Category Archives: Religion

The Arm of St. Jude the apostle coming to Sacred Heart Oct. 9

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(Courtesy, Treasures of the Church)



By Cris Greer

WKTV Managing Editor

greer@wktv.org



In a rare, one-of-a kind event, the arm of St. Jude the apostle is coming to the Diocese of Grand Rapids on Monday, Oct. 9, specifically, Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish.

“I feel very excited about this particular relic coming,” said Michael Tober, director of Religious Education for Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish, and a parishioner since 2003. “If my feeling of excitement were a number between 1 to 10 with 10 being the strongest, my feeling would be a 10. This excitement would be similar to what it would feel like just before meeting a family member again after being separated from them for a long time.”


Veneration of the relic begins at 1 p.m. with a mass in honor of St. Jude at 7 p.m, and the visit ends at 10 p.m. The relic will be in the main sanctuary of Sacred Heart, 151 Garfield Ave. SW, Grand Rapids. Parking is limited, so it’s expected that people will park on side streets around the Church.

Sacred Heart is the only Grand Rapids stop

From September 2023 to May 2024, the arm of Saint Jude Thaddeus will be on pilgrimage in the United States, making stops in 100 cities. Sacred Heart is the only Grand Rapids stop. (Source: The Apostle of the Impossible website)

First time leaving Italy

Sponsored by the Tour of the Relics of St. Jude the Apostle, this is the first time the arm has left Italy.


Michael Tober, director of Religious Education at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. (Courtesy, Michael Tober)

“The Vatican does release certain relics from time to time so Christians around the world may venerate them,” Tober said. “However, these are always special occasions and not the norm. This relic has never left Rome, so in that sense given how long it has been there it is rare.”


Tober said the arm also will stop in the Lansing Diocese and in several Detroit locations. Click here for more information about St. Jude and for the U.S. tour schedule.


Known as the Apostle of the Impossible, St. Jude is revered for his unwavering dedication and steadfast faith. Millions have experienced his intercession in times of adversity and need.


How many people is Sacred Heart anticipating?

“Our expectation is somewhere around 5,000 visitors between 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.,” said Tober, who holds a degree in theology from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, as well as a Master Certification in Catechetics in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

Relics on display at Sacred Heart

Tober said other relics are on display at Sacred Heart throughout the year.

“Sacred Heart has relics of St. John the Apostle, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Thomas Aquinas, to name a few,” Tober explained. “They are located in a reliquary in our baptistry. First class relics comprise of either bone, hair, skin or blood of a saint.”  

GVSU summit explores non-violent solutions to political flashpoints

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Hard News, Our Cities, Religion, Upcoming Events

By K.D. Norris
WKTV Contributor

Former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer

What do former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer and current Kent County Health Department’s Administrative Health Officer Dr. Adam London have in common?

Both have seen first-hand the dangers of political polarization in today’s society. Both will be offering West Michigan Perspectives on Political Violence as speakers at the Progressive/Conservative Summit 2023 presented by Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University.

The Hauenstein Center event, presented as part of its Common Ground Initiative, will take place Wednesday, April 19, from 2-8 p.m. at GVSU’s Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are required and available here.

 

Meijer and London will talk on their experiences as leaders working in our current divisive sociopolitical world, and likely the costs they paid for their actions on political flashpoint issues. Meijer, who was one of a few Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, lost his his re-election bid for the Michigan 3rd Congressional District, which was won by Democrat Hillary Scholten. London received repeated verbal attacks and even personal threats for his department’s handling of COVID-19 restrictions.

Kent County Health Department’s Administrative Health Officer Dr. Adam London

“We believe that all elected, appointed, and professional government officials at all levels of government should be able to carry out their duties without threat of violence against themselves or their friends, families, and colleagues,” said Kahler Sweeney, Common Ground Initiative program manager. “While we all have public servants who we disagree with, we must advocate against violence as a means of political action.

“By sharing the stories of these elected officials, we hope to showcase the harm that political violence has on our political system and learn what can be done to promote a politics of nonviolence.”

In addition to Meijer and London, other speakers at the event include Professor Javed Ali, former Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent and former Michigan State Rep. David LaGrand.

“Of course, there is the political divide we are all familiar with, that between Democrats and Republicans, progressivism and conservatism, but we also recognize the diversity of ideologies that our speakers and audience represent,” Sweeney said. “This event will offer insight on the topic of political polarization and political violence from various viewpoints, including practitioners and scholars, Democrats and Republicans, and a diversity of lived experiences.”

