We've started a NEW Middle School Youth Group! 

Kicking off with some summer fun activities, the group will be meeting on Monday afternoons from 3:30--5 p.m. beginning on Monday, September 12th.  The purpose of The Edge is to provide a safe place for all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to get together as we seek to deepen our love for Jesus. We will be doing a variety of fun activities and projects to help us on this journey.  We will have specific topics at each of the three weekly meetings every month. There will also be service and social activities as well throughout the year. We will even be having a retreat in the Spring!!  So, come and join us as we make The Edge commitment. 
Interested? 
Contact Victoria Emch (emch@stfrancisa2.org or 821-2133).

Left: The Edge takes off on the wild side as a group of 20 youth, 3 young adults, and 8 chaperones leave for Cedar Point.  The August 17 activity was a local trip to Rolling Hills water park.

Welcome Victoria Emch, 

Coordinator of Middle School Youth Ministry

We are happy to introduce Victoria Emch as our new coordinator of Middle School Youth Ministry.  Having joined us in July, Victoria Emch will develop and lead The Edge, a brand new youth group for middle schoolers.

Victoria comes to us with 8 years of experience in Religious Education, having worked as DRE for Holy Trinity Student Parish in Ypsilanti.  She has a level 1 Certification in Theological Studies from Siena Heights University and has a B.S. in Elementary Education with minors in Math, Science, and French from Eastern Michigan University.  Victoria is married with two young children to Ted Emch.  They are active parishioners of St. Francis. 

Victoria has jumped right into youth ministry, helping out at Vacation Bible School and organizing a Cedar Point trip for the middle schoolers of our Parish.  In the Fall, she will develop The Edge, a youth group to meet weekly, offering the middle school youth a safe hang-out with friends, with food, fun, and learning activities, all designed for the middle schooler to grow closer to Jesus.  She also plans to offer some exciting field trips and retreats.

Victoria loves kids and we are excited to have her with us.  Please join us in welcoming Victoria as one of our parish staff members.

On Sunday June 26^th at the 10:30 a.m. Mass, the St. Francis community and I asked God's blessings on Pattie Scherer and Charline List.  Both will retired in early August 2005.

Pattie has served for twenty years (and as a volunteer before that!) as Director of Liturgy and the RCIA.  She has helped hundreds of people in their journey to become Catholic, and has worked tirelessly to improve our worship services.

Charline has been at St. Francis for five years, and has served eighteen years at other parishes in various pastoral capacities.  At St. Francis, she has coordinated the many adult formation, education and spiritual events and initiated many faith support groups  for our parish community. Her efforts have helped hundreds to deepen their faith and strengthen their bonds with the Catholic community.

All of us at St. Francis will greatly miss both Pattie and Charline for their faith-filled presence and their fine ministry.  May God bless them in their retirement.
Fr. Jim McDougall , Pastor
PS:  On August 1^st, Deacon Michael Sullivan will become Director of Adult Formation and RCIA, and Marty Lucas will work with Adult Faith groups.  On August 15^th, Barbara Schutzgruber will become the Coordinator of Liturgy for our parish.  We will introduce both of these staff persons at the appropriate times. 

The loss of information technology jobs hit the Ann Arbor area in 2001 before the rest of Michigan felt the impact. It was even before 9-11, the major catastrophe that resulted in a huge wave of job loss around the country. Michigan has suffered for several years now with up to 7% official unemployment rates. The Ann Arbor area has felt the brunt of the impact due to the concentration of highly qualified and well-educated individuals that reside in the area.

Through it all, a ray of hope has shown. A group of job seekers gathered at St. Francis that September to support each other through job loss grief, and the process of finding new employment. In that time until now, over 200 persons have been connected with the support group that has met twice monthly. Many have found work, most often at a lesser pay than before, but they are glad to be back in the work force. Many have accepted contract positions. Others are still looking and continue to encourage and challenge each other.

The St. Francis Job Seekers' Group has been the catalyst for at least three other groups that have formed at various Catholic churches in western Wayne and Oakland counties. A Yahoo network facilitated through St. Francis, keeps information flowing that contains job postings plus information on workshops, seminars, job fairs and support meetings. 

Many talented parishioners have provided workshops for our job seekers over the years. The prayers and employment information supplied by parishioners have been tremendously supportive. Let us hope and pray that the need for this group will soon disappear.  But for the time it is needed, St. Francis will be there to offer support and hope when hope seems but a glimmer.

