real Life Radio, Breadbox Media, and St. Gabriel Radio, through which Sonja offers 6-8 week Bible study series. You c

Look for her newest releases, Fearless, A Catholic Woman’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Ave Maria Press); Ignite, Read the Bible Like Never Before with Deacon Harold Burke Sivers, (Franciscan Media August 2017); and Fulfilled: Uncovering the Biblical Foundations of Catholicism (Ascension Press spring 2018), everywhere books are sold.

Sonja is a regular guest on EWTN; writes for Jeff Cavins’ The Great Adventure Bible Study Blog; Catholic Digest; Catechist Magazine; and Magnificat magazine; and speaks around the world.

1:10- 2:00 pm | Father Mike Joly

Uncategorized

GICC Exhibit Hall C, D

Father Mike Joly is a Roman Catholic priest celebrating twenty-four years in the priesthood this year. He was born and raised in New England, one of a large family.

“Eleven kids shared three bedrooms with one bath.  Our dad was a strong, principled, blue-collar tire salesman who stuck by us kids after the decay of his marriage.  Plenty of rough times growing up have given way to me and my siblings now firmly rooted in the Lord and always there for each other.”

Young Michael, having attended Providence College and Rhode Island College, secured a B.S. in Human Resource Management.  He obtained his Bachelor of Sacred Theology and Masters of Divinity degrees from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore. Ordained in November of 1994, he has served as parochial vicar in three parishes, while also spending much time in adult and youth retreat formation.  He has directed a large archdiocesan retreat center and served assignments to campus ministry, including the College of William and Mary.

Sarah Kroger

Uncategorized

GICC Ballrooms Salons 5-8

Sarah Kroger is a worship leader and songwriter. Kroger has spent the last eight years leading worship and sharing her music at a rage of national and international events. Her tender heart of prayer combined with the rare talent of her voice has made for a unique and intimate experience of prayer everywhere she goes. Kroger’s passion is to create a safe and prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the heart of God in a profound way.

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

Uncategorized

GICC Ballrooms Salons 5-8

We are pleased to have the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist for the third year in a row.

At the heart of Catholic education is the person of Jesus Christ. He is the master teacher. For Dominicans, their primary apostolate is teaching. As they engage in the New Evangelization, the sisters are open to new forms of handing down the faith, and in particular, the work of catechesis. Women religious have been an integral part of the history of Catholic education in the United States. As Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, they seek to continue the tradition of educating generations of young people in their faith and most of all, to bring youth into deeper relationships with Christ.

11:00 am – 4:00 pm Saturday

ATLEC, Uncategorized

Exhibit Hall A – B

Bishop Joel M. Konzen S.M. was born November 6, 1950 in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in Oak Harbor, Ohio.    He took his first vows as a Marist in 1975.   He took perpetual vows in the Society of Mary and was ordained a deacon in 1978 and ordained priest in 1979.

Bishop Konzen has a bachelor of arts in English from St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Ind., a master of divinity from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, a master of arts in systematic theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a master of arts in educational administration from The Catholic University of America.

Bishop Joel M. Konzen took his first position at Marist School in Atlanta in 1980, where he remained for nine years in roles as teacher, admissions director, principal and president. While a graduate student at The Catholic University of America, he served as vicar provincial of the former Washington Province of the Society of Mary.   From 1992 to 1997, Bishop Konzen was principal and president at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin, Texas.  In 1997, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he was vicar provincial again for two years.

Bishop Konzen returned to Marist School in Atlanta in 1999, where he served as principal until his episcopal ordination in 2018.  He assisted in the founding of two new Catholic schools in Atlanta, Notre Dame Academy and Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School.  He currently serves on the boards of Marist School, Atlanta; Pope Francis Children’s Home and School in Ghana, West Africa; and Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, LA.  In 2015, he received the Educational Excellence Award of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) in recognition of his contributions to Catholic schools.

In addition to his time at Marist School in Atlanta and St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin Texas, Bishop Konzen taught at St. Peter Chanel High School in Bedford, Ohio (1976-1977), served as a deacon at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in New Orleans (1978-1979) and as a priest at St. Edmond Parish in Lafayette, La. (1979-1980).