Tuesday, Nov. 1, fifth graders from St. Francis Xavier School in Petoskey, escorted by their teachers Kathy Meier and Jeff Silitis and Principal Phyllis Daily, helped at the Sacramentine Monastery and Augustine Center.

CONWAY — On Tuesday, Nov. 1, fifth graders from St. Francis Xavier School in Petoskey, escorted by their teachers Kathy Meier and Jeff Silitis and Principal Phyllis Daily, helped at the Sacramentine Monastery and Augustine Center.
Some of the students worked upstairs cleaning heat registers, some wiped down tables and chairs, others raked the cloister yard, while others worked to uproot massive old plants and weeds.
“The students did a fabulous job,” said one staff member. “Not only were they nice to us and to each other, they worked hard and the work they did was excellent.”
When the students finished, the kitchen provided the students with cupcakes and punch.
The sisters at the monastery and retreat center— Srs. Barbara, Marie and Rosalie — said the fifth graders are loved and their work is appreciated. The staff said the students accomplished many tasks it is hard to find time to get done with everything else there is to do around the center.
When asked if they would be willing to come back in the spring, the fifth graders responded with a resounding “Yes!”†

CONWAY — Bishop Bernard A. Hebda, Lutheran Bishop John Schleicher and several religious leaders and parishioners gathered Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 25-27, at the Augustine Center in Conway for the annual Lutheran, Anglican and Roman Catholic (LARC) Retreat. LARC is an ecumenical effort established 10 years ago among the faith traditions to continue dialog and strive to bring to fruition Christ’s longing “that they may all be one” (John 17:21-23 NASB).
The Rev. Tom Ferguson, ecumenical and interreligious officer for the Episcopal Church, offered topics for discussion and moderated conversations throughout the weekend. Ferguson also presented a partial history of ecumenism and said today there are some Protestant churches of one denomination being led by a minister of another denomination.
Reflecting on the speaker’s address, Fr. Bob Bissot added that many movements towards unity have been fostered through working side-by-side in efforts to alleviate particular societal ills. Fr. Bissot is pastor of St. Catherine in Ossineke, St. Gabriel in Black River, St. Raphael in Mikado and St. Ann in Harrisville.

Lutheran Bishop John Schleicher (left), Bishop Bernard A. Hebda (center) and the Rev. Tom Ferguson from the Espiscopal Church were among those who gathered in October at the Augustine Center in Conway for the annual LARC Retreat. Courtesy photo

Responsibility for acquiring the main speaker for the LARC retreat rotates among leadership of the three faith traditions. Next year it will be the Catholic Church’s turn and Bishop Hebda indicated he already has begun planning for the event and has sought input regarding potential candidates.
The LARC retreat is offered each year to clergy and laity who are involved or interested in ecumenical efforts. As plans are set for the 2012 retreat, they will be posted at www.dioceseofgaylord.org and on the Augustine Center website at http://home.catholicweb.com/augustinecenter.†

The Catholic Weekly
By Lisa Briggs

GAYLORD — Charles Strehl, 15, thinks the world of Mrs. Mary Fain, an 18-year veteran teacher at St. Mary Cathedral School.  And Fain makes every effort to help Strehl and the other 330 students at the school have an opportunity to “see the world.”
Throughout her teaching career at the school, Fain has taught a variety of grade levels and works tirelessly to incorporate travel into every curriculum.
“Mrs. Fain pretty much established a lot of the trips and things we are able to do,” said Strehl who transferred to St. Mary Cathedral School in seventh grade and hasn’t regretted it. “At first when she was my teacher back in middle school,” said Strehl “I thought it was so hard to keep up with the curriculum. But the combination of the curriculum and how she taught – she not only taught the subject- she taught us how to learn – has made a difference for me academically.”
For example, he said Fain taught him skills he believes will stick with him throughout his school career and beyond. “She instilled some solid habits in me,” he said. “One of the major things I learned from her is to take pride in my work and what I turn in. The other treasure I’ll always have from her is the habit of taking notes. It’s about discipline and good note-taking skills – which is really about listening and writing down everything she says. I noticed when I had those two things together it really made a difference for me as a student.” (more…)

Elementary students at St. Mary of Hannah share their versions of how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey.

