Next month our parish will hold its annual Lenten Mission beginning Sunday, March 22 and continuing through Tuesday, March 24, conducted by Fr. Michael Shea, C.M.   Topics to be covered on those nights are: first night, Prayer; second night, The Meaning and Importance of Fasting; third day’s topic will be Almsgiving: Compassionate Response to the Needs of Others.  Plan now to attend this mission.  Below is a brief bio of Fr. Michael.

Rev. Michael J. Shea, C.M. was born in Brooklyn, New York as the youngest of six children. After graduation from high school, he entered the Vincentian minor seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. He was ordained a priest in 1970 and for the next 13 years he taught in a number of high schools in Philadelphia.

From 1983 to 1993 Father Shea divided his time between Niagara University, NY and Auburn Univ., AL. In 1993 he was assigned to St. Lazare Retreat House in Spring Lake, MI and served there until his recent assignment to the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal.

Fr. Has recently become a regular writer for the Catholic Standard and & Times, and could be heard saying Mass on Holy Spirit Radio, 6ABC and being interviewed on His Sign Radio. Fr. Shea is a 2005 Life Achievement Award recipient of the Right to Life of Michigan and the current Associate Director of The Central Association of the Miraculous Medal.

In 2005, Fr. Shea received the Life Achievement Award from the right Life of Michigan. He also promoted devotion to Mary by having a life-sized statue to Mary’s apparition to St. Catherine Laboure sculpted and erected on the grounds of St. Lazare Retreat House. Bishop Walter Hurley, the bishop of Grand Rapids, dedicated the statue on July 18, 2007.

Fr. Shea will be responsible for promoting Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal & and Mary’s Miraculous Medal Family (the largest prayer apostolate in the world) throughout the United States. Fr. Shea is available to come to archdioceses, dioceses, parishes, Schools, Nursing facilities, other religious organizations to speak on the Special Devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the Miraculous Medal Novena.