20 feet down in Lake Michigan there is an 11 foot tall statue of Christ

You can only see the marble statue one day a year without diving equipment.

PETOSKEY, Mich. — Michigan is home to many interesting sights and unique landmarks, but there is one in Petoskey that might just be one of a kind.

It’s not something that you can even see most days of the year without very specialized equipment. That is because it is in 20 feet of water about 800 feet from shore in Little Traverse Bay off Petoskey.

If you have scuba gear you are in luck. But the land bound who are willing to brave the cold and trek out onto the ice in late February or early March and peer through a hole in the ice inside a tent can see it. It’s an 11-foot-tall, 1,800-pound Italian marble statue of Christ on the cross.

continue at WUSA9

HT AB

Michigan Senate approves 'baby box' plan for surrendered newborns

Lansing — Michigan hospitals and police and fire departments would be allowed to install “baby boxes,” where a parent could safely surrender a newborn under legislation approved late Tuesday by the state Senate.

The “newborn safety device” would lock from the outside after an infant is placed inside, trigger a call to 911 within 30 seconds and include visible instructions about its use.

The Senate approved the main bill in a 30-8 vote after adopting an amendment to hold a manufacturer liable for any injury to a baby, including death, that results from use of the device. The measure now heads back to the House, which previously approved an earlier version.

The legislation expands on a 2000 law that allows parents to anonymously surrender a newborn to an emergency services provider within 72 hours of a child’s birth without being accused of abandonment. The child later is put up for adoption.

continue at Detroit News

Michigan AG Schuette opens Catholic priest sex abuse investigation

The Michigan Attorney General's Office announced Friday it has launched a statewide investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The office posted on its website that it now has an open investigation into whether clergy in the Catholic Church in Michigan committed acts of abuse against children. It will examine possible abuse in all of the seven Catholic dioceses in Michigan, which has about 2 million Catholics.

"The Michigan Department of Attorney General has determined that a full and complete investigation of what happened within the Catholic Church is required," it reads on the Attorney General's website. "This investigation is and will continue to be independent, thorough, transparent, and prompt. My department and this investigation will find out who knew what, and when."

continue at Detroit Free Press

Detroit archdiocesan paper to cease publication after 146 years

The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Detroit, will publish its last issue Aug. 24. Taking its place in November will be an online-only news service called Detroit Catholic.

The archdiocese, in announcing the newspaper’s closure Aug. 1, said it will introduce what it called a “multichannel” service early next year that will include mailed publications focusing on evangelization and faith formation.

The Michigan Catholic, founded 146 years ago when the then-Detroit Diocese’s territory covered the entire Lower Peninsula of Michigan, was the second-oldest newspaper in the state, behind only the Detroit Free Press, which is the highest-circulation paper in Michigan.

continue at The Compass

Michigan family in need as mother AND father deal with cancer

via Te Deum Laudamus

A GoFund Me account has been set up by a relative of Caroline DeLoca to help with expenses related to her recent diagnosis of cancer. This comes just a few years after her husband, Peter, battled a cancerous tumor in his leg. As Caroline faces her own battle now, with stage 3 breast cancer, there are concerns that Peter's cancer may have returned.

This beautiful pro-life family with five children and, baby number six getting close to third trimester, belongs to Assumption Grotto and is known to many of us. They have a loving, supportive family network. But, as you can imagine, financial needs are many.

You can use the GoFund Me account set up by Caroline's aunt OR you can give money to the family directly if you know them. Others who do not know them, please check back tonight or tomorrow and I will update this post with an alternate place to send checks so the family gets the money directly if that pans through.

Most of all, pray for this family.

Detroit Mass Mob swells to 1,800 at Sweetest Heart of Mary Catholic Church

For the third time in a row, the Detroit Mass Mob movement filled every seat and spilled out the doors Sunday at another historic, architecturally awe-inspiring Catholic church in Detroit.

