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Carol Crichton

12/26/2017

1 Comment

 
I have been away from Fowler and my Catholic faith for over 30 years.   I recently moved back and became a parishioner of Most Holy Trinity.  Shortly after becoming a member, I was invited to go on a parish retreat. Although I wanted to go, I felt I didn’t have the funds for it and I was apprehensive about not knowing a lot of people.  God really does know our wants and needs.  Through the gift of painting, I was able to work out a deal where I would restore and paint the statue of Mary at the church cemetery in return for attending the parish retreat.  When I am asked to paint a statue, I read about the life of that particular saint.   In doing so, I can better reflect their devotion to our Lord through my artwork. This has become a treasured way of using my talent to beautifully depict the glory of the saints’ lives.
 
I attended the retreat this past September.  When I arrived at the retreat I received a warm welcome and any hesitation I had, quickly faded.  There were people of various ages attending, some had been on previous retreats and for others it was their first time.  The speakers were relatable and they motivated me to look deeper into my relationship with Jesus.  We had time for personal reflection and time when we would gather over a game if we chose to do so. 
 
While at the retreat I shared the following story about my faith journey and Adam has invited me to share my story with you.  I remember being drawn to another faith around the age of 12.  A friend of mine belonged to another denomination and she exemplified a truly Christian life.  At that time I was also questioning some of the Catholic rituals.   Later, as a young woman, the man I married was of another faith and I soon joined his church.  We relocated several times in our married life.   Since I desired to grow in my faith, we would church shop with each move, and eventually we joined another denomination.  I always felt something was lacking in the way we worshiped but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  Years later, we divorced and I began to search for another church to attend.  For 2 to 3 years I went from one denomination to another.
 
One day while absorbed in a TV show, out of the blue, I clearly heard “Go to Mass”.  I was startled and expected to see someone as I looked around, but I was alone.  I had no explanation for the direction I was given but I was NOT going to Mass.  I felt the Catholic Church had far too many rules that were impossible to live by.  Looking back, I realize I didn’t fully understand the church’s teachings and that God’s mercy was always there for me.  A few weeks later I heard the same thing again while I was caught up in a show.  And then a third time while watching TV, I was directed again to “Go to Mass”.  I thought three strikes and you’re out. I couldn’t ignore God’s direction anymore.  I knew that He was calling me to be obedient.  I longed for a closer relationship with God and I knew I needed to quit resisting and allow Him to lead me home.
 
The following weekend when I attended Mass I could feel God working on my heart.  It was beautiful to once again experience the reverence Catholics show throughout the Mass by gestures such as bowing, genuflecting, making the sign of the cross, etc.  When it came to the consecration of the Eucharist and the priest said “This is My Body and This is My Blood” I realized I had found what I was looking for. 
 
I went to a Catholic book store and found several books by Scott Hahn on the different sacraments.  I also picked up a couple of books on the saints and started reading a short story each day about a saint. A few months later I went through the most difficult time of my life.  God knew what was ahead for me and I believe that is why God in His goodness, brought me back to the Catholic Faith.  For 2 years the pain and grief I felt was almost unbearable.  It was during that time that God was showing me I needed to trust in Him.  Even though I had wanted a different outcome, God had His plan.  His ways truly are better than mine.
To this day, I am grateful for God’s unfailing love and persistence and to my parents who were steadfast in their faith and living examples of Christ’s love.  I am also grateful to my protestant friends who encouraged me to read scripture and study the life of Jesus. It is through those studies and the beautiful faith of my parents that I have come home to the Catholic Church.  I am thankful that through my Catholic faith, I had St. Monica and the many saints who came before me to turn to during my most difficult times.  There is something about knowing the saints’ struggles and heartaches that made me feel less alone.  They are like an extension of my family.  I have learned to ask for the saints’ intercession just as I would ask my family members for their prayers.
 
I still get teary eyed during certain songs at Mass or during Communion.  My joy of celebrating Mass after being away for so long is sometimes overwhelming.  My story is still unfolding, I still struggle, but I know that God in His mercy is always there for me.
 
