stmaryjoy Charity, Christian Service, SVdP

Shop Kroger, Help SVdP

Shop at Kroger, Help Our SVdP

You can help our St. Vincent de Paul every time you use your Kroger Plus card!

Have your a Kroger Plus card handy (or get one from the customer service desk at any Kroger) and go to

at krogercommunityrewards.com:

  • You will need to Sign In or Register as a ‘New Customer’.
  • Click on My Account and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step.
  • Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards information and input your Kroger Plus card number.
  • Enter “47927” as their NPO number
  • To verify you are enrolled correctly, you will see your organization’s name on the right side of your information page.

Do you use your phone number at the register? Call 877-576-7587 to get your Kroger Plus card number.

Now every time you swipe your Kroger Plus card you will be helping those in need in your community.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul – St. Mary, Cause of Our Joy Conference thanks you!

stmaryjoy Announcements, Charity, From Fr. Ken

We Are Called

In April, I attended the Chrism Mass at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit. I was fortunate to have a seat in the front row; the seats reserved for priests behind the altar and to the right of the altar were filled, so the “overflow” seating for priests was the first few rows. Lucky!

There was a statue that I had never seen before in the Cathedral. It was located at the front of the sanctuary, in front of the altar. It was the statue of a man in robes, with an arm and hand outstretched. His face was down and covered. In front of him was a simple plate and cup. The statue intrigued me so much so that I could barely pay Picture1attention to the Mass. Was this a statue of Jesus, celebrating the Last Supper with his disciples? Or was this the statue of a poor, homeless person, begging for something to eat or to drink? I couldn’t decide. Maybe it was meant to be that way. Maybe it was Jesus, and he was in the person of the homeless man, pleading for something to eat or drink that day. The image of that statue “bothered” me to the point that I had to investigate it. Was it meant to be Jesus? Or just a local beggar?
I discovered that the Cathedral had leased a few statutes for the Lenten season; this was just one of them. Others portrayed a homeless person sleeping on a park bench, a sick person covered in a blanket, and others. The artist is Timothy P. Schmalz. You can check out his statues online.

I think that one of the reasons that I was so moved by the statue was that I couldn’t decide, in my mind (and my heart) if it was meant to be Jesus, or a homeless hungry man. Of course, the answer is obvious. It was BOTH. “I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. Whatsoever you do to one of the least of my brothers or sisters, you did to me.”

As a parish, we are called to reach out to others in need. Yes, indeed, each one of them is Jesus. The poor. The hungry and thirsty. The homeless. Those in need of medical care. We need not travel to downtown Detroit to encounter them, we meet them every day. We are in the process of reorganizing our Christian Service Commission, and we need YOUR help. If you have some extra time and want to live out your Christian faith in a practical way, please consider joining us. A parish that is just concerned about itself and maintaining itself is not living out Jesus’ call. We need a lot of hands and hearts. You can’t really tell Jesus that you are too busy, can you??

By the way, the statue left such an impression on me that I bought a miniature size one to remind me always to See Jesus in the most needy of my brothers and sisters.

Fr. Ken

Jeff Announcements, Charity, From Fr. Ken

Mother’s Day 2017

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! To all of you who are mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, mothers-in-law, stepmothers and all who are like mothers or have the role of mother in the lives of others. My mother passed away two years ago. She suffered from dementia for many years so, in many ways, we had been saying farewell to her for many years. She was a gentle person; one of her favorite sayings, especially when she was raising the three of us, was, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all”. And she lived that saying too.

Our mothers teach us many things; life lessons, how to interact with others, to be graceful and to take the higher road when necessary. When children (of any age) are asking for a favor, many times they go to their mother, who then takes the request to dad. How those decisions are made, the child may not know. I can remember when I was young, one night I couldn’t fall asleep and I heard my parents in the kitchen discussing the day’s events in their lives and in the lives of my siblings and I. Long afterward, I realized that that was how the family “decisions” were made.

It’s not hard to take this discussion to the next level and think about the family life of Mary and Joseph, raising the child Jesus. I’m sure they sat down and discussed the day’s activities; they prayed together and made decisions. Mary must have passed down to her Son life lessons.

Those of you who are mothers have an awesome responsibility as well as the possibility of molding your children (grandchildren, nieces and nephews,…). We pray for you, not only today but all days.

Fr. Ken