Schedule of speakers/topics/events

2-3 p.m. — Contemporary Political Violence & New Policy Approaches with Professor Javed Ali 

3:30-4:30 p.m. — Public Service in Polarized Times with former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) (virtual) and former State Rep. David LaGrand (D-MI)

4:30-6 p.m.— Reception with hors d’oeuvres and beverages

6-7:30 p.m. — West Michigan Perspectives on Political Violence with former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) and Dr. Adam London

7:30-8:15 p.m. — Community conversations and dessert 

Virtual attendance available

To attend a digital alternative for the summit visit gvsu.edu/hc for the livestream that starts about 30 minutes before the event or join via a zoom link, which is provided in the confirmation email after registering.

The Common Ground Initiative, according to its website, reinforces the Hauenstein Center’s mission to “raise up a new generation of men and women committed to the ethical, effective leadership and public service that Ralph W. Hauenstein exemplified throughout his life.”

LPGA chaplain set to visit Marge’s Donut Den Wednesday

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By WKTV Staff
joanne@wktv.org

Cris Stevens, the chaplain for the LPGA

As the Meijer ladies Charity Classic gets underway this week, the Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series will have LPGA Chaplain Cris Stevens as its guest this Wednesday.

Stevens has served as the chaplain for the Ladies Professional Golf Association since 1982 and will be sharing stories from her role in the LPGA and how she counsels, supports, and ministers to the world’s best professional golfers. She will present her program on Wednesday, June 15, at 2 p.m at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW. 

Tom Sibley, one of the organizers of the Mr. Sid’s programs, noted this is the second time that Stevens has visited the group. Stevens stopped by last year just before the Meijer LPGA Classic.

The daughter of Sid Lenger (who the group is named after), Lavoone Ritzema, had met Stevens while she worked with the LPGA and invited her to speak. Stevens presentation was so popular that organizers decided to invite her back.

The program begins at 2 p.m. at Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW. There is a hymn sing at 1:45 p.m. The program is free.

Coming up for the Mr. Sid’s Wednesday Afternoon Video Series will be USS Silversides Museum Executive Director Peggy Maniates on July 20. and Grand Haven Musical Fountain Engineer and Board Member Terry Stevens on Aug. 17. 

Fountain Street Church has history, and legendary acoustics, as 2022 concert series begins with Waxahatchee Feb. 14

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Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) will bring songs from her new album, “Saint Cloud”, to be released on March 27, to Fountain Street Church’s historic Sanctuary. (Supplied/Artist website)

By WKTV Staff

The early U2 band poster in the “Green Room” at Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church is not there because the historic church once had a reverend who dug the boys from Dublin, the band actually played there in 1981.

The wide variance of concerts held at Fountain Street Church: U2 and the Vienna Boys Choir. (WKTV)

The walls of the Green Room, back stage where guests often await shows, are filled with evidence of the musicians, comedians and just flat interesting people who have visited the famous stain-glass windowed, pipe-organ dominated sanctuary of the church.

And that history of outside entertainers hitting the stage at Fountain Street will continue Monday, Feb. 14, with Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) undoubtedly bringing songs from her new album, “Saint Cloud”, to be released on March 27. (The 7 p.m. show will have Madi Diaz opening.)

Fountain Street Church has served as a platform for a variety of performers since 1928 when senior minister Alfred Wesley Wishart debated Clarence Darrow over the topic “Is There a General Purpose in the Universe?”

Over the years, speakers such as Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt and Malcolm X have given talks. Notable musicians who have performed in the sanctuary range from Duke Ellington to Frank Zappa, from Alison Krauss to B.B. King.

Fountain Street Church is the venue only, not the promoter, of the entertainment scheduled — which will include comedian Fortune Feimster (currently seen on NBC series “Kenan”) visiting as part of Gilda’s Laughfest on March 18 as well as later shows by Needtobreathe and Welcome to the Night Vale.

Needtobreathe, with Patrick Droney, is scheduled for May 17. Welcome to the Night Vale, with Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin, is scheduled for June 13.

For more information about all shows, visit here.

Take a visit to Waxahatchee

Waxahatchee’s new album, “Saint Cloud” is “an unflinching self-examination,” according to the band’s promotional material.
 