Yours in Christ,
Carol Crichton


1 Comment

Fr. Dennis

12/26/2017

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Dear friends in Christ,
 
We are almost ready to celebrate the Sacred Feast of Christmas.  During this Advent and our Christmas holiday our Jewish brothers and sisters are celebrating too!  The Feast of Hanukkah almost always tends to fall at the same time as our Christmas season.  The Jewish people use a lunar calendar so the dates don’t always line up exactly – this year Hanukkah fell between December 12th and 20th.
 
You can find Hanukkah in the Old Testament Books of 1st  and 2nd  Maccabees, a time when the Jewish people were under attack by foreign persecutors.  The Greeks tried to destroy the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem and murdered many Jews who remained faithful to the covenant.  The word Hanukkah means “rededication” because the Jewish people rededicated the temple after they had won the war against the Greek invaders.  It also celebrates a miracle, the miracle of the light of the menorah candle in the temple.  The eight branched candle stand that stood inside the temple, before the Holy of Holies, kept burning miraculously for eight days even though the priests ran out of the sacred oil that made the menorah candle burn.  For that reason Hanukkah is sometimes called “the Festival of Lights.”
 
I grew up with some Jewish friends and have made a number of Jewish friends in the various places I’ve been assigned over the years.  I am always amazed and blessed by the story of the Jewish people - God’s chosen people as recounted in the Scriptures.  That story of God’s chosen ones begins with Abraham and continues into the present day.  The Holocaust – one of the worst atrocities even committed against a people – stands as a reminder to all of us that the power of evil is strong in our world.  Whether we speak about the Jewish Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the murder of hundreds of thousands in Syria, or whatever terrible thing going on in our world today, we must never forget that we are all one family, in solidarity with all of suffering humanity.  So many have suffered much throughout history and yet have remained resilient and faithful.  Of course we can add the suffering of many Christians throughout the world to this list.  Pope Benedict once wrote:  “To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go to meet the future with confidence.” 
 
During the celebration of the Festival of Hanukkah, it is customary to place one’s hanukkiah (the traditional candle stand) close to a window, or even outside the entrance of one’s home if possible, in order that the brightness of its light might be a welcoming sight and warm the hearts of those passing by in the darkness of the street. During the centuries of exile, and in dangerous times, Jews were not able to display their hanukkiahs in the street.  As believers, that should be our mindset – we display the light of Christ – the light of goodness and hope for all the world to see.
 
My prayer this Christmas, is this feast of the Lord’s birth be a time of hope.  That you and I witness to the love of God and thus bring hope to our world.
 
God bless,    
Fr. Dennis


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Carly Surbrook

12/20/2017

1 Comment

 
If someone would’ve told me that marriage would have been this difficult after being married for such a short period of time, I never would’ve believed them. I was your typical, naive millennial who believed “as long as you love each other, what could be so difficult?”  Growing up, I knew very few people who had trouble in their marriages. Being so naive to the idea of divorce made me clueless to the everyday struggles that most (if not all) married couples face.  Unfortunately, my husband Parker did not have that luxury. He grew up in a broken household with the, “if it isn’t working, why force it” type attitude. This, along with many other things, caused stress in our marriage.

Within the first couple months of getting married we were already annoyed with each other, disagreeing on just about everything, and stressed thinking about the idea of living with each other for the next 30+ years. Parker became Catholic during our engagement and we were always good about going to church together on the weekends, but we never implemented our faith into our marriage. After dealing with these struggles privately for the first year, we decided to attend a healing mass together at our previous parish, Our Lady of Consolation, in Rockford. I truly believe this is when we both realized how powerful and amazing our God is and that without him, our marriage would NOT make it.

After the healing service, we both started to dive deeper into our faith and started to talk more openly about our relationship with God. We started praying together and regularly reading God’s Word to help encourage us to make a conscious effort to improve our marriage and our relationship with Christ. We learned that how we treat and love our spouse is a direct reflection of how we treat and love our God!

