Thank You

A BIG THANK YOU to the young women from Nouvel Catholic Central High School who showed up outside my office today and sang a beautiful "Thank You" song to me and presented me with beautiful hand-made cards signed by students from each of the Saginaw Area Catholic Schools. It was a great surprise! Thank you, for brightening my day :)

Rest in Peace

Following our Church celebration of All Saints and All Souls days at the beginning of this month, I joined my brother priests and deacons today at the Center for Ministry in Saginaw to celebrate Mass and pray for the souls of the deceased Bishops, Priests, and Deacons who have served in the Diocese of Saginaw since it was established in 1938.

May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

A list of our brothers who sleep in Christ can be found as it was posted on the DoS News Blog today.

Come, let's March for Life together!

Join me and hundreds more from the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw on January 22-25 at the 2011 March for Life in Washington, D.C., marking the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade. Adult accommodations are available. All participants age 18 and over must have completed VIRTUS safe environment training, a Background Check, and signed Standards of Ministerial Behavior for those Working with Children and Young People. For more information, go to www.saginaw.org/marchforlife.

Also, check out my Respect Life Month message on the DoS News Blog.

Stay tuned...

Due to technical difficulties on the diocesan center’s computer network, the DoS News (Blog) and Bishop’s Blog have not had regular updates in the last few weeks. Please continue to check back as work is being done to address the problem. In the meantime, stay connected by visiting the Facebook pages for the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw and Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone.

Tune in your radio dials ...

You will be able to find me on local radio during the next two days: 

Catholic Radio: This afternoon (Monday), I will be on air live with Al Kresta between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. on Ave Maria Radio WMAX 1440 AM.

Saginaw Radio: Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), I will be on air live with Art Lewis from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. on WSGW NewsRadio 790 AM and FM Talk  100.5.

Comissioned Lay Ministry and Evangelization

I was blessed last Sunday to celebrate in the rich tradition of Commissioned Lay Ministry here in the Diocese of Saginaw. This formation program, began by my predecessor, the Most Rev. Francis F. Reh (the fourth Bishop of Saginaw) in 1978, has proven to be a true gift to the people of this local church. 

I was honored to commission eight men and women for the first time. Congratulations and thank you to Joanne Dana, Terrie DeWaele, Pamela Kahler, Linda Oeschger, Loretta Puvalowski, Denise Ryman, Robert Stoma, and Wallace Tenbusch - the Class of 2010. In addition, 50 others re-committed themselves for another three years and 17 men and women were granted permanent status as commissioned  lay ministers. 

In my homily at Sunday's Mass at the Cathedral, I challenged our commissioned lay ministers to grow into the evangelists our Church so dearly needs today. I truly believe that we need to develop our programs, attention and sight on our brothers and sisters, who, for whatever reason, are no longer worshiping with us. If we are truly missioned and commissioned to preach the Good News, then to whom better can we do it than our brothers and sisters who have lost a sense of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace of the Sacraments in their lives? Where could we do any better work than that?

Celebrating Mass at a migrant camp

I recently celebrated Mass with one of our migrant worker communities at their camp near Caro. There were about 50 people in attendance, including migrant families, members of the local Sacred Heart Parish and diocesan staff from the Office of Christian Service. After Mass, I was treated to a delicious homemade Mexican dinner. I look forward to my next opportunity to celebrate our faith with members of this hardworking and dedicated community.