An estimated 1,800 curious Catholics, many who attend suburban parishes, made for a standing-room-only crowd at Sweetest Heart of Mary Catholic Church at 4440 Russell, considered the largest Catholic church in the city.

“We didn’t expect almost 2,000,” said Jeff Stawasz, a Detroiter and Catholic school graduate who teamed up with other volunteers through social media to launch the movement. It’s designed to introduce suburban Catholics to historical, yet struggling, churches in Detroit.

The Mass Mob, said Stawasz, is “a wonderful marriage of history and Catholicism in the metro area and this is why we have the crowd today. There are so many ties to these old parishes, through parents and grandparents. These baby boomers want to go back to these heritage churches.”

continue at Detroit Free Press

NYTimes profiles Michigan twin brothers who leave family farm for priesthood

FOWLER, Mich. — Aside for the mole grazing his right eyebrow, it is difficult to distinguish Gary Koenigsknecht from his identical twin, Todd, four minutes the elder.

Growing up, the twins, now 26, milked cows side by side on the family farm. They both graduated at the top of their high school class. And with their ordination on Saturday, they have begun careers as Roman Catholic priests, two of 477 men in the United States expected to be ordained this year.

They demonstrate that priestly vocations are not evenly distributed by family or geography: they are among six priests in their extended family, and among 22 from their hometown, Fowler, Mich., population 1,224. They officially tie up the leader board with the neighboring village of Westphalia, population 938, which has also produced 22 priests, making for a robust rivalry in both football and Roman collars.

In an era when the number of priests in the United States continues to dwindle — declining by 11 percent in the past decade and crippling the Catholic Church’s ability to meet the needs of a growing Catholic population — this rural patch of Clinton County offers a case study in the science and mystery of the call to priesthood.

continue at NY Times

Really well done.

HT MP

Novena for Venerable Solanus Casey

Please pray with us a 9-Day Novena, July 23-31, 2013 to commemorate the 56th Anniversary of the Death of Fr. Solanus.

Daily Mass with Novena Prayers including Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Prayer for Beatification of Venerable Solanus Casey.

continue at Solanus Casey Guild

Solanus Casey was born in the La Crosse Diocese and attended seminary in Milwaukee.  

Image

He was a huge Detroit Tigers fan. 

Eighty-five-year-old Brother Leo recalled that Fr. Solanus had “a great sense of humor. He would tell little jokes—often on himself. The friars would kid him a lot, too. He loved hot dogs smothered with onions and he loved baseball. Even when away from Michigan he would keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers. It was his simple and down-to-earth manner that made it easy for people to relate to him. No one seemed intimidated by him.”

Bp Sample celebrates Pontifical Mass at Assumption Groto in Detroit

There was a conference this weekend at Assumption Groto in Detroit, Michigan.  Bishop Sample gave the keynote, and it turns out celebrated a Pontifical Mass the following day! 

Fr Z has some photos there and His Excellency's homily.

Diane at Te Deum I'm sure will have more details and photos forthcoming. 

What a fantastic looking conference! 

Some photos from Cdl Burke's Detroit visit

Almost 1,000 people attended the 15th Annual Lenten Symposium. Archbishop Vigneron graced us with his presence. His Eminence, Raymond L. Cardinal Burke opened the program with the Holy Mass. Fr. Lee Acervo closed the program with Benediction.

 Holy Trinity Apostolate

Diane at Te Deum has some great photos over there.  Here's a couple:

HT LC

A prince of the church quietly visits mid-Michigan

A prince of the Roman Catholic Church quietly visited Alma Monday, offering prayers and blessings for the small community of nuns who call central Michigan home.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke celebrated Mass, and led a ceremony called an “enthronement and consecration” of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma.

Burke is a native of Richland Center, Wis., a town of about 5,000 people roughly halfway between Madison and LaCrosse, Wis. Today, he is one of only 214 members of the College of Cardinals, the ecclesiastic electors of the church who, when necessary, choose a new pope.