“From a moment of reckoning in Barcelona to a tourist trap in Tennessee to a painful confrontation on Arkadelphia Road, from a nostalgic jaunt down 7th Street in New York City to the Mississippi Gulf, Crutchfield creates a sense of place for her soul-baring tales, a longtime staple of her storytelling. This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well.”
 

Waxahatchee is a project fronted Katie Crutchfield, a singer and songwriter from Birmingham, Ala. She debuted the project in 2011 and has released three critically acclaimed albums under its name since 2012.

Since the age of 15 Crutchfield played in indie rock bands with her twin sister, Allison, the first was called The Ackleys, and the second was called P.S Elliot. That union and band(s) came to an end in 2011.

Around the same time Cruchfield needed to get away from the world, so she went to her parents holiday home in her native state of Alabama. She spent her week there writing the songs that would make up her debut as Waxahatchee, “American Weekend”.

“Katie Crutchfield’s southern roots are undeniable,” it states on her website. “The name of her solo musical project Waxahatchee comes from a creek not far from her childhood home in Alabama and seems to represent both where she came from and where she’s going.”

For more information on Waxahatchee, visit here. For a video visit here.

Guiding Light opens an ‘Iron House’ in Kentwood as part of growing addiction recovery program

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At the opening of Guiding Light’s Iron House, sober-living apartments, in the City of Kentwood in late January, Guiding Light Board Chair John Harrington provides opening remarks and Esther Yff-Prins, one of the Guiding Light spiritual directors, gives the blessing of the Iron House. (Supplied)

By WKTV Staff

ken@wktv.org


Guiding Light, a Grand Rapids non-profit that helps men struggling with addiction and homelessness to return to society, announced this week the opening of its sixth Iron House as two of its clients moved into the sober-living apartments in the City of Kentwood.


Clients, staff, board members and volunteers gathered for a private blessing and tour of the recently remodeled building on Jan. 28.

The new Iron House comes at a time of increased demand for addiction recovery services, according to the announcement. Since the beginning of 2021, Guiding Light has experienced increases in the number of inquiries and program enrollments for its Recovery program.

The opening of a new Guiding Light Iron House in the City of Kentwood. (Supplied)

Able to accommodate seven men, the four-unit apartment building increases the nonprofit’s capacity to house men “as they transition back into the mainstream of society after successfully completing the Foundation phase of Guiding Light’s Recovery program,” according to the announcement.

In total, Guiding Light can house a total of 42 men in its six Iron House locations.

The apartments are designed for community-oriented sober living and are reserved exclusively for men who have finished four to six months of intensive residential treatment that combines evidence-based practices, life-coaching, therapy, support groups, spiritual direction and other resources to equip men to stay sober and reengage with their family, friends and community.

Background on Iron House  program

The Iron House model has proven to be a “key component” in setting clients up for success to achieve long-term recovery, according to the announcement. Guiding Light has found 76 percent of men who move to Iron House reach at least one year of abstinence-based sobriety.

Guiding Light Board Chair John Harrington provides opening remarks at the opening of a City of Kentwood Iron House. (Supplied)

“We want to give men the best opportunity possible for living a healthy, connected life in recovery,” Recovery Director Brian Elve said in supplied material. “That’s why we created a structure with Iron House that allows men to stay connected with the support offered by Guiding Light.

“We recognize it takes a year or more to change the physical structure of the brain and its response to addiction. Iron House allows for truly comprehensive, long-term, transformative care and we are excited to invest in our community this way.”

After completing the “Foundation” phase of recovery, Guiding Light clients who are interested in continuing their recovery journeys at Iron House are able to apply for the opportunity. If accepted, clients are able to move into an apartment once they have secured full-time employment.

In addition to abstinence-based sobriety, Iron House residents focus on honing important life skills. Residents all have jobs. They buy and prepare their own food, pay their own bills and engage with each other in a communal-living environment.

“They look after and support each other, practicing community and providing support to one another with a common goal of creating lives worth staying sober for,” according to the announcement.

Programs, goals of Guiding Light

While living more independently, residents still have access to the support and resources of the recovery program, such as the opportunity to attend classes or support groups, participate in a spiritual direction group, work with a life coach and give back to the community through service.

