My name is Danielle Piggott and I have just recently graduated from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor's degree in psychology. Since graduation I have been extremely privileged to spend my summer back home here in Fowler while I prepare to move to North Dakota to continue on to graduate school in the fall.
 
While I have been home, it has been such a blessing to spend more time with my family and reconnect with my Church family here at Most Holy Trinity. I am especially looking forward to chaperoning the youth group’s upcoming trip to the Steubenville Youth Conference. While in high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend five of these conferences in addition to the LEAD program hosted by the University of Steubenville. Each of these encounters with Christ have left a permanent mark on my heart and are critical points in my journey of faith. It has now been almost four years to the day since I have been at one of these conferences and as I prepare to attend the conference in a different role, I am flooded with old memories and emotions, but above all I have experienced such incredible joy to encounter Christ again in such an amazing way!
 
I remember feeling so much excitement in anticipation for the conferences. After my freshman year of high school I remember going into the weekend praying that God would show me that He was real and that He loved me. Although not as I had expected, our God did not disappoint. In a moment of vulnerable prayer and adoration, I was overwhelmed; I felt God’s love rain down on me as He opened the floodgates of Heaven’s splendor on the people at the conference on that Saturday night. Afterwards, I followed chaperones and classmates outside, and while we sat in the grass huddled around empty pizza boxes, I felt so beautifully whole. My faith in God and my understanding of myself was fortified that night, and I will always look back on that moment with unending gratitude and praise.
 
While my heart still needs to be reminded that God is real and that He loves me, as we may all need throughout our lives, my spiritual preparation for this upcoming conference has been very different than my first trip nine years ago. I have grown tremendously in my understanding of the world and in my understanding of the faith since then and am facing entirely new life obstacles and transitions. Thankfully, my God knows my heart and meets me where I’m at.
 
I used to pray before these conferences “Just show me…” I was pleading. If God could just do this one thing, if God could just tell me something, then my prayers would be answered. These aren’t bad prayers. They are the prayers of an eager heart yearning for one glimpse of raw truth and love from a God I wasn’t really sure was there. Now, with the conference only a few days away, my heart is still just as eager, but it is not just for one glimpse to prove everything, because I have already been blessed with this faith, much like I was on that Saturday night so many Steubenville visits ago. Now, my heart is eager to just be. There is no more strain on my heart to find belonging because God has established me in His beautiful gift of faith. I am excited to just be with God and receive what He has for me this weekend. I am ecstatic to see the young people of our parish be touched by the love of Christ and to be with them during that experience.

I ask that you keep all of the students who are attending the upcoming conference in your prayers. Let us pray for those who are desperately reaching out for just one shred of proof that God is real; let us pray for those who are aching to feel just the slightest taste of God’s love; let us pray for those who are yearning for just a day of peace amidst the anxieties and hurt of the world; and let us pray for those who are seeking just an idea of the direction they should take—because I have been all of those people, and because of your prayers and our amazing God, I have experienced incredible peace, conversion, and faith.

Thank you and God bless,
Danielle

Happy Feast of the Most Holy Trinity! This weekend we celebrate the parish’s Patronal Feast, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
 
Unfortunately I know of very few parishes that celebrate their patronal feast anymore. I remember when our neighboring church, St. Anthony, which was an ethnic Czechoslovakian parish, celebrated their feast day. We weren’t parishioners, but because our family lived in the neighborhood, we were always invited to participate.  There was always a huge Mass, people came from all over.  Buses would arrive from Ohio, Michigan, Toronto at the parish Saturday evening and early Sunday morning. And then, my favorite part of the Feast, a huge street procession, with bands and a statue of St. Anthony and later on a dinner at one of the local halls. 
 
The fact that so few parishes mark their patronal feast is a sign that in some ways, we’ve lost a sense of who we are.  Our culture has become so secularized; many people do not make a place for God in their lives, and for many Catholics, church is but an hour event on Saturday or Sunday. But I believe that it’s important to recover that meaning and identity of our parish. Why?
 
The history of the naming of our parish is an interesting story. The earliest immigrant communities in Fowler, were the Irish and the Germans. When it came to the naming of the parish, the Irish immigrants wanted the parish to be named “St. Patrick” and the Germans immigrants wanted the parish to be named “St. Boniface.” So the wise pastor said, “We’re going to name the parish Most Holy Trinity.”  The story reminds us of the early competitive nature of many immigrant Catholic communities, the parochial identity that many Catholic parishes had, and sadly still do have today.
 
That’s why I love the story of how our parish got it’s sacred name. Because the life of the Trinity is a constant reminder that we are called to break barriers, not create them. We are called, like the Blessed Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to reach out and give ourselves away, following the model of God’s inner life – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit constantly pouring out their love for One another, continually inviting us to share in their Divine life of love.
 
Because the life of the Trinity is a constant reminder,
we are called to break barriers, not create them.
 
In the past few years it has struck me that we’ve been receiving many graces here – vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life (how many parishes do you know of where young women are entering the convent?), young families returning to the parish, Masses burgeoning with children, an effective model of evangelization, youth ministry and adult formation and our Encounter with the Holy Spirit evenings, adult retreats, all giving us an opportunity to allow our lives to be touched and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
This is not to be taken lightly, or simply attributed to our hard work, or that we’re so smart and talented, but, most importantly, this is a grace, a gift from God. And as always, every grace is attached to a mission. Here at Most Holy Trinity, our mission, I believe is to see that our life and ministry as Christians in Fowler, is a reflection of the life of God. The Name of a parish patron, whether a saint, or in our case the very Name of the Trinity, is chosen to be the special intercessor in heaven for our families.  We have no one less than the very Person of the Trinity who has been chosen to be our model and the ultimate source of grace.
 
Those days when immigrant parishes, like the St. Anthony’s in my own neighborhood might be a thing of the past, perhaps even nostalgic, but I believe that our parish must continue to develop a strong spiritual identity. The work of evangelization and passing on the faith to the next generation is crucial. I thank the Lord that He has graced us in so many ways – and now we continue to respond to His grace and give ourselves away in gratitude and service.
 
It is truly right to praise the divine Trinity, the Father
Without beginning and Maker of all, the coeternal Word,
born without change from the Father before the ages, and the Holy Spirit, proceeding timelessly from the Father.

​Fr. Dennis Howard