Parishioner’s Pen: 12.8.2023

My little sister is fond of telling me that stories happen to storytellers. I come from a family of storytellers, taught from an early age to pay attention, to find meaning. It’s a natural urge, I think, to narrativize big/weird/uncomfortable/Holy experiences in our lives. We make a story out of it and we can hold [...]

By |December 8th, 2023|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen: 12.8.2023

Parishioner’s Pen 9.15.2023

I ended my lunch yesterday over the mournful remains of a late season plum and Whole Foods frozen spinach egg bites and approximately four stale oreos. Maybe the food wasn’t mournful, but my attitude certainly was (although I’m sure the food didn’t help). All I wanted, I told Lydia, was a win. I just needed [...]

By |September 15th, 2023|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen 9.15.2023

Parishioner’s Pen 8.11.2023

Every Wednesday, the Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit leadership team meets in a sweltering little conference room to pray over the upcoming Gospel reading and to discuss the Issue Of The Week (or month or liturgical season or pandemic cycle). We spent several minutes this Wednesday meditating (giggling) on the image of Peter impulsively stepping [...]

By |August 11th, 2023|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen 8.11.2023

Parishioner’s Pen 6/16/23

We’ve been moving at breakneck speed this entire year as we celebrate our 175th anniversary. Now, we’re on the brink of one of our biggest celebrations — our 175th Anniversary Feast Day Block Party on Sunday, June 25th (RSVP here right now if you haven’t yet!) — and, while a large part of me wants [...]

By |June 15th, 2023|Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen 6/16/23

Parishioner’s Pen: 4.14.2023

It was my own fault that I was at the office on Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. I planned the meeting after all, giving myself the second of my three six-day work weeks, the fillings of a sandwich I probably shouldn’t have prepared right at the end of Lent. It was humid and stormy [...]

By |April 14th, 2023|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen: 4.14.2023

Parishioner’s Pen: 2.10.2023

Parishioner’s Pen 2.10.2023 – Rebecca MacMaster   If you’ve been at Mass in the last couple of months (no judgement) you might’ve seen me and anywhere from one to four little helpers at the side entrance, passing out hymnals. A couple of weeks ago, in the dreary depths of January where both sunshine and positive [...]

By |February 10th, 2023|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen: 2.10.2023

Parishioner’s Pen: 1/13/2023

Like the start of any new year, there’s been plenty of talk amongst my friends and family of resolutions and goals, of things we should do more of and things we should stop doing. One of the biggest things that my fiance and I need to do is finish planning our wedding. We’re getting married [...]

By |January 12th, 2023|Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen: 1/13/2023

Parishioner’s Pen: 12.2.2022

Parishioner’s Pen 12/2/2022   I skipped Mass the Sunday before I defended my master’s thesis. Through some sort of twist of fate or act of the Holy Spirit, the exact reading I had spent 20 weeks and 61 pages on was being proclaimed from ecumenical pulpits around the world. Insta DM’s busy with well-meaning friends [...]

By |December 2nd, 2022|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen: 12.2.2022

Parishioner’s Pen 11/4/2022

As I write this, I’m watching the New York Rangers-Boston Bruins hockey game. Simultaneous fights are breaking out between the teams. And I can’t help but smile.    “But Toni, why are you smiling watching hockey players fight? And why aren’t you watching the Red Wings?”   Both are valid questions.    Before I moved [...]

By |November 4th, 2022|Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen 11/4/2022

Parishioner’s Pen – 10/7/2022

My first apartment in Detroit leaked. Little gaps in the crumbling brick let in rain and frigid tendrils of air with enough strength to blow out my candles and a weird amount of curiously dead wasps that I never saw alive. My floors were constantly covered in a gritty red dust, no matter how much [...]

By |October 7th, 2022|News, Parishioner's Pen|Comments Off on Parishioner’s Pen – 10/7/2022
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