DECEMBER 25, 2017

The Humble Crèche Merry Christmas parishioners! How would you like to be born in a barn??! A Catholic family took their kids on a field trip to a barn… where one of them observed “But...it’s so smelly!” Indeed, sheepfolds in Palestine, are not the most fragrant places in the world! There is the smell of dung, the mustiness of wool, and often these caves were infested with rodents and insects. The little child came home and later when asked ‘where was Jesus was born?’ said in an anguished voice: “in a dirty, smelly, old barn!” The point of the field trip was to take the children deeper, beyond the ‘sweet coating’ of the Christmas story to the ‘sharpness of suffering’ beneath… to truly appreciate how God chose to come into our world!1 Much of the world does not know what they are really celebrating! So many take trips to see Santa, to the toy store, movie theater, put up lights and Christmas trees, but these are mere ‘diversions,’ there is a deeper truth to what Christmas really is about. ‘There is only one reason in the world to feast and be merry at Christmas: because we are redeemed, and Christmas is the begging of that redemption! In a most mysterious and beautiful way God became a baby for us!’2

We have been blessed this year with brand new nativity scenes for our church: a hand painted resin/stone mix indoor nativity set and a beautiful large sized outdoor crèche with figures, donated by a family who no longer need it. The tradition of the crèche goes back 800 years to St. Francis of Assisi! In the year 1223, St Francis was travelling to the town of Greccio in the mountains of Italy, to celebrate Christmas. St. Francis realized that the chapel in the Franciscan hermitage would be too small to hold the congregation for Midnight Mass so he decided to hold Mass in the town square! St. Francis wanted this to be a solemn, beautiful occasion, he asked for permission from the Holy Father, and obtained a manger, hay, ox and ass which he set up near the altar. The brothers and townspeople came for Mass singing praise to God. St. Francis, a deacon of the Church, radiant with joy and with tears in his eyes, chanted the Gospel! While he stood at this first nativity of the poor King and preached to the people on the Babe of Bethlehem a beautiful baby appeared sleeping in the manger! St. Bonaventure would later write that this vision was credible, not only because of the holy, devout people who reported it, but because of the miracles of faith at St. Francis’ preaching and later miracles of healing from the hay from that manger. “For example of Francis, if it be considered by the world, is doubtless sufficient to excite all hearts which are negligent in the faith of Christ; and the hay of that manger, being preserved by the people, miraculously cured all diseases of cattle, and many other pestilences; God was thus in all things glorifying his servant, and witnessing to the great efficacy of his holy prayers.” It must have been quite a Midnight Mass at that first outdoor crèche in the town of Greccio! Christmas is finally here for those of us who have waited all during Advent! Take time in the coming days to enjoy the new nativity sets at our parish as well as the one in your home. Pray for the grace to grow closer to Jesus and his Church in the New Year and expect many graces and blessings! Merry Christmas!

~Fr Tom

1 Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland Kennedy

and Sons 1956 as quoted on CatholicCulture.org 12/19/17 2 Ibid.

Year End Tax Considerations As we rapidly approach the end of the calendar year, we thought it would be a good time for a quick refresher on IRS tax rules with regards to recording charitable contributions. Contributions must be mailed prior to year end. This means, that the donor needs to mail checks by December 31st and that the envelope with the postmark is a very important piece of information. If a check is received in early January that is dated in December but the postmark is January 3rd, the donation would be recorded in 2018. Conversely, if the check is dated December 31, the envelope is postmarked December 31, and its still not received until January 3rd, the contribution would be rec-orded in 2017.

TO PRAY IS TO LOVE

Parishioners

Eleanor Campbell Fr. Tim Krzyaniak No Public Mass No Public Mass Charles Martin Family Fred & Shirley Koinig Parishioners

MASS INTENTIONS

“...I shall rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance… with full courage now

as always Christ will be honored in my body...” — Philippians 1:19, 20

MON 1000:

TUE 700:

WED 815:

THU:

FRI:

SAT 400:

SUN 800:

1030:

• Please pray for the infirm, including: Dan Krebs, Patricia Fuller, Lisa Ann Kozakowski, John Marshall, John LaRock Sr., Michael Cooper, Phil Rutledge, Kathy Cooley, Robin Fahmie, Karen Prins, Sandra Adams, Richard Pelkey, Tom Dawson, Pete Siebertz, Nicole Brcic, Angela DiLaura, John Dziuban, Jim Stephensen, Mason Rutledge, Georgiana Bruen, Wayne DeForest, Floyd “Doc” Dreffs,

