A merger of faith communities from St. John, St. Columbkille, St. Joseph, and St. Ignatius.
Our Parish Envisioning Team worked and prayed for many months to discern these new purpose and vision statements:
Parish Purpose
We the members of Good Shepherd Parish, guided by the Holy Spirit and strengthened through sacraments, fellowship, and faith formation, serve as a force for good in our local community, our diocese, and our world. As a unified community, we are striving to become missionary disciples of Jesus.
Vision
Good Shepherd Parish will be a community where every member is on fire with the Truth. We will be guided by the Holy Spirit and will be a force for God’s mission. We will be strengthened through our worship, participation in the Sacraments, lifelong faith formation, study of the Word, and fellowship with one another, our neighbors, and beyond. We will show our love by being the hands and feet of Christ and sharing our joy with our community, our diocese, and our world.
Wednesdays 7:30pm at St. Columbkille
Thursdays 7pm at St. JohnEncounter Jesus in… Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary:
First Fridays, St. John Church, 3:45pm
Encounter Jesus in… Daily Masses:
Wednesdays 11:30am @ St. John (Parish Center November-April)
Thursdays 7pm @ St. Columbkille
Fridays 9am @ St. JohnEncounter Jesus in… Confessions/Reconciliation:
Wednesdays 11-11:20am at St. John (Parish Center November-April)
Thursdays after 7pm Mass at St. Columbkille
Fridays 9:45am-10:15am at St. John, Ubly
Saturdays 3:30-3:50pm (ask Father at door) at St. John
Or by appointment
Encounter Jesus in… Lenten Communal Penance Service:
Sunday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) 2:30pm at St. John, Ubly- short prayer service then individual confessions with multiple priests available
Encounter Jesus in… Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament:
Fridays following 9am Mass at St. John
On First Fridays, we have All Day Adoration at St. John Church, Ubly, after 9am Mass until 4pm, Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:45pm followed by Benediction. Stop in to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! You will quench His thirst for your love, and He will quench your thirst for His.
Encounter Jesus in… Lenten Speaker: Keri Tarrant
On Palm Sunday, after 10:30 Mass at St Columbkille, Catholic Evangelist Keri Tarrant from Saginaw will prepare our hearts for Holy Week with her joy and enthusiasm
Encounter Jesus in… Holy Week 2024:
Palm Sunday: March 23/24
Faith Formation Holy Week Retreat at St. John: Wednesday 6-7:30pm; parishioners invited
Holy Thursday: 7:00pm at St. Columbkille
Good Friday: 2:00pm at St. John
Holy Saturday Easter Vigil: 8:30pm at St. John
Easter Sunday: 8:30am at St. Ignatius; 10:30am at St. Columbkille
Encounter Jesus in… Easter Retreat with Richard Lane: April 2-3
Catholic Evangelist Richard Lane from Detroit will speak during these two days to help us live the joy of the resurrection this Easter season
Tuesday, April 2: 6:30pm Adoration & Talk at St. Columbkille Church
Wednesday, April 3: 10am talk at St. John Church; also, 6:15pm talk at parish center, Ubly
Flocknote
Parish family member or friend of the parish, as your pastor, I want to help you to stay informed about what our beloved Lord is doing in our parish and THROUGH our parish, and how He might be inviting you to join Him in His mission of rescuing the lost and the hopeless, and making intentional, joy-filled disciples..
Please join our new parish Flocknote! No passwords, no apps required. It allows parish leaders, including staff, leaders of ministries and groups, etc., to communicate important info via email or text.
I’ll be sending a weekly update via Flocknote. As you sign up, please choose groups/ministries you’re interested in receiving communication from (even if you’re only praying/thinking about joining that ministry).
Text to join: text the word BESTSHEPHERD to 84576
Or Join with link: https://GoodShepherdUbly.flocknote.com
PARISH RENEWAL PRAYER
After Masses, we will soon begin praying a “Parish Renewal Prayer”, as our Pastoral Council has agreed to do. I wrote the prayer inspired by prayers of various others. Our parish leaders need us to pray for them, because Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15) We need to ask God to give us leaders His Holy Spirit, so that we can discover God’s Vision for our parish, and make plans accordingly.
God’s Vision generally speaking is something we already know: the purpose of a parish is to promote the glory of God, the sanctification of souls, and the salvation of the lost. It is a “field hospital” for sinners, not a social club. It’s mission is to form “missionary disciples” of Jesus Christ and to become a “center of constant missionary outreach”, in the words of Pope Francis.
Here is the Parish Renewal Prayer phrase by phrase, with explanation:
“Come Holy Spirit, Fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love.”
***the beginning of an ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit. Pray it daily and you will see amazing things in your life
Enlighten parish leaders as they meet to discover God’s Vision for our parish.