You might want salt on it. You want to cut it up. You’re going to put it in the oven. You might want ketchup. Then eat it.
Mason West
First Grade

You cook it in the stove. My mom puts it in a pan. She puts a little salt on it when you eat it.
Abigail Weber
First Grade

You find a turkey and cook it in the oven.
Vincent Hampel
Kindergarten

You get the turkey. You get some powder and put the powder on the turkey. Get the chicken and then you probably have to get some flour and mix it all together. Put it in the oven.
Natalie Halloway
Kindergarten
You squeeze stuff on it. You put in the oven. You get it out. Then eat it.
Elijah Kuelske
Kindergarten

My Mommy lays the turkey on her desk. She takes it off and she puts it in the oven and bakes it.  Then she puts it in a bun on something in the garage.
Kenna Chouinard
Kindergarten

You cut the turkey. You cook it in the stove. Take the stuffing out.
Rosemary Parsons
Kindergarten

You get sugar and chicken and probably salt. You mix it together and boil it.
You then eat it.
Cecilia Pedroza
Kindergarten

Your dad shoots a turkey. Then you boil it. You eat it. That’s it.
Dylan Carpenter
Kindergarten

Turn on the oven.  You cook the turkey 15 minutes.  You take it out of the oven and eat it.
Della Bunek
Kindergarten
Mom adds oil to the pan to make the turkey.  She adds a little good stuff on top of the turkey to make it taste even better.  She mixes it and adds beans on the side.
Emma Belanger
Kindergarten

Put it in the oven for about 5 seconds then get it out.  Put a little pepper and that is all!
Hannah West
Kindergarten

First we catch it.  Then you cook it in the oven for six minutes.  Take it out and wait for it to cool. Then you eat it.
Beau Belanger
Kindergarten

People file into their seats early on Sunday, Oct. 23, at the Vatican for the canonization rite.

Diocese of Lansing group attends canonization rite in Rome

By Joseph Yekulis
The Catholic Times

ROME — Fifty members of the Guanellian family from Michigan and Pennsylvania traveled to Rome to support the canonization of St. Louis Guanella, the founder of the Servants of Charity, and the inspiration for the work that they do in caring for the poor, the marginalized and persons with disabilities. The group from Michigan included 35 people from the Lansing Diocese and of those 30 were from St. Mary Parish in Chelsea. (more…)

Singer Chris Padgett got the teens attending the Diocese of Lansing's 25th annual Jamboree, on Sunday, Oct. 30, up and moving as they stood in the Lansing Center.

By Mark Haney
The Catholic Times

LANSING — With song and with humor, Chris Padgett got the young people who attended the Diocese of Lansing’s 25th anniversary Jamboree to pray, sing, stand, laugh, dance, clap  — “Take your right hand and hit your left hand. We’ll call it clapping” — and listen.

The 41-year-old Steubenville, Ohio, resident spoke Sunday, Oct. 30, at the Lansing Center to an estimated 900 teens about Jamboree 25, “Celebrate the Legacy: Leaping and Dancing Before the Lord,” their own legacies and about what to remember in life in order to leave a good one.

“What does it mean to be part of a legacy?” he said. “It is so awesome. You guys have done something amazing in this diocese that you should be very proud of. Twenty-five years of these happening young people who are now old people. Who are still excited about the faith. (more…)

Two teens discuss what is on their gifts inventory and why.

By Mark Haney
The Catholic Times

LANSING — No one has been given just one gift.

Your job, Mary Clark told teens at the “Discovering My Gifts and What To Do With Them” workshop given Sunday, Oct. 30, at the 25th annual Diocese of Lansing Jamboree at the Lansing Center, is to discover all of your gifts and learn to use them for good. (more…)

The Noelle Garcia-David Mchugh Band got the teens up and moving.

By Mark Haney
The Catholic Times

LANSING — They came in all shapes and sizes — tall seniors and short eighth graders; geeks and jocks; introverts and extroverts; loners and joiners; leaders and followers; model-like clothes horses and those fashionably challenged.

An estimated 900 teens descended on the Lansing Center on Sunday, Oct. 30, for the Diocese of Lansing’s 25th annual Jamboree, a day together, a day of speakers and workshops, a day of meals, a day of Mass, a day of dancing, games and music.

(more…)

While Saginaw Bishop Joseph R. Cistone gives his homily at the Feed the Fire teen gathering on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Bridgeport, a group visiting from St. Elizabeth Parish in Marlette listens.

Bishop tells teens at Feed the Fire to prepare for the next life by doing right in this one

By Mark Haney
The Catholic Weekly

BRIDGEPORT — Meeting Christ and facing death might seem topics best shared with the elderly, but Bishop Joseph R. Cistone related it to the young at Feed the Fire, the teen gathering on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish.

“When I was a young priest at a big city parish, a lot of the students from the parish would do work around the church all of the time,” he told the young people during his homily. “There was a group that got the heebie jeebies every time we would talk about death. And every once in a while we’d kid around with them and say, ‘You know what? You know what I was just thinking about? I was just thinking about death.’ And they would get all shook up. At another time, we’d’ say, ‘Boy, this weather. What a beautiful day. Do you know what it reminds me of? Death!’ And they’d get all nervous about it.

“When we are young we don’t really want to think abut death because we have our whole life to live.” (more…)