Many volunteers offer their time and talent creating a beautiful environment for our parish family. They offer their services decorating and maintaining the interior of the church. If you feel called to this ministry please contact the Parish Office at 547-6652.

Training is offered throughout the year for those who wish to become Eucharistic or Liturgical Ministers at St. Mary Parish. Schedules are created on a 1-month cycle and most ministers serve once or twice a month. Click here for the online training currently offered by the Diocese of Gaylord for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. If you feel called to serve God and His Church in this way, please contact the Parish Office at 547-6652.

https://encounterministries.regfox.com/april-2829-2023-school-of-prophetic-ministry-charlevoix-mi

Fr. Pierre Charlevoix Council 7172 Knights of Columbus

Our Council was chartered in 1978 and has operated successfully by providing good works in the Parish and community, assisting less fortunate members of the Parish and providing support to St. Mary’s Parish and School.

The Council is housed within St. Mary’s Parish in order to maintain integration with the needs of the Parish-at-large and provide day-to-day contact with the needs of the Parish family.

In concert with the Knights overall direction of “Building the Domestic Church” which was recently initiated across the United States, the Council will be focused upon activities to promote evangelization, strengthening the Parish, and growing the Knights Order.

“Building the Domestic Church” focuses upon helping Knights and their families reflect on the holiness of the universal Church, and building a stronger identity with the sacramental and social life of the Parish.

Central to this initiative is for Councils to assist and support Parish Priests in their service to God and the Parish, and to provide leadership and guidance to the Youth of the Parish.

Our Council has always provided a strong commitment to the Charlevoix community and the national objective is to become more focused upon the Parish as a community in and of itself.

Monthly meetings are held in the St. Mary Parish Center on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Pre-meeting Knights Rosary begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Council asks members to assist and support the many volunteer activities required to meet the objectives of Councils in concert with “Building the Domestic Church”.

Interested practicing Catholic men are encouraged to learn more about the Knights and our Council.  For additional information please see any Knight or contact the Grand Knight, Ken Plude 231-675-5347.

The Knights of Columbus- How it all started:

Late 19th century Connecticut was marked by the growing prevalence of fraternal benefit societies, hostility toward Catholic immigrants, and dangerous working conditions in factories that left many families fatherless. Recognizing a vital, practical need in his community, Father Michael J. McGivney, the 29-year-old assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., gathered a group of men at his parish on Oct. 2, 1881.   He proposed establishing a lay organization, the goal of which would be to prevent Catholic men from entering secret societies whose membership was antithetical to Church teaching, to unite men of Catholic faith, and to provide for the families of deceased members.

As a symbol that allegiance to their country did not conflict with allegiance to their faith, the organization’s members took as their patron Christopher Columbus – recognized as a Catholic and celebrated as the discoverer of America. Thanks to Father McGivney’s persistence, the Knights of Columbus elected officers in February 1882 and officially assumed corporate status on March 29.

In addition to the Order’s stated benefits, Catholic men were drawn to the Knights because of its emphasis on serving one’s Church, community, and family with virtue. Writing in The Columbiad in 1898, a year before he was elected supreme knight, Edward L. Hearn wrote that a Knight should live according to the virtues of loyalty, charity, courtesy and modesty, as well as “self-denial and careful respect for the feeling of others.” Fraternity and patriotism were added to the Knight’s founding principles of charity and unity in 1885 and 1900, respectively.

We look forward to having you become part of the world’s largest Catholic men’s organization.

If you would be interested in serving as a money counter after the weekend liturgies please contact the Parish Office at 231-547-6652.

If you would like to request prayers for yourself or a loved one, or if you would like to be one of the prayer chain members, please contact Barb Kluczynski 231-547-9757 or Anne Marie Slattery 231-330-6124.

Mission Statement:
To promote the spiritual growth of all women in the parish, share fellowship, and provide service for the needs of the church.

Meetings:
Second Tuesday of each month September thru June. Rosary at 8:00 a.m., Mass at 8:30 a.m., followed by business meeting and fellowship. An Advent luncheon is held in December and a Spring Breakfast Social is held in May.

Membership:
All women of the parish are members of the Rosary Altar Society. Active members are those that attend meetings on a regular basis.

Activities:
The Rosary Altar Society purchases all the hosts, wine, altar candles, and altar requests for the church. In order to help defray these expenses, a Bakeless Bake Sale is held each year, and fundraisers in the form of card parties and a soup cook-off have been held in the past two years. Members have made rosaries and helped raise money for mission trips. We refurbished the statue of Mary at the Bridge Street entrance to the church. Members perform two major cleanings in the spring and fall. We are also called upon to set up and serve refreshments for various church functions throughout the year.

Eucharistic ministers from St. Mary Parish take the Eucharist to the homebound and to Boulder Park Terrace and American House.

Holy Communion is distributed at Boulder Park every Friday and Mass is celebrated the third Wednesday of the month.

Holy Communion is distributed every Tuesday and Mass is celebrated the 2nd Wednesday of the month at American House.

If you are homebound and would like to receive the Eucharist, or if you would like to be a volunteer, please call Lill Left 231-547-5412.

If you or a family member are hospitalized and you wish to have a priest or a homebound minister visit you, please let the chaplain of the hospital know you are interested in receiving the Anointing of the Sick and/or Holy Communion.

Click here to register your child for our Children’s Faith Formation program.

Youth Group Registration Form

Starting Wednesday, September 14, our fall Adult Bible Study will begin:

Jesus, The Way, The Truth and the Life!

Jesus is our savior, our redeemer, our Lord, and our God. Our belief in Jesus is what makes us who we are as Catholics, as Christians, but do we really know him as we should? Is Jesus a part of your life, or is he at the center of your life as he should be? We invite you to make him the center of your life by joining us for Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, a 10-week video study program that explores the entirety of Jesus’ life and what he means for us as Catholics today. Participants will meet every week to view an engaging video presentation by Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Jeff Cavins and Edward Sri, followed by group discussion and fellowship. We will meet on Wednesday mornings at 9:30am and Thursday evenings at 6:30pm. For more information, contact Liz Gengle at egengle@stmaryschoolcharlevoix.org. To register, please click here for the registration form. We hope you can join us!