***without the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, we will remain in the dark and be vulnerable to the attacks of the devil, the ”father of lies” and author of confusion. Just as God has a Vision for our parish, so does the devil. We need to discover God’s Vision so we can make plans towards achieving it
Give to them, and to each one of us, “a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, a love of you.”
***from a prayer by St. Thomas More
Help us to grow in Your gifts and fruits, and to discover our charisms for ministry. Heavenly Father, We ask for a “new outpouring of the Holy Spirit”
***from the words of the shepherd Jesus appointed for our diocese, Bishop Robert Gruss (Great Lakes Bay Catholic, Issue #3). He asked us to pray for this new outpouring regularly. Please read the full article in Issue #3. There is a difference between the fruits, gifts, and charisms of the spirit; see back of the parish renewal prayer bookmark to see the difference. On October 27, 2023 our parish will be hosting the Called and Gifted Workshop to help us discover our personal charisms
…in our hearts, our families, our parish, and our diocese to bring about “an authentic and renewed conversion to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
***from article by Bishop Gruss. He has encouraged us priests to pray daily for the conversion of our parishes, as did St. John Vianney, the patron of parish priests. I do pray daily for my own deeper conversion and the deeper conversion of my parish. Now we’re all going to pray for conversion together
Blessed Virgin Mary, grant a “renewed Pentecost” “that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel.”
***the prayer of Pope Benedict XVI (Regina Caeli Message, May 11, 2008)
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
***the beginning of the traditional St. Michael Prayer. I encourage every Christian to pray the full prayer daily. You can find it on the back of the hymnal
Jesus, we trust in You!
***the prayer Jesus asked St. Faustina to have inscribed at the bottom of the Divine Mercy Image
Praying with Scripture: Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)
Advent 2022 Homily Series: What is the Good News? CREATED, CAPTURED, RESCUED, RESPONSE
This homily series is meant to help us surrender our lives to Christ and cooperate with Him in His mission of rescuing souls:
Homily #1: CREATED: Why is there something rather than nothing?
Homily #2: CAPTURED: Why is everything so messed up?
Homily #3: RESCUED: What has God done about it?
Homily #4: RESPONSE: What is my response?
Video Summary of the Good News: “Someone Has Come To Fight” – Fr. John Riccardo
The greatest crisis in the Catholic Church is the lack of discipleship. Tim Glemkowski, in his book Made for Mission, as well as Don Buchalski, Coordinator of Evangelization for the Diocese of Saginaw, have highlighted the need for parishes to offer a yearly “pathway to discipleship” in order to become what our Lord wishes them to be, training centers for discipleship and evangelization. The Rescue Project series (watch it free here) could become our pathway. We offered it fall 2022, and it bore great fruit. We plan to offer it Lent 2023.
Surrender Prayer
Nicene Creed Beginning in Advent: At our Worship Commission meeting, we looked at the guidelines for the “profession of faith” at Mass and the options of praying the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. We will begin using a combination of the creeds at our parish, with the presider announcing which creed would be said at the time of Mass when it will be changed for the season. I surveyed the vicariate pastors, and some of them use a combination of creeds, but most use Nicene Creed all year round. One that uses a combination of the creeds said there is, “No confusion because I tell them which one we are saying…”
To put us in union with most parishes throughout the country, as you see in livestream Masses, we will begin praying the Nicene Creed most of the year, beginning this Advent. But in the seasons of Lent through Easter we will use the Apostles Creed, as the Roman Missal suggests.
It is appropriate to start the Nicene in Advent, since we’re preparing for the birth of the divine Son of God. The Nicene Creed focuses on the divinity of Christ. It was written to counter the early heresies (false teachings) that Christ is not fully divine, especially the Arian Heresy. The Nicene Creed contains a line that’s like a hammer repeatedly smashing the Arian heresy. The Arian heresy is that Jesus was not fully God. The line states that Jesus is, “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father…”
“Consubstantial” means MORE than simply “one in being”, the former translation. It means, of the same substance or essence. It means that Jesus IS God. Father Bryan Babick, SL.L. gives this analogy, “Every analogy necessarily breaks down, of course, but consider that when you eat at a restaurant that allows you to select and fill your own drink from a soda fountain or a coffee pot, you often go for a free refill. Rarely do you put a different kind of soda or type of coffee, which is a substance, in the same cup you used for the first fill. You would fill it with the same substance. When God came into the World, He came Himself, not some substitute of lesser stature, or different flavor. Consubstantial may not be a word we use often, but there’s no better word to describe the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.”
charlestondiocese.org/divine-worship-and-sacraments/articles/consubstantial-with-the-father/
Mass Journals: I’m excited for your sake, and for our Lord’s sake! Our Lord is eager and anxious to speak to each one of us, no matter our age. This weekend at Masses we kick-off the Mass Journals. These journals will help you hear the Lord speak personally to you. If you’re away this weekend, you can pick up a Mass Journal at our churches or parish office.