Ron Fuller, Tom Masterson, Noah Kranz, Ann Mary “Nancy” Phillips, Jessica Cox, Katie Hutton, Nicholas Pikor, Roger Thomas, Betsy & Charlie Rodgers, Pam Wiitala, Chris Dreffs

Please pray for those in the military, including: Adam Draves, Nathan Baker, Garette Moore, Larry Workman, Daniel Scott Brown, Mark Richard, Philip Maxwell, Tony Phillips, Anthony

Darket, Samuel Chase Johnson, William Godfrey, Bill Lott, Tony DeLellis, Mike Nelson, Frank Snaith, Allan Fletcher, Noah Kranz, Chas & Holly Carter

Pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. John Henry Keenan, Michael Kunitz, Mark Iadonisi, David Pellican

Choose Life

On Sunday, December 31st, New Year’s Eve, we will have a Holy Hour of Prayer with Exposition from 11 PM to

Midnight with a Midnight Benediction. Please come and ring in the New Year with graces from Our Lord and join us after-

wards in the Parish Hall. Please bring a snack to share. Hope to see you there! Have a Blessed New Year!

Knights of Columbus

Choose Life Candles On Saturday, Jan 21st, the day before the anniversary of the Supreme court decision legalizing the taking of lives, place a lit candle on your porch around dusk and let it burn into the night to serve as a silent witness and memorial to over 58 million babies lives lost to and the millions of lives changed by abortion. The Knights of Columbus will be offering candles the weekends of Jan 6-7 and 13-14 here at Old St. Patrick Church after all Masses. Donations to go to Guadalupe Workers.

Pray in the New Year!

ST. PATRICK PARISH CALENDAR SUNDAY, December 25

Christmas Day

10:00 Christmas Morning Mass

No Religious Ed. or Youth Group

Parish Offices will be closed from

December 25-January 1

ALTAR SERVERS SATURDAY 4:00/Dec 30 N. Holody W. Kummet

SUNDAY 8:00/Dec 31 J.P. DeJak

SUNDAY 10:30/Dec 31 J. Mesch P. Schloss J. Schloss J, Schloss MONDAY 10:00/Jan 1 N. Holody W. Kummet D. Franzonello A. Russell

Why are Dasher and

Dancer always taking

coffee breaks?

Because they are

Santa‘s star bucks!

OLD ST. PATRICK PARISH DIRECTORY

Family of the Month Our Family for the

Month of Dec. is

the Willacker

Family. The

Willacker’s is

involved in many

ministries in our

parish. Steve is

a 3rd degree Knight, on the Finance

Committee and also an Extraordinary

Minister of Holy Communion. He has

helped direct traffic for our cemetery

procession and helped with the Witness of

Hope Campaign. He can be counted on to

help when the Knights ask him. Marti is an

Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion,

a reader at Masses, Mass collection

counter and volunteers where needed with

the Ladies Society functions. Mary

Catherine and Maggie are part of the choir

and also are cantors. Congratulations and

may God Bless You Steve and your family

for your dedicated service to Old

St. Patrick’s Church.

Join The Knights Contact Grand Knight, Brian Heldt at

734-426-0857 or GK10963@mikofc.org.

Knight of the Month Our Knight of the Month

for December is Michael

Laird. Michael is a 3rd

Degree Knight and the

Financial Secretary for our

council. He is one of the

leaders of our Pancake

breakfasts by purchasing

all the food and helping out from the begin-

ning to the end. Michael has helped with

the Rectory Kitchen, Tom Dawson’s Shed,

Soccer Challenge, Christmas Card Sales

and Witness to Hope Projects. He plays

a mean guitar at our Beads & Brew events.

Michael is also a Lector, an Extraordinary

Minister of Holy Communion and takes

Communion monthly to the residents at

Regency Nursing Home. He brings one of

the nursing home residents to Sunday

Mass. Thank you Michael for your

dedicated service to Old St. Pat’s.

Monthly Rosary

Our monthly rosary will be prayed on

Sunday, December 31st after the 8am

Mass. All parishioners are invited to pray

the rosary with us!

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

IN SERVICE TO ONE, IN SERVICE TO ALL

Reconciliation Tuesday 5:30PM - 6:40PM Saturday 2:30PM or by appointment; don’t hesitate to call for an appointment!

