Orchard Lake Schools Faith. Education. tradition SS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary St. Mary s Preparatory The Polish Mission JANUARY 2016 CAMPUS COMMUNICATOR Message from the Chancellor We live in times that seem to have lost a sense of the sacred. In September, stores are already displaying Christmas merchandise (or as many merchants now call it, holiday merchandise, since they have given in to the pressures of society in the name of political correctness). On December 26, you already see Christmas trees being discarded and decorations being taken down because Christmas is over. Well, it is NOT over! The celebration of Christmas for Catholics begins on Christmas Day and lasts until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (which this year falls on January 10). Growing up in a strong Polish-American community in New York instilled in me a respect for customs and traditions. For Poles, in Poland and here in the United States, the Christmas season lasts until February 2. My mom never took down the tree until after that date. Another reason why the tree and decorations were left up was that we were awaiting the annual visit of one our parish priests to bless our home. After the feast of the Epiphany, the priests would begin their annual visitations (in Polish this is called kolęda or wizyta duszpasterska). The priests bless the homes of their parishioners praying with them that God keep the home and all that dwell therein free from all harm. They also sometimes update the parish census during the visit, see if there are any difficulties with which the family needs help, and quiz the children on the catechism and check their religion Rev. Msgr. Thomas C. Machalski, Jr. Chancellor-Rector notebooks. Then they mark the doorpost with the year and the initials of the Three Kings K- Kasper (Casper in English); M - Melchior; B - Balthazar commemorating the fact that the Three Kings visited the newborn Christ Child just as the priest visits his spiritual children. The marking on the doorpost looks like this: 20+K+M+B+16 I fondly remember waiting for the priest s visit and helping my mother and babcia (grandmother) prepare the table for his visit. The table would be covered with a white linen tablecloth, a crucifix, two candles and holy water. In many Polish-American communities, this custom has died out for various reasons. However, in the Polish parishes of the Diocese of Brooklyn, of which I am priest, we still carry out this beautiful custom. I also had the privilege to work in Poland for almost a year (9/87-5/88) and join the priests of the parish where I was in residence in blessing homes which was a great experience. If you wish, you can carry out this custom yourself by joining in prayer as a family, sprinkling holy water in each room of the house and then marking the doorpost as above with chalk. (On the feast of Epiphany, prayer sheets will be available for those who wish to take one home). Don t give in to the pressure of society and think that on December 26 Christmas is over (even though on that day the stores will already start to display Valentine s Day merchandise). Celebrate the Season of Christmas to the fullest! May your New Year and your home be filled with God s blessings of good health, peace and joy!
Happy New Year from all of us at The Polish Mission! We hope that you had a restful and joyous holiday season, from Thanksgiving to this new year of 2016. We have some exciting things coming down the pipeline and will keep you updated every month through this Campus Communicator publication. We have our Forbidden Art exhibition showing at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, from January 11 - February 21, 2016! There will be a special event commemorating the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 28, 2016 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and we would be honored if you would join us for this very special evening. For more event details, please visit our website, www.polishmission.com, email, prezevents@ madonna.edu or call (734) 432-5589. Recently, we finished up our yearly report and publication of The Mission. We are so excited to be able to share with you, in one document, the accomplishments and goings on of the past year. We sent these out to our Friends of Polish Mission members, but if you would like to see the online version of volume three, please email afollbaum@orchardlakeschools.com for the link to the pdf. Hope you enjoy reading over 100 pages of our recent work! We also have some very exciting news about a new grant opportunity for the PARI/genealogy department of The Polish Mission. Central Michigan University encouraged Ceil Jensen and Dr. Hal Learman to apply for a $2,500 grant through their Digital Media department. The Polish Mission has qualified as one of CMU s five finalists! This is an opportunity to have the Dziennik Polish - English Edition (from about 1970 to 1985) digitized and made available online for free. We need you to get your Twitter account ready! From January 16-26, 2016, we need you to show your support by voting via Twitter or by mailing a Michigan picture postcard to the Clarke. The newspaper that receives the most votes will be selected and included in the Clarke Library s online digital newspaper depository, found at condor.cmich.edu. For more information please visit our website, www.polishmission.com or connect with us on Facebook (The Polish Mission), Twitter (@polishmission) or Instagram (@polishmission).
In the Prep News... Alumni Night Fundraiser for Eaglet Family The Fasan Family (P 12) really needs our prayers right now but, just as important, they need our help. Alex, a graduate of the Prep Class of 2012, recently lost his mother, Nancy. Alex and his sister Toni are both in need of help for certain expenses to get through this rough patch. At the Alumni Appreciation Night on December 19, 2015, our Eaglet family came together in support of the Fasan family. A Chinese Raffle and other fundraising efforts took place and many showed their support for our family. Please contact the Alumni Association at 248-683-1759 for further information. Don t miss out on our next Alumni Night the Basketball night, on January 15, 2016, in honor of Jack Laddie LeBlanc. Back-to-Back State Champs Push repeat. That s exactly what the St. Mary s Prep varsity football team did at Ford Field on November 28, 2015 when the scoreboard confirmed a 29-12 Division 3 state championship victory against Chelsea. They (Chelsea) wanted to test me on that play and it probably wasn t the brightest idea, Eaglets junior cornerback Richie Bowens on his fourth-and-goal deflection in the end zone to seal the victory in the closing minutes of action. (MIPREPZONE)
SS. CYRIL & METHODIUS SEMINARY January 3rd: 9 am 1 pm JANUARY 2016 MASS SCHEDULE Fr. Flis-seminary Chapel msgr. machalski-shrine Chapel OlOl Fr. Flis-shrine Chapel OlOl January 10th: 9 am Fr. madey-polish-seminary Chapel msgr. machalski-shrine Chapel OlOl January 17th: 9 am January 24th: 10 pm Fr. lis-polish-seminary Chapel Fr. OblOy-shrine Chapel OlOl Fr. marczewski-polish-shrine Chapel OlOl msgr. machalski-shrine Chapel OlOl January 31st: 9 am Fr. lis-polish-seminary Chapel msgr. machalski-shrine Chapel OlOl SSCMS Seminarian Reflection When times are hard, God's infinity makes Him seem immeasurably far away. His infinite love is so big that, in encompassing all, I have been overlooked, lost amidst the crowd. Yet this is the opposite of what we mean by infinity and infinite love. Infinite love means: "God loves you as much as if He had none to love but you alone." (St. Alphonsus Liguori) Michael Connaughton
Did you know... Our Community is Committed to Service 65 Children and many of their parents were adopted by St. Mary s Preparatory to be outfitted with a brand new winter coat, hat and gloves thanks to the Thankful Hearts charity and its founder, Ruth Gonzales Montague (a former Prep Parent), who reached out to the OLSM community for help. A monetary donation was given as well. $1,000 Amount of money donated by OLSM students to the West Bloomfield Optimist Club holiday party for less fortunate children. $15,000 Value of the Polanica-Americana Research Institute s (PARI) scanning outreach project for the Archdiocese. Last spring, the records for the Holy Cross Cemetery were scanned and organized. Catholic Athletes for Christ unloaded donations and helped set up a Santa Shop for low-income families to shop for their children. Over ¾ of a Storage Unit was filled with clothing by the Prep community for distribution to St. Vincent de Paul for people in need. This collection, organized by Catholic Athletes for Christ as part of the Champions of Charity drive, was held in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Detroit. $1,500 Bag of the Shoe That Grows purchased by the St. Mary s Prep students and shipped to 100 children living in the poorest and most remote part of Haiti (www.shoethatgrows.org)