If you reserved tickets for the game and haven’t paid yet, send it in via the mail, offertory basket or on-line. There is still time to sign up for the BBQ; the cost is $15 per person.

Call the office, (313) 961-8077, for more information.

Read the full blog post here.

The parish picnic is this Sunday, July 17, after 11 a.m. Mass in Grosse Pointe.

Also, the annual parish trip to see a Detroit Tigers game is scheduled for August 20th, a Saturday.

Sign-up sheets for both events are in the back of the worship space.

Don’t miss out on these opportunities to get to know the other members of your parish a little better, and have a good time, too!

The celebration will take place in the evening, with 6 p.m. Mass marking the 163rd anniversary of the parish. Dinner will be held afterward; please let the parish office know if you are planning on attending. If you’re able to bring something to the dinner, there’s a sign-up sheet in the back of the parish worship space.

Fr. George doesn’t know what his next assignment will be, although he will be spending part of the summer helping at the Catholic parish on Mackinac Island. Fr. Ben, who has directed the warming center since March 2009, will begin his tertianship, the final period of Jesuit formation.

Please come and help send off our priests!

The Together in Faith planning committee is winding down its work before summer goes full force. This past Thursday, the group met to discuss how we would go about making the final recommendations. Taking a close look at finances, ministries and activities at SS. Peter and Paul, and the other parishes in our planning group (St. Aloysius, St. Patrick, Our Lady of the Rosary), has better prepared to make suggestions about where our parishes should go from here.

As an example, some of the questions we’re being asked to respond to: What are some best practices that should be duplicated? What recommendations could be made about future mergers? We’ll look at all the data we’ve analyzed over the past few months and submit our answers, which will then all be compiled. Then, they go to the big man in charge, the Archbishop, for him and his people to analyze and get back to us.

So, we ask that you continue to keep the committee in your prayers for the next few weeks as we make our final recommendations. There’s still a lot of work to do.

-Kristin Lukowski, parish council member, Together in Faith committee member

This Thursday was our first Together in Faith meeting in a month, and we’re starting to work on the “final recommendations” we’ll be putting together for the archbishop. This past week, we discussed the finances is our parish group (SS. Peter and Paul, St. Aloysius, St. Patrick, Our Lady of the Rosary), including where parishes get their money from (fundraising, grants, collections). We also discussed evangelization efforts at the parishes, youth and young adult activities, and other ministries.

The Together in Faith committees only meet three more times before the final recommendations are made, so we have a lot of work yet to do. In the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at important parish activities, best practices, and condition of existing buildings. As always, we ask you keep the planning group in your prayers.

-Kristin Lukowski, Together in Faith committee member, parish council member

I came across this news story about Jesuits: Fewer Jesuit priests this Easter, but more people learning Jesuit ideals. Here’s a snippet:

The trend of fewer priests isn’t unique to the Washington region or to the Jesuits. The number of Catholic priests in the United States has been falling for decades.

But even as the Jesuits brace for near-extinction in this part of the world, their ideals are spreading.

The lack of new priests, they say, must be part of God’s vision for lay people. So rather than mourn, the Jesuits have been busy building an elaborate system for passing along their beliefs and unique meditative rituals, imaginative prayer known as the “spiritual exercises.”

Share your thoughts.

-Kristin Lukowski

Tuesday, April 19 — 5:30 p.m. rehearsal for Triduum services. (Pizza provided!) Please plan to attend if you are participating in any of the Triduum services.

Thursday, April 21 — 5:30 p.m. potluck dinner, followed by Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7 p.m.

Friday, April 22 — noon Good Friday liturgy, followed by confessions and quiet prayer until 3 p.m., when Stations of the Cross will be held.

Saturday, April 23 — NO 4 P.M. MASS. 9 p.m. Easter Vigil.

Sunday, April 24 — Easter Mass 11 a.m. NO 7:30 P.M. MASS.

Also, remember — Saturday vigil Mass moves to 5 p.m. the Saturday following Easter, April 30.

Within our planning group — SS. Peter and Paul, St. Aloysius, St. Patrick, and Our Lady of the Rosary — there aren’t any properties (old convents, rectories, schools) for sale or lease, although there are a number in the rest of the vicariate. St. Aloysius is moving their parishes offices out of one building owned by the archdiocese and into another, but that’s not part of the parish itself. At SS. Peter and Paul, we lease office space to the University of Detroit Mercy Law School clinics, but that space is currently in a lease. (Meaning, we’re not currently looking for tenants.)

We also discussed the seating capacity of the parishes. With an official total of 500 seats, SS. Peter and Paul can easily accommodate more Mass-goers. And although daily Mass draws a handful and each of the weekend Masses draws a few dozen, the church does still occasionally fill up for holy days and law school events, among other occasions.

Then, the groups took a look at the Mass times within the planning group. SS. Peter and Paul and St. Aloysius have daily Mass, with St. Patrick’s offering weekday Mass twice a week. Actually, SS. Peter and Paul has the second-busiest Mass schedule in the vicariate, with only Old St. Mary’s in Greektown having one more weekend Mass. Although, with the upcoming changes in parish leadership, there’s no way to tell if we’ll continue with the current Mass schedule long after July 1.

Because of Easter, the group doesn’t meet again until May 12. As always, we ask that you keep the committees and the archdiocese in your prayers as the data is analyzed and potentially difficult decisions are made.

-Kristin Lukowski, parish council member, Together in Faith II committee member

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thank you for your patience and support as we have worked through the status and leadership challenges facing Saints Peter and Paul. With the approval of Archbishop Vigneron, I am able to share with you the outcome of our deliberations.

Effective July 1, 2011, Fr. Robert J. Scullin, SJ, will serve as the Priest Administrator of Saints Peter and Paul in addition to his current responsibilities as Pastor of Gesu Parish. Br. Denis Weber, SJ, will be missioned to Saints Peter and Paul as the next director of the Warming Center, and will also assist Fr. Scullin as Pastoral Coordinator for the parish.

Many of you already know Fr. Scullin. Prior to his current mission as pastor of Gesu, he served as the Provincial for the Detroit Province. He has a passion for parish ministry and for the people, city and church of Detroit. We are grateful to Fr. Scullin for taking on administrative responsibilities for SsPP in addition to Gesu.

Br. Weber entered of the Society of Jesus in 2004 after 13 years in Social Work. He has an MA in Social Science from Case Western Reserve University. Most recently, Br. Weber is completing Regency formation where he has served 3 years as Pastoral Associate at Gesu Parish in the Diocese of Cleveland. His focus has been on liturgy, adult faith formation and pastoral care. We look forward to the combination of pastoral experience and a heart for the poor that Br. Weber brings to this new mission.

With Fr. Scullin’s seasoned oversight, Br. Weber’s experience and your on-going support and participation in the life of the parish, we anticipate a solid foundation going forward. We are in the process of identifying a few local Jesuits to assist with Masses.

I am grateful to Fr. Mark George, SJ, and Fr. Ben Jimenez, SJ, for the leadership and service they have shared at SsPP Parish and Warming Center these past two years. Their new missions will be announced at a later date. In the meantime, they will be working with Fr. Scullin and Br. Weber to plan for a smooth transition.

Let us continue to keep one another in prayer during this time,

Very Reverend Timothy P. Kesicki, SJ
Provincial, Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuits