The first week of July have significant holidays that commemorate the birth of two nations, USA and Canada. This week let us remember both countries in our prayers for peace and continued friendship; that Americans and Canadians strive to be the witness to Christ in their countries and the world. That they continue to work to influence their governments to act from a place that reflects Christian principles and attitudes, and that we pray and work for justice and peace in our countries and throughout the world. Join us for Mass on these days; Wednesday, July 1, at 8 am and a special celebration on Saturday, July 4, at 8 am.

We have now had four weeks of services and our parish offices have reopened with limited hours. As I mentioned at the onset of the openings, we would be reviewing our protocols and make adjustments to fit the needs of the parish. Initial requirements to limit our seating capacity at Mass to 25% has been increased to 50% seating. Our regular weekend Mass schedule can very easily accommodate this change and the needs of the parish. Therefore, starting with the July 4 weekend we will discontinue the Saturday 6 pm Mass. I want to express my gratitude to all ministers for their willingness to support this additional service. Established protocols regarding social distancing, cleaning and the wearing of facemasks in the church and parish offices remain in effect. We thank you for your compliance with these safety measures.

Our own Sacred Heart Major Seminary is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. This event certainly calls to give thanks and to celebrate. So, the Seminary and Archdiocesan family invites everyone to join in on June 26, 2020 for the Archbishop’s Gala online! As usual, there will be: remarks from Archbishop Vigneron, the Rector will provide a State of the Seminary report, raffle tickets, and much more. The event is free of charge. Please visit archbishopsgala.com for more information.

BIG NEWS: Our summer small groups will begin this week on June 17. Please email faithformation@stclarem.org if you would like to be part of a small group for sharing. You will need access to the internet for the video and Zoom for the sharing. The program will be four Wednesdays; June 17 and 24 and July 1 and 8 beginning at 7:15 and ending about 8:30. For the summer we have placed our Adult Faith Formation activities on Wednesdays because Adoration and Evening Mass are on Thursdays.

One of the blessings that grew from the pandemic was the shared daily prayer. We rallied around the Lord and his Mother in prayer when we could not come together as a parish community. We prayed the Angelus and later Regina Coeli at noon, we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily at the hour of mercy, and we prayed the Rosary in the evening. We meditated during Adorations, walked the Stations of the Cross. We celebrated Mass with the school every Wednesday and Sunday Masses every weekend. What a blessing it was to pray together. What a blessing it was to enter your home via livestream on Facebook and be with you during this difficult time, providing a sense of community, and mutual support. I am very grateful to each of you for your participation, prayers, care and support. It lifted me up, I hope it did the same for you. As we open our church for the liturgical celebrations, devotions and return to business, daily prayers of Angelus, Divine Mercy and Rosary will discontinue. Beginning on June 18 the Rosary will continue to be prayed temporally via Facebook once a week on Thursday evening at 8:30 pm. Everyone is invited to participate.

The season of Easter is over but the commission of evangelization continues on as we live out the Paschal Mystery (dying and rising). We return to Ordinary Time – although nothing is ordinary anymore. We see and experience the pandemic and its fallout; demonstrations and rioting in our cities stuns us; Pentecost Sunday the Archbishop’s announcement challenges us to go deeper in our understanding of the Church and its role in today’s society. In all of this we are invited to look for and see the big picture of the public life and ministry of Christ given to us by the evangelist rather than seeing only one aspect of His life (birth, suffering, death and resurrection). We will use the Gospel of Matthew to guide us, and we will follow.

Welcome to each of you! As we come together for the celebration of Mass this weekend, we rejoice and give thanks to God. It is our own Pentecost too – the doors are open, and we are mandated to go to proclaim the goodness of the Lord and give our hands and hearts to join the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing the face of the earth. This Pentecost even though it is joyful, at the same time, it is also challenging. This physical proclamation due to the pandemic calls for extra precaution.

Many blessings for this beautiful Easter Season. We need to continue to rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus despite the pandemic, social distancing and the closed churches. Remember the Resurrection celebrates that Jesus is alive and well and lives among us. Hopefully you are celebrating the “Domestic Church” which is the sacred place of your home with your family. Please make this time a holy time along with a great family encounter. Since May is in full bloom, I suggest that you and your family make a “May Altar” with a statue of Mary, perhaps some flowers, a cross, and a Bible. Take a picture so we can put them in the bulletin

Bonanza 2020 is sold out. No further tickets can be accepted. Please return all unsold tickets to the Parish office or destroy them. Thank you to all for the incredible support received during this trying time.

It is fitting that during this month of May – month of Mary, the mother of Jesus – that we celebrate our earthly mothers. With physical distancing it will be difficult to celebrate this day the “old fashioned way”. Perhaps, you can join our Facebook evening Rosary? How about as a family help me lead the prayer with others during one of the days of our novena? On this special day we remember our mothers. We thank them, we pray for them, we admire them, and we love them. Here is a wonderful poem in their honor: A Mother's Love - Your arms were always open when I needed a hug. Your Heart understood when I needed a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me and given me wings to fly. Thank you, Mom.

This is already the Fifth Sunday of Easter and eighth since the “stay home stay safe” order by our Governor. We have experienced a lot and learned a lot (at least about ourselves or our family members). Our hair grew longer, our cooking skills improved, and perhaps we have gained a pound or two. However, we look back on these 8 weeks - we are blessed to have each other, blessed to have ways in which we can study, communicate, see and share the news, concerns, as well as pray for each other.

It is with hearts full of peace and understanding of the current situation as well as concern for the safety of our parents, volunteers, parishioners, school students, school staff, and our wonderful ANNUAL BOOK SALE supporters that we, the St. Clare of Montefalco PTO, have decided to cancel our Annual Used Book Sale for the 2020-2021 school year. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DROPPING BOOKS OFF AT THE SCHOOL OR PARISH AS THIS INCREASES RISK FOR OUR SCHOOL AND PARISH STAFF. WE ARE NOT COLLECTING BOOKS AT THIS TIME. The Book Sale is a major fundraiser for our school. Therefore, we are exploring fun ideas to replace the finances lost and will keep you informed of this progress. Please watch for future announcements! If you have fundraising suggestions, please contact Sue Pongratz, PTO President, at monkeys5little@gmail.com.

For those of you who are still holding Bonanza tickets or are able to possibly sell additional tickets this week, a fourth count has been scheduled for next Saturday, April 25 from 10 to 12. Please drop off all sold tickets at the Parish office during that time so we can have them included in the first drawing. The plan is to live stream each drawings after the 9:00 a.m. Sunday Mass on each of the dates as scheduled. Although we have not met our goal of 1500 tickets yet, it may be possible with your help. Even if we do not meet this goal, it will be a successful year thanks to all of you during this difficult time. Any questions or if you need help returning your tickets, please feel to call me at 313-727-3540.

The third Bonanza count will take place this weekend (April 18 and 19). Tickets will be collected at the Parish office on Saturday from 3:00 to 5:00 PM and on Sunday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. Sunday will be the actual count day. Precautions for collection, counting and drawings as scheduled will be in place. Please return your sold tickets this weekend. If we do not reach our 1500 sold ticket goal this weekend and you sell additional tickets, we will make arrangements to collect them. We still have a ways to go to reach 1500. Thank you for all your help and support during this very difficult and historic time. Be safe and be St. Clare strong. Any questions, please call Tim Kramer at 313-727-3540

If you have a Rice Bowl at home that you are collecting coins or plan to write a check to support, please know you can set it aside and plan to bring back to church whenever we return. Of course, checks may be mailed to my attention at St. Clare or mailed directly to Operation Rice Bowl. It is a great program so I hope we will eventually be able to support it as we usually do.

Holy Triduum - It is an odd-sounding word that comes from the Latin term meaning – three days. We use this term to describe the most scared days of the liturgical calendar: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Even though we are not going to gather to celebrate these days in our church, we will commemorate them with our Archbishop and pray through them together via electronic media.

How different and how special this Holy Week will be for us all. During these days more than ever we are confronted with the fragility of our lives, and again we are reminded that we are all one family under God. Through our daily prayers, devotions and Sunday Liturgies, we are reminded that God does not abandon us. He stays with us even now in this time of the pandemic. It is important for us to rest our hearts in Jesus Christ through prayers and sacrifices and deeds of charity for one another.

During these challenging times we know that not everyone has been able to access the food that they need. Our St. Clare St. Vincent de Paul Pantry is currently closed however we have made some arrangements to have some food and other service available. ANYONE IS ELIGIBLE – there are three ways to access food - click article for more info...

St. Leo’s Soup Kitchen Lenten Lunch Project has been suspended for the final three weeks. Due to the current climate and coronavirus conditions, we will not hold the last three food collections. There will not be any more Sunday food collections. I greatly appreciate the great lengths you went to honor your commitment. I am very grateful for your loyalty to this program. We will work with St. Leo’s over the next three weeks to help them on Tuesdays, as needed. I imagine they will also evaluate how they can safely deliver services to their guests. If you have non-perishable or frozen items that you have already bought or cooked and would like to drop off at the Parish Office for me to deliver, please contact me.

As we continue to adapt to the evolving situation, I want to let you know that I am still here, thinking about you, praying for you all, and how we as a Pastoral Team can best support our parish community at this time. I hope you are doing well as we collectively attempt to understand and reverse the rise of the COVID-19 Virus that is sweeping across the world. Our government and Church leaders are imposing many restrictions to minimize as much as possible the spread of the virus. In an unprecedented move the Archdiocese of Detroit, has suspended the celebration of public Masses until April 6th. I continue to say the daily Mass and remember the intention for the day in the Rectory Chapel. Although we cannot celebrate the Mass as a parish...