Not only has Iron House been a key part of helping residents maintain their sobriety, it has also generated profits to ensure Guiding Light’s programming can remain free to participants, according to the announcement.

Funds from Iron House and The Job Post, Guiding Light’s two social enterprises, benefit clients while also aiding in the financial sustainability of the nonprofit’s programs. The programs are otherwise entirely funded by donations and grants.

Founded in 1929 as the West Fulton St. Mission, Guiding Light has grown into a recovery and reengagement community designed to “help those living at society’s margins fulfill their God-given potential,” according to supplied information.

For more information about Guiding Light’s recovery program, call 616-451-0236, ext. 23 and “take a confidential first step.” Learn more at guidinglightworks.org.

Local faith, medical leaders rally behind healthcare workers, stress dark COVID days remain but will pass

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The Rev. Khary Bridgewater and Kent County Chief Inclusion Officer Teresa Branson, at left, led the Monday, Dec. 20, “Prayer Service for Health Care Workers” and pandemic awareness gathering. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacts the lives of all Kent County residents regardless of race, ethnicity and faith — although current statistics make clear it impacts the unvaccinated to a more serious degree.

It is not surprising, therefore, that speakers at a Monday, Dec. 20, “Prayer Service for Health Care Workers”, attended by county clergy, the leaders of local hospital  networks, and Kent County officials, stressed three things: appreciation to frontline healthcare, the non-discriminatory nature of the virus, and the need to get vaccinated as an individual’s part in keeping themselves and their neighbors safe.

The prayer service was led by several local clergy. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

“One of the realities that we are seeing — and I just came off the hospital floor — is the fact that there is not sector or section of this community that is not being affected by COVID,” Rev. Khary Bridgewater said to WKTV at the gathering at  Mercy Health Saint Mary’s downtown Grand Rapids. “Young. Old. Regardless of ethnicity. Regardless of creed … We are all in the same boat. We are all dealing with the same impact.

“Everyone is having the same sort of regrets as they struggle with this virus, particularly those at the end of life and they realize this was an avoidable situation. It doesn’t matter who you were when you get to a hospital bed. We are working very hard with every member of our community to stress the simple truth that COVID is dangerous.”

The gathering and prayer service was led by the Kent County Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Team, formerly known as the Kent County COVID-19 Task Force). The gathering’s stated goal was to “stand with our front-line medical workers, hospital staff and public health officials, as well as their families, who are sacrificing daily to provide the care that our community needs.”

Leading the gathering was Rev. Bridgewater, facilitator of the Kent County Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Team, and by his side was Teresa Branson, Kent County Chief Inclusion Officer, who as been a leader of the group since its inception. The pandemic-aware gathering was limited to local media, a few other people, and several persons remaining in their cars in the parking lot location.

The gathering also highlighted numerous churches and faith-based organizations “coming together to raise community awareness of the current situation in our hospitals; issue a public statement of commitment; and pray and bless our health care personnel and their families.”

Among the local medical leaders present were Dr. Matt Biersack, president of Mercy Health Saint Mary’s; Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health; Kent Riddle, CEO of Mary Free Bed; and Dr. Ronald Grifka, chief medical officer of University of Michigan Health-West.

“In this season of hope, when so many workers turn to their home, their families, their traditions, remember many healthcare workers will be working around the clock taking care of their patients,” Grifka said to the gathering. “That selfless spirt embodies what we celebrate this time of the year. I ask that no matter what your beliefs, please keep our healthcare workers in your hearts.”

At a Monday, Dec. 20, “Prayer Service for Health Care Workers”, Kent County clergy, leaders of local hospital  networks, and county officials gathered. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)

The Kent County Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Team, according to supplied information, is a group of faith-based and non-profit community leaders that have partnered with the Kent County Health Department and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office.

“Together, they have reduced the spread of COVID-19, provided space for church vaccination clinics and informed the community about the vaccine,” according to the supplied information. But in doing so, thy have also heard “the concerns of our hospitals who are beyond capacity and our health care professionals who are weary and overburdened.”

In response to the current pandemic situation, faith leaders from across the city and the county also pledged to eliminate all non-essential, indoor gatherings; restrict essential gatherings to less than 50 people per 2,000 square feet; require all attendees at indoor gatherings to wear a mask and abide by social distancing and COVID-19 hygiene; and — maybe most importantly — to encourage all members of our community to get COVID-19 vaccination and any appropriate booster shots.