His biography describes him as an expert on the law of the Roman Catholic Church. His doctoral degree is in canon law.

continue at The Morning Sun

In Detroit, Catholics are allowed to eat muskrat on Fridays during Lent because of historical dispensation from 1700s.

There's another culinary option for Catholics abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent — for the adventuresome and traditionalists only.

The custom of eating muskrat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent apparently goes back to the early 1800s, the time of Fr. Gabriel Richard, and when he was ministering to trappers. Legend has it that because trappers and their families were going hungry not eating flesh during Lent, he allowed them to eat muskrat, with the reasoning that the mammal lives in the water. The story varies on just where the dispensation extends; along the River Raisin, along the River Rouge, all of southeast Michigan and Monroe County are among the areas mentioned.

The Archdiocese of Detroit's communications department said there is a standing dispensation for Catholics downriver to eat muskrat on Fridays, although no documentation of the original dispensation could be found. However, a 2002 archdiocesan document on Lenten observances, in addition to outlining the laws of fasting and abstinence, explains that "there is a long-standing permission — dating back to our missionary origins in the 1700s — to permit the consumption of muskrat on days of abstinence, including Fridays of Lent."

continue at Archdiocese of Detroit
Now that's penance!

HT nwarikoo

Guadalupe Shrine architect to renovate Carmelite monastery chapel in Michigan

Duncan G. Stroik is one of the foremost church architects in the English-speaking world, the acknowledged leader of a growing movement to return classical ideas of beauty and harmony to sacred architecture.

His recent commissions have included the 2008 Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI, the 2009 Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA and the renovation of St. Joseph Cathedral in Sioux Falls, SD. A professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame, he authored the book “Reconquering Sacred Space” and is editor of the professional journal “Sacred Architecture.”

However, his latest project is a tiny chapel for a small community of cloistered Carmelite nuns who live, work and pray at the Monastery of the Infant Jesus of Prague, in Traverse City. Although the chapel is also open to visitors for daily Masses and prayer – and has a loyal following among local residents – it is central to the life of the monastic community.

“The beautification of the monastery chapel is exactly the type of project that we love to do,” said Stroik. “The sisters have a great love of beauty, of the liturgy and of tradition, and want to do something worthy of Christ. I love that the project is in Traverse City because it gives me a great excuse to travel up there. The fascinating part of the project is the sisters' desire that the sanctuary be designed to be beautiful and inspiring from the nave as well as from their cloister chapel.”

continue at Grand Traverse

Extaordinary Form Candlemas in the UP

 

continue at Caritas in Veritate

Cardinal Burke featured at March Lenten retreat in Sterling Hights, MI

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke at Assumption Grotto

on December 30, 2006
courtesy of Diane M. Korzeniewski, OCDS

March 10, 2012—Holy Trinity Apostolate’s 15^th Annual Lenten Symposium at SS Cyril and Methodius Church in Sterling Heights, MI. This year’s symposium is entitled The Christian Vocation: The Call to Martyrdom. His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke will be present, along with several other speakers. In addition, a meeting for Marian Catechists and friends of Father Hardon is scheduled from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. To register for the conference, please go to www.holytrinityapostolate.com. If you plan to attend this post-conference meeting of Marian Catechists, please R.S.V.P. to Barbara Middleton (barbaramm@sbcglobal.net). A small fee will be charged to help offset the costs.

Invalid Baptism praised by Detroit seminary publication

As [Deacon] Jim lay dying, we brought holy water from the hospital chapel to his bedside, along with a borrowed deacon stole and a crucifix. We placed the crucifix on Jim’s chest. My daughter, Jennifer, and I cupped Jim’s hand to hold the holy water while I pronounced the words of baptism, and we guided Jim’s hand to pour the holy water onto Matthew’s forehead.

