Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to introduce to you our new Contemporary Music Leader who will be leading our worship music at the Sunday 5:30pm Mass!
Her name is Stephanie Urban, and she and her family have been parishioners here at
St. Andrew Parish since 2019. She is very enthusiastic and excited to help all of us pray through music and to continue developing the talents of the many gifted musicians we have here at St. Andrew.
Stephanie studied viola performance and music education at The University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor. As a classical violist, she regularly performs chamber music and liturgical music in the Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit area.
She has been active in parish music ministry for over 15 years, and she has been teaching music for 20 years. Prior to joining our Saint Andrew Parish, she directed the 9 am Sunday Mass Contemporary Ensemble at St. John the Baptist Church in Ypsilanti for 7 years.
She is currently Director of Strings at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Ann Arbor, where she directs ensembles of young string musicians. She loves to watch her
students grow in their love of Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith through their
participation in music ministry.
Stephanie has participated in St. Andrew’s music ministry as a string quartet member, and at occasional Sunday Masses. She has also provided music once a month at our Wednesday evening Mass, and at the Stations of the Cross this past Lent. She has also offered her gifts at various other parish events including helping with choir
rehearsals as a piano accompanist.
Stephanie is delighted to be joining the St. Andrew parish staff as the Contemporary Music Leader and you will get to see – and hear – her this coming Sunday with the rest of our amazing Contemporary Music Team at the Sunday evening Mass!!!
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Bishop Boyea will be coming here on Monday night to confirm 52 of our young daughters and sons from both St. Andrew and Immaculate Conception parishes. This will be a great event and so very important!
The grace needed to remain strong in the faith in these days and times seems to be greater than ever.
I don’t think this is because people are necessarily more evil than in the past. One thing I do perceive is that more and more people are in deeper despair than ever before. I believe wholeheartedly that this is because we know, less and less, who we are and what our value is. To know this is to know where we come from: we come from God.
With a more and more prevalent lack of faith in God, the world seeks to find alternative sources of our value. No alternative can be found. The world can’t give us our value, others can’t do it, even we ourselves have not the power.
The One who created us holds the key to the value of his own creation. People always have a chance to know their value as long as there is someone to tell them of the key: Jesus is the Key. And these young sisters and brothers are the new storytellers of Jesus and of his love for all the people of his creation.
Please join me in praying for them, as their generation is so much more desperate than many others that have come before them. Yet, no less loved are they than any other generation in the past or in the future! May God bless and keep them forever!