Photo left: Group participants listen to a comment made by Nick Synko (on left), developer of the Careers Through Faith program that was held at St. Francis this past spring.

Photo right: Ray Graebel and Andy Perez are leading the Job Seekers committee that is planning the St. Francis JOB FAIR for October 27.

St. Francis Parish is Officially Enrolled

The Stephen Leaders are chosen by St. Francis Parish to implement and manage Stephen Ministry.  Stephen Ministries St. Louis trains them at Leader's Training Courses in how to recruit, select, train, and supervise Stephen Ministers.  Our Stephen Leadership Team at St. Francis Parish includes (pictured at right): Ginger Hadd, Mark Hadd, Marty Javornisky, Karen McClellan, Nick Synko, Kathleen Tobey, and Scott Wright.  This team is trained at the week long "Leader's Training Course" for Stephen Leaders on July 31-August 6, 2005, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

The Stephen Series isa complete system of training and organizing lay persons to offer caregiving ministry in and around St. Francis Parish.  Beginning in September the Stephen Minister Training Series will begin on Thursdays 6:30PM - 9:30PM.  The series' modules include: 

• The Person of the Caregiver; 
• Feelings: Yours, Mine, and Ours;
• The Art of Listening;
• Distinctively Christian Caring;
• Process versus Results in Caregiving;
• Assertiveness: Relating Gently and Firmly;
• Maintaining Boundaries in Caregiving;
• Crisis Theory and Practice: Danger versus Opportunity;
• Confidentiality;
• Telecare: The Next Best Thing to Being There;
• Using Mental Health Professionals and Other Community Resources;
• Ministering to those Experiencing Grief;
• Dealing with Depression: The Stephen Minister's Role;
• Helping Suicidal Persons Get the Help They Need;
• Bringing the Caring Relationship to a Close;
• Supervision: a Key to Quality Christian Care;
• How to Make a First Caring Visit; 
• Follow Me;

Stephen Ministry isdistinctively Christian caregiving for people going through difficult times or who are other wise in need of support in their lives.  Stephen Ministry provides a process of equipping God's people for ministry.  Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry:  The identity of those receiving care and what takes place in each caring relationship remains private.
A Stephen Minister is ... 

• A child of God who walks beside a person who is hurting;
• A St. Francis Parish member  with gifts for caregiving, who was carefully selected to serve in this role;
• A lay person who has received 50 hours of training in providing emotional and spitirual care;
• A caring, Christian friend who listens, cares, prays, supports, and encourages;
• Someone who will "be there" for his or her care receiver, meeting faithfully for about an hour each week for as long as there's a need. 

 
 

The Stephen Series LOGOsymbolizes that we all are broken people and that it is only through the cross of Jesus that we are made whole.
 

You're invited into this new ministry
Contact:  Scott Wright (821-2121 or swright@rc.net)

Learn more at: www.stfrancisa2.com/stephen

Here you see us pictured at our May event a DAY TRIP: to Pious Union of St. Joseph Shrine in Grass Lake, MI.  We  enjoyed Mass, a tour the Shrine, and then lunch with Fr. Paul and the other staff at the shrine.  On our return to Ann Arbor, we stopped for a visit at St. Louis Center, Chelsea. This was a beautiful country retreat day and we had a lot of fun!

Advice can be dangerous. Say, you advise a friend to sell his car, to buy a new one. So he does. But the new dreamboat proves to be a 'lemon'.  Amidst his new expense and annoyance, maybe he blames you. At least you're distressed at his misfortune.

Yet sometimes it seems, we are compelled to give advice. Parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers--and car repair personnel (about lemons, for example)--all give advice. Often it's helpful. Sometimes not.

Some advice seems nearly foolproof. For example, "don't make an important decision hastily." Or, "don't make an important decision when you're feeling terribly low (or high), or seriously upset". Or "whenever possible discuss an important move with someone competent whom you trust."

In counseling at St. Francis' Counseling Assistance Program, sometimes we give advice. But only after carefully listening so that first we get to know the person and the circumstances.  Even then, advice will be cautious, assisting the person to sort out and discover for themselves their options and wisest next steps.

Commonly our counseling objective is to assist self-knowledge, patience with self and others, to explore forgiveness and the obstacles to love, to seek out God's role.

Always, always, we try to avoid the acquisition of lemons.

