St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church
Introducing… The Alpha Course!

We are so excited to be bringing The Alpha Course to St. Anastasia! Please learn more about it by visiting St. Anastasia’s ‘The Alpha Course’ webpage.

In the Month of September we will be collecting Commitment forms for you to Renew or start new Ministries for the next year here at St. Anastasia. The form is two sided so please make sure your name is on both sides, before you turn it in.

All forms need to be to the parish office by October 1, 2011. Your commitment will start in January 2012. If you have not heard from your ministry leader by November 30th please call the parish office. Peace and Goodness to you.

We are called to serve. What will you choose?

Kim Houseman

Commitment Form2 2011-12

Recovery Month Informational forum

“Learn-share-celebrate”

The Program will include…..

1. An overview of the health issue related to drug and alcohol

abuse (including brain chemistry, signs, symptoms

and possible solutions.

2. A panel discussion from individuals who have successfully

dealt with alcohol or drug addiction (relapse

and recovery).

3. Practical and powerful information from real people.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

6:30—8:30 pm

St. Anastasia Church

Admin. Center/Room B

4571 John R, Troy, MI 48085

For more information and to RSVP call the

Troy Community Coalition

248-823-5088

Reflections from Fr. Eric before the trip

Since a group of young adults and I are leaving this weekend for World Youth Day in Madrid, as well as for other pilgrimage sites, I thought it would be good to give some general information regarding the holy sites we will be going to with your prayer intentions.

The first major pilgrimage site we will be going to is the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Fatima, Portugal.  At this location there were six apparitions (or “appearances”) of Our Lady, from May 13 to October 13, 1917, to three peasant children, named Lucia Santos (who has a cause of canonization open for her), Blessed (one step away from “Saint”) Jacinta Marto, and her brother Blessed Francisco Marto.  During the apparitions Mary told the children to have processions in honor of her Immaculate Conception and to tell the faithful to do penance and pray the Rosary because otherwise the world would be chastised for its sins.  During the October apparition 70,000 people witnessed a miraculous solar phenomenon where the sun appeared to be dancing. (known as the “Miracle of the Sun”)  In 1930 the bishops of Portugal declared the apparitions to be authentic, and subsequently the Holy See (the Vatican) declared the apparitions to be authentic.  This site is also significant because Blessed Pope John Paul II visited the Shrine on May 13, 1982, the 65^th anniversary of Our Lady’s first appearance, in order to thank Mary for   preserving him from death exactly one year earlier when he was shot!

The second pilgrimage site we will go to is the shrine of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the mountain region of northwest Spain not far from the sea.  The church is the medieval shrine of St. James the Greater (one of the 12 Disciples), to which pilgrims have traveled (on the “Way of St. James”) from as early as the 8^th century.  St. James is thought to have traveled to Spain as a missionary.  Although he was beheaded in Jerusalem and buried there, tradition says that his body was later brought to Galicia and ultimately, in 830 A.D., to Compostela.  His relics are located there, and the authenticity of them was declared by Pope Leo XIII in 1884.  After Rome and Jerusalem, Compostela is said to rank third in the order of importance of pilgrimage centers for the Christian world!

Our third major pilgrimage site will be the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, in southern France.  This is a world famous shrine where Our Lady appeared 18 times to the 14 year old St. Bernadette Soubirous in the year of 1858 and identified herself with the words “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  Just four years earlier in 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX defined as dogma the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary! This  appearance took place in the rock cave (or “grotto”) of Massabielle along the River Gave near Lourdes, where a spring began to flow from the direction of the apparitions of Our Lady.  St. Bernadette was instructed to drink from this spring, which stills flows today and has effected thousands of miraculous cures which have been attested to by the medical bureau established at Lourdes.  Not only physical miracles occur there, but also immediate conversions to Christ and His Church.  The miraculous healings are reported to occur after one bathes in the waters of the spring or during the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament at processions and other ceremonies.

Lastly, we will travel to Madrid, Spain and spend about 8 days there for World Youth Day.  World Youth Day is a gathering of about one   million youth from around the world, it occurs about every three years, and the pinnacle of it is when the Pope comes for a few days to speak directly to the youth, lead a Eucharistic Adoration vigil liturgy at night and then celebrate Mass the next    morning. This is a very powerful  experience for many youth with   numerous conversions occurring in the presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist and in the presence of our Holy Father, who is the Vicar of Christ on earth, meaning that he is the most direct representative of  Jesus Christ on earth!  This will be my first World Youth Day and I look forward especially to con-celebrating Mass with Pope Benedict XVI!!  God bless and know your petitions will be remembered at each holy site!

In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Eric

Facebook Notes posted along the way

Aug 18
The Pope is here!!! What a crazy day it was! Millions of people everywhere!!

Diocesan Mass 8/18/11

Aug 16
So today was a day that I thought would never end lol. We had to find where father Eric could get his credentials, had to walk about a mile to find out we were at the wrong building and we had to go another two miles.. We WERE going to take the subway but ended up walking the whole way… Then had a slice of pizza for lunch… That wasn’t enough and then continued to walk around the city in the 100 degree weather. The majority of us cut it short to come home before mass!

Opening mass was CRAZY! There were just thousands and thousands of people there. Then we had to do more walking trying to figure out where to meet Father Eric and Father Patrick. We then went the wrong way so we walked all the way back to o…

Aug 15
Our bus broke down 1 hour outside of Mardid “

Fun fact= Cass keeps saying ‘urinals’ when she means Euros…makes all of us including Cass laugh!!

Just had dinner at VIP’s. Hamburger, salad, French fries and an apple with bottled water. Yummy! Finally don’t have to get up at 6am in the morning tomorrow!!

We are at the hotel FINALLY!! We are in Father Eric’s room doing Mass before it is midnight! Pretty nice hotel in a good location! We have a balcony and a corner room so it is bigger! Yay.

So right now we are in the middle of nowhere sitting on the side of the road. Our bus broke down! Thankfully there was a small café on the side of the road with wifi! Haha

Lourdes was awesome!! I did not realize that there are 3 Basilica’s on the grotto site and they are all beautiful. The grotto was inspiring and we all felt goose bumpy! We left our petitions in the grotto by the apparition site. Each of us had unique experiences with baths both physically and spiritually. We celebrated Sunday Mass in one of the chapels on the basilica site

Guggenhiem

Aug 14
Well! I keep thinking it is a weekday, but it is Sunday! We had mass this morning with our group and the group from SS Cyril Concelebrated by the four fathers in our groups! Then we toured Lourdes! It was great! Then I went to lunch with Father Patrick and his group and we had PIZZA!!! Yummy was it good. Now I am chillin at the hotel!

Basilicas of the Rosary and the Immaculate ConceptionCandle Light Vigil