Weekend Schedule for Holy Mass Saturday 4:00PM Sunday 8:00AM & 10:30AM

EF/TLM Latin Mass 2nd Sunday of Month 12:30pm Weekday Schedule for Holy Mass First Saturday of the month 9:00AM Tues. 7:00PM Wed. & Fri. 8:15AM

Thur. 8:30AM

Eucharistic Adoration of Our Lord Tues. 5:30PM– 6:45PM First Friday 7:00PM– Saturday 8:00AM

Baptisms Baptism Preparation classes as required by the

Diocese of Lansing may be scheduled to accom-

modate your family’s needs. Contact Dcn. Frank-

Joseph Papp, 734-426-1070 or email

fjpapp@umich.edu to arrange date, time and

location. Godparents are encouraged to

attend. There is no fee for the class. Marriages Arrangements are to be made at least nine months prior to the wedding. Funerals Funeral arrangements are made by contacting the parish office. Parish Registration Contact the office for a registration form.

Office hours Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM Office: 734-662-8141 Emergency: 734-663-1851 Address: 5671 Whitmore Lake Rd, Ann Arbor, 48105 Website: www.stpatricka2.org E-mail: info@stpatricka2.org

Parish Administrator Fr. Thomas Wasilewski (#24) twasilewski@stpatricka2.org Deacon Dcn. Jim Thibodeau, jthibodeau@stpatricka2.org Dcn. Frank-Joseph Papp, fjpapp@umich.edu Parish Secretary Debbie Welch (#21) debbie@stpatricka2.org Director of Faith Formation James Bogdan (#30) jbogdan@stpatricka2.org Director of Music Jim Renfer music@stpatricka2.org Facilities Manager Mark Westhoven mwesthoven@stpatricka2.org Knights of Columbus Council 10963 Brian Heldt GK10963@mikofc.org OSP Ladies Society Jeanine Jahant jmjahant@gmail.com Altar Server Coordinator Jennifer Holody ospaltarservers@gmail.com Prayer Requests ospintentions@gmail.com

Contributions: Weekend of December 17, 2017: $8,847.63

Bulletin announcements must be submitted in writing to bulletin@stpatricka2.org by Monday at noon and will be edited at the discretion of the editor or pastor.

Restock our Food Pantry! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our food pantry. We need to restock! In particular, we could use:

spaghetti sauce oatmeal (family size boxes) Jelly and syrup saltine crackers rice powdered milk canned beans, Chef Boyardee cans canned beef stew Thank you to Cindy Bruggner, our new food pantry organizer.

REGENCY NURSING HOME

Mass & Music Join us at 2:30 on Wednesday December 27th, for Holy Mass and Christmas music at Regency. After Mass the Deemer family will lead us in music with the residents. All are welcome.

Fish Fry! There will be a fish fry planning meeting Jan. 7th, after the 8am Mass. All are welcome to attend!

Thank you To all who gener-ously gave of their time and resources participating in this Year’s Giving Tree. Please remember to continue to pray for the needy and less fortunate in our community. Thank you to Sara and Sophie DiPirro for all of your hard work and organization!

December 24th and Dec. 31st: No Youth Group, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! January 7th, 6:30-8pm: Let's continue our discussion of Catholicism Among Christianity. We'll go

through the rest of the denominations particularly Calvinism, Anglicanism, and Eastern Orthodox.

March For Life: We have a bus going to the March for Life! We will be leaving

on Jan18th at 6:00am and returning on Jan 20th at 10pm. It will cost $100, plus

money for meals. Registration forms and more info are available on the Youth

Group page of our website! (Click on “Faith Formation” then “Youth Group”)

2018 Sacrament Dates

Reconciliation: Parent Meeting Jan. 14th Interviews Jan. 27th and Feb. 3rd First Reconciliation Feb. 17th, 10am

First Holy Communion: Parent Meeting Mar. 11th Interviews March 10th & Mar. 17th First Communion Apr. 29, 1pm

Confirmation Confirmation April 30th, 7pm

Religious Education

Religious Education classes will not meet on December 24th or the 31st. We hope you enjoy this time off with your family and look forward to starting classes again in the new year. Merry Christmas!

First Reconciliation Info

There is a meeting for parents of children receiving First Reconciliation on January 14th at 9:15am in the Parish Hall. Interviews to review each child's candidacy will occur on January 27th and February 3rd. You can sign up for an interview by calling the parish office.

Man Cannot Live Without Love!