For details, see Mass Journals bulletin insert:
Check out this Mass Journals explanation video:
Diocese of Saginaw: Final Synod Report
Good Shepherd Parish: Parish Synod Report
Article: Pope Francis’ Letter on the Liturgical Formation of the People of God
Saturday Vigil Mass Time at St. John Church
I have been carefully discerning the question of whether we should keep our Saturday Vigil Mass time at 4:00pm year round, rather than switch to 5:00pm for daylight savings time. After considering feedback from council members, parishioners, local farmers, and our liturgical ministers who exercise generous stewardship of their time and talent to serve us at Mass (such as our organists, cantors, servers, lectors, ushers, sacristans, etc.) and after considering other factors (the amount of sunlight for driving home; the possibility of my being asked to sub at 5:30 Mass for Holy Family Parish; the potential for confusion; the common dinner hour, etc.), I have decided to keep our Saturday Vigil Mass time at 4:00pm year round. Thank you to all who helped me make this decision.
Support Needed for Our Own Pro-life Missionary: I invite you all to consider donating to (Good Shepherd parish family member) Haili Gusa’s team- a one time donation, or even better- on a monthly basis. I met with her and am very impressed with her calling and gifting to become a pro-life missionary. If you’d like to meet with her to learn more about her life-saving work, email haili@protectlifemi.org. If you’d like to donate, after you go to the link below, make sure to include her donation code 1320 to earmark the donation for her team.: www.protectlifemi.org/donate
Haili’s Bio: Haili Gusa is a recent graduate of Central Michigan University where she studied Communication and Psychology. She works for Protect Life Michigan as their Training Coordinator. This organization serves high school students, college students, and young professionals in the state of Michigan to create passionate activists to end abortion. Last year alone the organization reached 316,543 people! Over the course of PLM’s history, students have gone on to lead pregnancy centers, work in public policy and law for the pro-life movement, and much more. Haili is grateful to work for an organization where she can equip and train pro-life young people to become leaders in the pro-life movement!
For inclement weather: if one/more weekend Masses are cancelled, we will announce via parish Facebook page, email, radio, Flocknote. If school is cancelled, morning daily Masses at Ubly are not cancelled, but use good judgment. Evening daily Masses will still be offered if the roads are safe. Please use good judgment regarding the safety of travel.
ENCOUNTER JESUS: Watch The Chosen Series: Watching or re-watching this series about Jesus is a fantastic way to celebrate Advent. Options for watching:
- Watch for free in a mobile phone app: www.thechosen.tv/app or search “The Chosen” in your Apple or Android app store. From the app, you can stream to your TV using a streaming device, such as Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, Chromecast, etc.
- You can purchase a Pay-it-Forward package in the app. This not only gives you lifetime digital access to season 1 of The Chosen, but it helps send streams all over the world to others who may not otherwise have the chance to watch
- Purchase the DVD/BluRay here at The Chosen webstore.
- Watch on VidAngel: Go to www.VidAngel.com and enter your email address to create an account
- If you have purchased digital access, you can watch it on The Chosen web player
Donating Part of Your IRA’s Required Minimum Distribution Can Benefit You and Your Parish
If you have a traditional IRA – and if you are 72 years old or older — you are required to take a Required Minimum Distribution. If you donate all or part of that distribution to a qualified non-profit 501(c)(3), such as Good Shepherd Parish or the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, you will avoid paying income tax on your distribution. The charity to which you are making the donation also will not pay taxes on your gift.
If you opt to make this type of gift, which is known as a Qualified Charitable Contribution, you must arrange for a direct rollover to a qualified charitable organization. You only need to give the IRA administrator the information about the charitable organization and how much you’d like to donate.
IRAs that are eligible for Qualified Charitable Contributions include: Traditional, Rollover, Inherited and some SEP (Simplified Employee Pension)
In order to get the tax benefits of a Qualified Charitable Contribution, the charitable organization must receive the donation by December 31. Processing this type of gift may take a few days, so it is beneficial to start the process as soon as possible.
Roth IRA owners also can utilize Qualified Charitable Contribution, but they will not see any tax benefit in doing so, as their distributions are already tax-free.
Any questions? Please contact:
Geri Rudolf, Stewardship and Development Coordinator at the Diocese of Saginaw, 989-797-6679
If anyone emails or texts you claiming to be Fr. Nate asking for gift cards or money or errands, it’s identity theft- a hoax. Please say a prayer for the conversion of the imposter. If was an email, report it as “spam” or “phishing”. Forward the text message to the SPAM (7762) AND block the number on your phone. Thank you
If anyone is in great need of the Sacraments of Healing (including Reconciliation/Confession, and Anointing of the Sick), or if anyone is dying and in need of the “last rites” (Confession, Anointing, Viaticum- Final Holy Communion), please call the rectory 989-658-8145