-John Schwarz, Counseling Assistance Program therapist

To reach the parish Counseling Assistance Program, call the parish office (734-769-2550) during normal business hours.

	The Young Adults at St. Francis have been quite busy this summer.  We kicked the summer off with some friendly games of whirly ball, enjoyed dinners out in the good weather, and relived our childhoods as we faced off in dodgeball.  Theology on Tap kept us out of the summer's heat, even if heated discussion did take place at Arbor Brewing Co.  For three weeks we enjoyed presentations and lively discussion in addition to great food and even better company.  Our first speaker, professor and dean Rebecca Blank, shared some thoughts on morals, ethics, the economy, and faith.  This sparked many thoughts about business practices, shopping choices,  and much more.
		Our second night focused on evangelization as Peter Ries, Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Lansing, led us in thinking about our call to live out our baptismal call to share our faith and deepen our relationship with God.  Last, but most certainly not least, Patrick Rinker, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the Diocese of Lansing, asked, 'do I have the right number?'  To wrap up our series we looked at God's call, life choices, and the choices we sometimes make to ignore God's voice in our lives.
	Though summer may be finishing up, the Ya2acht club still has big plans for the fall.  Keep your eye on the weekly Forum and the Ya2achtClub website for our continuing activities!	Professor Rebecca Blank

On Sunday, June 12th our parish delivered about 700 grocery bags - that's about 2000 pounds of non-perishable food items for people with HIV and AIDS living in poverty who are assisted through the Wellness House of Michigan, in Detroit.   Since Wellness House is currently feeding about 500 families (and government financial assistance is on hold) they are in dire need of our help and grateful for the groceries that we donated, which is the only food that they will have through the month of July.

Thanks to all of you (especially those unnamed here) who went shopping and/or helped to deliver the groceries. 

A special thanks to our project coordinators (underlined here).  Ignatius Arokiaraj, Beverly, Dennis, Caitlin Burke, Sara & Ernesto Figueroa Family, Marty Javornisky, Agnes Jensen, Peter Machado, Berna & Robert Planck, Sharon & Ed Wright, Mary Clair Wissman and Scott Wright.  Well done! 

The following quotes are from "Thank You" notes received …

"On behalf of our youth at Holy Cross - Boysville, thank you for your gifts from the special collection.  We cannot under estimate the awareness of our mission that has been enhanced through your publicity & programs.  The funds will help our pastoral ministry program."   Holy Cross Children's Services (Boysville), Clinton, Michigan.

"As RAAH receives the 2004 'Seeker of Justice' Award presented by Bishop Carl F. Mengeling representing the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the Diocese of Lansing, Religious Action for Affordable Housing (RAAH) is grateful for the support of St. Francis Parish & the Peace & Justice Committee.  St. Francis is one of the 25 member congregations of RAAH.  We are proud to be collaborating together with you and the religious community, nonprofit housing organizations and others for the substantial increase of low-cost housing for rent and purchase in Washtenaw County.  Our first major project, raised $200,000 from the religious community for the purchase of land for the Carrot Way Apartments being developed by Avalon Housing on DhuVarren Road, between Food Gatherers warehouse and a new city park.  Thank you for your participation."   Religious Action for Affordable Housing (RAAH) 
(734) 821-0345. 

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 14^th, over two dozen members of our Parish Knights of Columbus began gathering behind the Church.  Over the next six hours, they, and in many cases their spouses and children, worked diligently in weeding, pruning, and trimming bushes, shrubs, and landscape beds around the Church, PAC, and Rectory.  They even removed a couple of good-sized, but very dead, bushes from a bed near the west parking lot.  The work was capped by spreading six pallets (20 cubic yards) of wood-chip mulch on all the beds.  Their efforts saved an incredible amount of maintenance work and time, and we have all enjoyed the benefits of their labors ever since that Saturday.  Among those participating were Wayne Meier (coordinator) and Brian Biggs (associate coordinator), Michael Cesar (Grand Knight), Victoria Cesar, Daniel Sougstad, Don and Ann Courtois, Andy Meier, Jim Spencer, Mark Spencer, John Mischley, Chris Mollo, Robert Klingler, Darryl Fedewa, Darren Fedewa, A.J. Fedewa, John Seefeld, Steve Polgar, Ryan Polgar, Peter Landry, Caroline Landry, Matthew Blaney, Emily Blaney, Don LeClair, Jeffrey Inge Sr., Bill Kelly, Dan Gibbons, Marc Sercu, Keith Siegert, Cletus Denoyer, and Howard Zeck.  Thanks to all of you, and anyone we overlooked, and we hope to make this an annual occurrence, if not twice a year!
--Dave Barera, Parish Business Manager

For three years it was locked up. Boxes were packed away in nooks and crannies in the church basement. Renovations were taking place, first to the religious education office where the parish library had been housed, and then came the construction of the church gathering space, baptismal font and new library area.