Once we moved back to Fowler we decided we wanted to not only improve our marriage but we wanted to reach out to other people our age who might be having the same struggles. We knew we needed a positive support system of other Catholic couples to not only talk about our issues, but encourage each other to be the best husbands and wives we can be. Now, almost two years later, these couples are some of our best friends. We have monthly get-togethers where we share our frustrations, ask for advice/support, and learn how to implement Christ into our marriages. We also try to regularly attend “Date Nights” in our parish and in surrounding parishes. We love having an excuse for a night out together and with friends to not only grow in faith, but to help strengthen our marriage at the same time. These nights are an easy, fun way to learn how to incorporate Christ in your everyday marriage/family life, while hearing from other couples who have gone through similar experiences.

No, our marriage is not perfect now (nor will it ever be), but with the help of our faith we are both doing our best. I try to help Parker become a better spouse, father, Catholic, and overall person and I know he does the same for me. It is our job to help each other get to heaven and I am so blessed to say I have a husband who is doing his best to get me there.  I came across this quote from “Godly Marriage” on instagram and it really spoke to me, “The true beauty of marriage is found in its grand purpose. And that purpose is to drive us closer to Christ.”


The “We Still Do” Marriage Night is coming up on January 13, 2018 here at MHT. This is a regional event that brings together people from the parishes in Fowler, Pewamo, and Westphalia. Peter and Debbie Herbeck will be the guest speakers that will not only give their marriage testimony, but will talk about the specific roles we as Catholic husbands and wives should strive to live by. Drinks and a catered meal by Taste of Heaven are included. This is a great opportunity for anyone married, dating, or discerning marriage to attend and learn more about our jobs as Catholic husbands and wives. Come enjoy a laidback, fun night while growing in our faith with friends from our parish and surrounding parishes! Please visit MHTs website to register.  If you have any questions you can contact myself, Andrea Schneider, or Haley Thelen.

If there is anyone who is struggling in their marriage know that you are not alone and that there is lots of resources and help out there.  If you would like to speak with someone at the parish, please contact Andrea Schneider, adultfaithmht@gmail.com .

Thanks and God Bless,
Carly (Fink) Surbrook


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Kayla Feldpausch

12/11/2017

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Singing is for the one who loves.” Saint Augustine’s words encompass the essence of music and its profound simplicity as part of the Mass. Song rises from a desire to express something, and there’s a lot to express in the Liturgy. It’s where God makes present the great mystery of Divine love: the Eucharist. Music is a sign of God’s love for us and of our love for Him. 
 
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always sing out of love for God. We all know how easy it is to let ourselves mouth the words to hymns we’ve had memorized since childhood, and as someone whose entire ministry revolves around preparing the music for Mass, the problem becomes larger. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve realized halfway through the Gloria that I’m still playing the music, but I have no idea how I got there, kind of like when you’re driving and you realize suddenly that you’re turning into your driveway but don’t remember the rest of the drive at all. (Just me?) In fact, at Christmas last year, I straight-up forgot to play the third verse of the Gloria! Talk about embarrassing.
 
I know intellectually how important music is to the Mass. I know that it expresses our community, the sacramental presence of God to His people, how it can strengthen the faith of the congregation and foster prayer. Music has the power to draw people deeper into prayer and proclaim Christ’s presence powerfully. But even with that knowledge, it’s hard to drum up the actual emotion of love for God through music on my own. In fact, I can’t do it.
 
As crazy stressful as the Advent and Christmas season can be for me with this job, I absolutely love it because in many ways, the season forces me to slow down and re-encounter the Lord who I began to sing for in the first place. I had the joy of being able to lead music for adoration at the high school retreat this past weekend, but getting to that retreat in the first place was a nightmare. I had a fever last week, 5000 things to do to make sure all the musicians were ready for the music changes for Advent, and tons of prep work to do for upcoming events. But the Lord showed up and renewed me over the weekend in a way that a weekend alone never could have because as I played and sang before Him in adoration, he showered me with His love, and I felt the peace and love that only comes through Grace.
 
