News - March 2020 RSS Feed

It’s a rare block of uninterrupted time on Don Bouchard’s calendar when we sit down together at Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo’s offices. The busy physician not only guides the agency as its Executive Director, but he also runs his six-year-old practice, Holy Family Healthcare, and serves in his diaconate ministry for St. Augustine Cathedral Parish, Kalamazoo. It’s a demanding schedule that keeps him busy with stops all around Southwest Michigan, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Easter is the holiest day of our Catholic faith. After 40 days of penance through prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent, and the three days of preparation during the Easter triduum, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life. Through the centuries Catholics have developed many traditions for celebrating Holy Week. Incorporating these traditions into our personal observances lends a rich experience of the true message of this time in our liturgical calendar.

Each Easter Vigil thousands of people across the world enter into full communion with the Church through the sacraments of initiation. Southwest Michigan Catholic interviewed Jessica Woods, a 27-year-old Ferris State University pharmacy student and parishioner of St. Mary Parish, Marshall, who was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church last year.

Q: Why do I have to go to confession with a priest? God knows what’s in my heart — isn’t saying I’m sorry to him in prayer enough? A: The simple answer? For the grace.

Living the Mission of the Eucharist - For a group of neighborhood children, living the mission of the Eucharist meant turning an otherwise ordinary summer day into a way to help other children.

Living the mission of the Eucharist - Last month, Bishop Paul J. Bradley began the first of 26 pastoral visits to the 26 Parish Collaboratives in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. The first stop on the “Loving God and Your Neighbor” pastoral tour was on Feb. 28 when Bishop Bradley visited St. Mark Parish, Niles. The day began with a series of meetings with Parish and Finance council members as well as the clergy serving St. Mark’s. The day also included the celebration of the Vigil Mass followed by a parish dinner featuring a talk by Bishop Bradley. The pastoral visit concluded with Benediction.

Living the Mission of the Eucharist - Volunteering is nothing new for Kathy Keagle. The St. Ambrose Parish, Parchment Parishioner has been generous with her time since her days as a Girl Scout leader and volunteer at her parish while raising her three children. Recently the retired medical technologist was invited by a close friend who was a volunteer for Ascension Borgess to give volunteering at the hospital a try.

 La Diócesis de Kalamazoo les da la bienvenida a las Hermanas Delia Aurora Ibarra, Paubla Jaritza Garcia, y Daysis Evangelista Uriarte de la Congregación de las Hermanas Siervas del Divino Rostro. Ellas son una comunidad joven, fundada en Nicaragua por la Madre Teresita Ortez para servir en la Iglesia a los más pobres, a los niños abandonados.

The Diocese of Kalamazoo welcomes Sister Delia Aurora Ibarra, Sister Paubla Jaritza Garcia and Sister Daysis Evangelista Uriarte of the Congregation of the Siervas del Divino Rostro (Servants of the Divine Face). They are a young community, founded in Nicaragua by Mother Teresita Ortez to serve the poor and abandoned children in the Church.

Advocate of peace, advisor to popes: Catherine of Siena