The building was completed two summers ago. The task of putting the books on the shelves, taking inventory and setting up a lending system became the task of the Library Committee. After much dedicated service by the committee members, the new parish library officially opened for Lent of  2003 and has been in operation since then.

It is a popular library. That is, it has books of interest to the average person in the pew. Some materials are current, and new purchases take place often. This year a concerted effort was made to add audio tapes and CDs expanding that category of material substantially. Many of the former books and videos remain as well. 

We are blessed with the gift of three professional librarians who have overseen the processes that were needed to get started, and then to continue providing this resource to our parish community.

Come visit the parish library. It is open every weekend before and after mass. Adults may visit the library during the week by getting a key from the parish offices. It is a great place to find out about our faith. 

PHOTO: Librarian, Ann Moln and volunteer coordinator, Cleo Mellen examine some of the new CDs that have recently been added to the library inventory.

Hundreds of people enjoyed an evening of fun on Wednesday, June 1^st at the annual St. Francis School Ice Cream Social.  Laughter filled the air and guests of all ages took pleasure in relaxing with family  friends. 

The carnival-like atmosphere included games and prizes for children, face painting and yummy treats such as pizza, ice cream and cotton candy.  Many local businesses contributed to the event to assist with reducing costs.  One generous donor, Pizza House, contributed hundreds of pizzas.  St. Francis School is grateful to all of the thoughtful merchants who provided goods and/or services to help make the night great!

The Ice Cream Social culminated with the St. Francis School car raffle drawing.  Gene Butman Ford, located in Ypsilanti, donated a 2005 Torch Red Mustang to the school, which helped it raise $92,115!  As Ken Butman said, "Gene Butman Ford was pleased to support the annual St. Francis School car raffle.  The school and parish community is a happening place that provides people of all ages with outstanding services.  I was happy to help such a worthwhile and dynamic charity."  Over 33,000 tickets were purchased by generous people in the community to help provide students in kindergarten through eighth grade with important school necessities such as textbooks, desks and chairs.

Four lucky winners celebrated their good fortune following the announcement of winners by Master of Ceremonies, Chris Loftus.  They included Mark Pinto of Ann Arbor (2005 Ford Mustang winner); David Reid of Ann Arbor ($1,000 winner); Katie Fleszar of Ann Arbor ($500 winner); and Denise Whitlow of Ypsilanti ($250 winner.)

Patrice Deutschmann, car raffle chairperson, led the event to a successful victory.  Mrs. Deutschmann is a St. Francis School parent with children in second and fourth grades.  As she said, "Tuition does not completely cover the costs to educate each child at St. Francis School, so the car raffle helps generate resources for essential, operational needs.  I'm grateful to the community for enthusiastically supporting  this fun activity."

Now, with the arrival of fall, everyone who attended the Ice Cream Social can reminisce about the event.  It was a delightful summer evening when simple childhood dreams came true.

On water, roller coasters, and couches, the high school youth have kept busy this summer!

Our summer kicked off with a day at Cedar Point.  We survived the largest, most formidable roller coasters, one nasty rain storm, and the challenges of all heading home in the right direction!

Some of the youth joined up to spend an afternoon canoeing on the Huron River.  Most of the time it was a pleasant, downstream journey.  Due to low water levels and a brisk current, we occasionally had fun dodging rocks and untangling ourselves in our own pileups.

All summer long, the youth continued to gather in homes for Frank's Place bible studies each week.  The numbers grew and many brought visiting friends and relatives from places as distant as Florida, Europe, and the Middle East.

Eighteen of our youth spent the summer preparing for the World Youth Day 2005 pilgrimage to Italy and Germany.  After long planning meetings, shopping for sleeping bags, and creating the best T-shirt design, they headed out.  Look for more details on the pilgrimage in the next Canticle.
 

World Youth Day
2005

This issue was mailed to all registered parishioners.

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