With that grace as my foundation, I’ve been asking the Lord to help make this advent and all the parish events I’m helping with to be ways for me and all those participating to encounter His love. I’m particularly excited for an event this Tuesday, December 12 at 7:00 called “Come Light our Hearts,” which will feature an hour of scripture readings and music from each of MHT’s choirs.
 
The program has 9 readings which recount the Fall, the promise of a Messiah, and the Incarnation, each followed by a song for reflection. I love moments like this that allow me to step back and see God’s plan through salvation history. It’s similar to being stuck in circumstances where we don’t understand what’s going on or why someone’s acting a certain way, but later we heard the story behind the situation and everything made sense. It’s so much easier to be patient with a person or situation when you have an understanding of who they are and why things happened as they did. I often need that perspective because when I’m feeling burnt out or frustrated with the Lord, it helps me to step back and see his faithfulness both throughout salvation history and throughout my own life.
 
Seasons like Advent and Christmas, if I hand them over to the Lord and ask for His healing, help bring the the music I sing back to being a song of love instead of a repetitive task. I want to encourage you to allow the Lord to renew you in that way as well. Whether you come to “Come Light our Hearts” this week, sing in the adult choir for 9PM Christmas Eve Mass (there’s still time if you’re interested!), or simply sing at Mass as a part of the congregation, I pray that Christ’s love would move in your hearts.
 
God bless,  Kayla


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Fr. Dennis

12/5/2017

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The four weeks of Advent mark symbolically a preparation for the Solemnity of Christmas, where we celebrate God become flesh, incarnate of the Holy Spirit.  This is such a profound reality.  In the West, we sometimes don’t realize how radical and revolutionary this is.  When I was in the Holy Land a couple of years ago, I remember Steve ray explaining to us how the Muslim find this Christian teaching so repulsive and offensive.  God become one of us?  Ridiculous, I hear one Muslim man say to us as we spoke with him because we had just finished the Christmas season.  This is a totally foreign concept to Islam.  They find it so offensive because they just cannot imagine that God would become one of us!  For them, God is so totally other, so totally different.  Man, in their view, is like the dirt, lowly, unimportant.  Steve pointed out one way this is reflected in their lifestyles:  whenever we went into a Jewish or Christian area, the homes were well taken care of, the streets, clean and tidy – in the Muslim districts, the streets were filthy and garbage-ridden.  He explained, if you see mankind as lesser, lowly, insignificant, then why would you have any interest in caring for yourself or your property? This is why they have such a disregard for human dignity and life – why they kill one another so readily.  If you don’t see man as having an exalted dignity in Christ, that He loved us so much that He became one of us, then you can justify killing another Muslim from another sect…
 
Someone asked recently, as we pondered the uniqueness of Christianity and the radical claims of Jesus in the Gospels:  then how could someone believe in another religion?  Why wouldn’t they come to accept Jesus and Christianity?  Part of the answer lies in the fact that many people never reflect on why the believe what they believe.  This is true also of many Christians.  Many believers in Jesus could not tell you why they believe.  They too would most likely say, “Well, this is what my family passed on to me..” 
 
The other part of the answer lies in what Indira Gandhi said about Christianity.  She said:  “if all the Christians in India were like Mother Teresa, there would be not Hindus left in India.  The challenge of Advent is precisely this – while the world flies head-long into an orgy of spending and self-indulgence, as Christians, we are called to give a different witness.  There is nothing wrong with buying and exchanging gifts, nothing wrong with putting up decorations or lights.  But is that all Christmas is about for us?  Is Christ the center of our celebrations, or only a cultural remnant?  Is this reflected in our personal lives and in our choices?
 
I encourage us all to use this time of Advent to prepare our hearts for the Coming of the Lord.
 
God bless,
Fr. Dennis


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​​545 N. Maple St.
Fowler, MI 48835

Parish Office Phone: (989) 593-2162
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