Pastor’s Corner — June 7th, 2026
Be Careful About Whom You Allow to Speak Into Your Spiritual Life
I was not able to give my homily at all of the Masses last weekend; Fr Joshua gave it for me at the Sunday 5pm Mass because I had a graduation party of a family member. I think it’s an important homily and so if you missed it you can listen to it/watch it here.
There is one thing I want to strongly emphasize here: be very careful who you allow to speak into your spiritual life and about what it means to be Catholic. I cannot tell you how destructive Jansenism is as a heresy and how sadly prevalent it is today online. This heretical tendency infects the spiritual life and causes people to become cynical, which is very corrosive to childlike trust in God. (Being cynical actually can cause people to fall into heretical tendencies as well).
If you have someone in your life (or are following “Catholic” influencers online) who seems rather legalistic, has a harsh view of God, who is excessively fearful about the devil and sin, and frankly does not seem to have a healthy dose of the fruits of the Spirit present in their lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), be very careful of allowing them influence your view of God or the Catholic faith.
Remember, God inspires saints to counter harmful spiritual movements like Jansenism. We should be attentive to saints like St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, St. Faustina Kowalska, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John Paul II, who speak so beautifully on confidence in God’s love and trusting in his mercy. The path to holiness is never fear, anxiety, and rigorism, but trust in the infinitely loving and merciful God. Let’s acknowledge our own wounds and bring them to God to heal them, trusting in God and living a joyful life in the Holy Spirit (filled with his fruits). There is nothing more traditional than that.
Corpus Christi and Eucharistic Procession
This weekend is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (The Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus). Each year we offer Holy Communion in the chalice at all of the Masses for this weekend.
After 11:30am Mass we are going to be doing a Corpus Christi procession to our Calvary cemetery a few blocks away. Processing outside in front of traffic is a powerful public witness to the fact that we really believe Jesus is fully present in the Holy Eucharist. The procession does not last too long and it’s a great thing to bring kids to as well.
Consecration of Country to the Sacred Heart and Home Enthronements at St Pat’s
As I mentioned in my bulletin last week, the US Bishops will be consecrating the entire country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11th.
Importantly, this weekend every family is invited to take one of the images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the prayer booklets to enthrone Jesus in your homes. This act of entrustment of your families to the Heart of Jesus is a powerful way of opening up your families to God’s grace in your lives.
Deacon Peter Randolph is Being Ordained This Weekend!
Deacon Peter Randolph will be ordained on Saturday, June 6. Please join me in thanking God for Deacon Peter’s vocation and his obedience to God’s will in his life. Please pray for him this weekend. I hope to see many of our parishioners at his ordination Mass and at his Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Patrick. The information is as follows:
-Priestly Ordination Mass | Saturday, June 6th at 10:30am at St Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing
-Mass of Thanksgiving | June 21st 9:30am St Patrick’s in Brighton
We are so grateful that Fr. Peter will be joining us at St. Patrick as our parochial vicar!
Seminarian Jonathan Galvas’ Father
The father of our seminarian intern Jonathan Galvas passed away peacefully with his wife at his side after a long health battle. Please join me in praying in a special way for Kenneth Galvas, that he may quickly see the face of God, and for his family grieving this loss.
The Diocesan Services Appeal
Special thanks to all those parishioners who supported the Diocesan Services Appeal this year. The Diocese is in the final stages of the campaign; we far surpassed our parish goal and we had about 890 individual gifts given to the campaign, which is fantastic.
Your pledge supports many vital ministries across our Diocese, including, but not limited to, support for the education of our seminarians and caring for the poor. Your generosity is a beautiful witness of faith and commitment to our parish and the Diocese.
The Shamrock Festival and Raffle Tickets
Our Shamrock Festival starts next week on Friday. One thing about St Pat’s is that we like to dream big. We already have hundreds of volunteers serving at the festival and we still need more. If you can sign up please go here. We look forward to a fun and safe festival for all with security provided by The Fortis Group. For the schedule of the festival please go to our parish website.
Raffle Tickets: Please remember to turn in your ticket stubs to the drums in the front office or in the gathering space by June 14th at 1:00 pm. Thanks for your generosity!
We are simply thrilled about the festival. Bring your friends, neighbors and family, and we hope to see you there.
Farewell Party for Fr Joshua
On the last Sunday of the month, we’ll be hosting a party to celebrate Fr Joshua. This is where we’ll have an opportunity to send him off, thanking God and thanking him for his service. He’ll say goodbye that weekend and I’ll say more about this that last weekend as well.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Joshua