“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.” Redemptor Hominis St. John Paul II

Jesus never ceases to seek out the lost, to call home the stray, to comfort the frightened, and to bind up the wounded. Spend time with the One who loves you the most – Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament! Jesus desires to set you free and to spread the balm of His

Mercy over you. Come home to Jesus! Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament begins at 7PM on Friday, January 5th with Adoration throughout the night until Benediction on Saturday, January 6th at 8:30AM. Please sign up at the back of the church. We need more than one adorer each hour.

Daily Mass Schedule

Please note: There will be no Public Mass Thursday,

December 28th or Friday, December 29th.

Mary, Mother of God

January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God. Mass will

be at 10:00am on January 1.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

To register visit formed.org and put in our Parish Code: W9M3Q6 If it is your first time you will need to create a free account with your email.

We Have Purchased a Gift for You! We are pleased to give you a free subscription to formed.org

Entertaining movies, enlightening programs, inspiring talks, and

A great selection of popular ebooks– all just a click away!

Mass is OFFERED FOR

Carlotta Krebs

Laurie Crane

Matthew Crane

George & Theresa

Pariseau

Carlo & Laura Segala

Val Dreffs

Marcia Dreffs

Cyril Dreffs

Sr. Patricia O’Toole

Edith Heney

Helen Rojewski

Victoria Krzesowik

Adam Rojewski

Frank Krzesowik

Donna Rutledge

Angelo Fileccia

Mr. & Mrs. C. Burnett

George H. Poleo

Leslie Poleo

Jordan Klee

Qi-Xuan “Justin” Tang

Laura Burns

John Kuhnke

Benjamin Pierce

Miles Roberts

Henry Atlas Goodman

John Francis Keenan

The Mass was REQUESTED BY

Mr. Daniel Krebs

Mr. & Mrs. James Beckman

Mr. & Mrs. James Beckman

Mr. & Mrs. George Pariseau

Mr. & Mrs. George Pariseau

Mrs. Shirley Dreffs

Mrs. Shirley Dreffs

Mrs. Shirley Dreffs

Mrs. Shirley Dreffs

Mrs. Shirley Dreffs

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Krzesowik

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Krzesowik

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Krzesowik

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Krzesowik

Mr. Philip Rutledge

Mrs. Josephine Fileccia

Mrs. Nancy Keogh

Mr. Mark Poleo

Mr. Mark Poleo

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. Kord Kozma

Mr. & Mrs. John Keenan

Mr. & Mrs. John Keenan

The Memorial Mass for the intentions of those who donated money for the

Christmas Flowers is January 14 at the 10:30am Mass.

M E M O R I A L M A S S

In addition to the people for whom the Mass is offered, the following have also contributed to the donation for flowers.

Mrs. Ann Mary Phillps

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Bingham

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Holody

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Parfitt

Mr. & Mrs. John Tuttle

Mr. Paul Malocha

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Skrobola

Mr. & Mrs. Mark Neuenschwander

Mr. Thomas Paris

Mass is OFFERED FOR

Sr. Pat O’Toole

Josephine Lowe

William Tummonds

Art Kuzniar

Ed & Effie Bouak

Robert Grostick Sr.

Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas S. Piklor

Owen, Ian, Aiden, & Augie

Scanlon

Cecelia Eldersveld

John Kennedy

Anna DiPirro

Vincent J. Mangini

Valentine Dreffs

Lori Eldersveld

Kim DeLellis

Kathleen Todaro

Stanley Staron

Nick Bruggner

James Fox

George Fox

Sue Fox

Jean Patton

James Pattion

Mike Breslin

Breslin Family

Alice Rita Keenan

Sigrid U. Goodman

The Mass was REQUESTED BY

Mrs. Mary Tummonds

Mrs. Mary Tummonds

Mrs. Mary Tummonds

Mrs. Theresa Kuzniar

Mrs. Zelma Grostick

Mrs. Zelma Grostick

Mr. Nicholas Piklor

Mr. & Mrs. Justin Scanlon

Mr. & Mrs. Justin Scanlon

Gladys Kennedy

Mr. & Mrs. Paul DiPirro

Mr. & Mrs. Don Jesuele

Ms. Linda Tite

Mr. & Mrs. David Eldersveld

Mr. & Mrs. David Eldersveld

Mrs. Eva June Staron

Mrs. Eva June Staron

Mrs. Cindy Bruggner

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Fox

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Fox

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Fox

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Fox

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Fox

Mrs. Carole Breslin

Mrs. Carole Breslin

Mr. & Mrs. John Keenan

Mr. & Mrs. John Keenan