Read the whole thing at Acts of the Apostasy 


Photo from Fr Z

Cdl. Burke to speak at Sterling Hights, MI Lenten Symposium

"The Christian Vocation: The Call to Martyrdom"
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Ss. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church
41233 Ryan Rd. Sterling Heights MI 48314

Raymond L. Cardinal Burke – Prefect, Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura – Vatican
The Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda – Bishop of Gaylord, Michigan – Topic:   ‘White Martyrdom’
Rev. Msgr. John A. Abruzzese, S.T.D. – Vatican Official General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, Topic:  Becoming the Instrument of Your Martyrdom:  Reflections on the Life and Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales
Fr. John G. Dumas – St. Isidore’s Catholic Church
Mother Margaret Georgina Patton, O.S.B. – Contemplative Nun – Abbey of Regina Laudis
Mother Olivia-Frances Arnold, O.S.B.- Contemplative Nun – Abbey of Regina Laudis

Details at Holy Trinity Apostolate

Abp Vigneron of Detroit leads pro-life prayer vigil in drenching rain

Thanks to Diane M. Korzeniewski at Te Deum laudamus for sharing.  You can find all the details there.

In related news, did you know a bishop forbid his priests from participating in 40 Days for Life??

HT Mark Shea

Prayers for "Snowshoe Priest" veneration

Bp Baraga - Guadalupe Shrine, La Crosse, WI

From the Office of Bishop Sample of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan.

March 12, 2011 is a very important day in the Cause for Beatification of our first Bishop, Frederic Baraga. On that day the positio will be examined at the Vatican by a group of theological consultors to the Congregation for Causes of Saints. This positio is the documentation of the life, ministry and writings of the Servant of God Frederic Baraga. It also includes a summary of his virtues.

The theological consultors, after discussing Bishop Baraga's life and ministry, will make a formal recommendation to the Congregation for Causes of Saints concerning whether or not Bishop Baraga exhibited in his life what is referred to as "heroic virtue." If such a recommendation is made and accepted by the Congregation, then it goes to the Pope who would declare the heroic virtue and give Bishop Baraga the title of "Venerable."

This is a critical step in the eventual beatification of Bishop Baraga, the other being the recognition of a miracle attributable to his intercession. We have been waiting for over twelve years for this step to be taken.

Bishop Alexander K. Sample is calling upon all the faithful of the Diocese of Marquette and beyond to observe Friday, March 11, 2011 as a day of prayer and penance for the success of this important step. Due to the six-hour time difference between here and Rome, it is important that we pray before the examination by the theologians on March 12. The bishop especially recommends attendance at Mass, Eucharistic adoration and not eating between meals. Since this is a Friday in Lent, he is also asking that our communal abstinence from meat on March 11 be offered for this special intention.

Caritas in Veritate 

Photo
HT Fr Z

EF in the UP

Today, Bishop Sample celebrated a Solemn Low Mass, the first time the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite has been celebrated publicly in the Cathedral since the introduction of the Novus Ordo. He hopes to celebrate the Extraordinary Form Mass approximately once a month on Sundays. I (and hopefully other priests) will be celebrating it on the other Sundays.

Hopefully, in time, we shall be able to provide Missa Cantata, Solemn High Mass and even Pontifical High Mass.

Young servers seem very interested in the Mass and a very good number were on hand today. The priests who acted as Chaplains (servers) to the Bishop were Father Ronald Timock, Pastor of St Anthony's, Gwinn, as First Chaplain and me as Second Chaplain.

From Caritas in Veritate
HT Father Z

You may know, His Excellency is also on the board at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Some speculated he might be on his way to La Crosse in our last vacancy.  It would seem to me with his friendship with Cardinal Burke that his star is rising.  He was at one point I think the youngest bishop in the US(he just turned 50).  I was thinking Detroit but the current Archbishop Vigneron is only 62 and that would be 13 years until he is retirement age.  Chicago???  Cardinal George is retirement age in 2012....