A busy and fruitful year for the Michigan Area featured a significant increase in membership, as reported at the Area’s well-attended annual meeting, held on Sunday, June 23.

A tradition for the Michigan Area is to hold the Area’s annual meeting to coincide with the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the Order’s patron. This year, 56 Dames, Knights, Auxiliaries, Associates, and others attended.

The annual meeting took place at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, following Mass in the school’s Chapel of the North American Martyrs. Mass was celebrated by Daniel Kennedy, SJ, a faculty member at the school, who is teaching a virtual course on eschatology to Michigan Area members.  Fr. Kennedy was assisted by server Santiago Smith, son of Andrea Smith, DM, and Michigan Area chair Andy Smith, KM.

Readings at Mass were proclaimed by Dan Sharkey, Member in Formation; Mary Lou Somerville, spouse of Bill Somerville, KM; and Carol Brewis, DM.  Orlando Benedict, KM, offered the Prayers of the Faithful. Andy Smith led the group in the Daily Prayer of the Order.

After Mass, while Michigan Area members, candidates, and guests enjoyed brunch in the school dining room, Andy Smith presented the Area’s annual report.

Thanks to a focused membership effort, including prospective member events in October 2023 and May 2024, the Michigan Area has eight new members in formation, representing 10 percent of all new members in the American Association. The Michigan Area has 15 new affiliates “and counting.” For the 2025 investiture, five new members are expected to join, with more anticipated before the end of the application period later this year, Andy Smith reported.

High points of the past year include a Detroit Catholic profile of Molly Modes, who joined the Michigan Area as an Auxiliary in 2023. As a child, she was diagnosed with segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a chronic kidney disease. In 2007, then-eight-year-old Molly and her mother joined the Michigan Area’s annual pilgrimage to Lourdes on the invitation of Hon. James Ryan, KM and his wife Mary Ryan. After the pilgrimage, her illness began to recede. She is now a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. This year, accompanied by her sisters Grace and Jane Modes, who are also Michigan Area Auxiliaries, she joined the pilgrimage again, this time to accompany other young malades seeking healing. (Read more at https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/local-woman-who-experienced-healing-as-a-child-returns-to-lourdes-17-years-later. )

On July 7, the Michigan Area will participate in another kind of pilgrimage: At the invitation of the University of Notre Dame, Michigan Area members will join an on-campus Eucharistic procession, preceded by Mass at the university’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart, as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The event is part of the Marian Route, the northern arm of the Pilgrimage, which will converge with the other three branches in Indianapolis on July 16 for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress. Visit https://www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org/.

Other highlights of the annual meeting:

• Past Michigan Area Co-Chairs Barbara Wilson, DM, and Robert Wilson, KM, have been named the National Hosts of the 2025 Lourdes Pilgrimage.
• The Michigan Area has expanded its social media presence, with pages on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) in addition to FaceBook.
• In January, Michigan Area members participated in the 2024 March for Life in Washington, D.C.
• Area Treasurer Patrick Fabian, KM, reported that nearly $20,000 in grants were awarded by the Michigan Area to Malta Dental and Medical Clinic, “Into the Fire” homeless ministry, St. Leo’s Soup Kitchen, and Wayne County Jail Outreach Ministry.
• Hospitaller Kathleen Mastrangelo, DM, reported that the Area continues to serve at St. Leo’s Soup Kitchen on the second and fourth Fridays of each month, plus the fifth Friday if there is one. The soup kitchen is located in the Center for the Works of Mercy in Detroit, which also houses the Malta Dental and Medical Clinic. Michigan Area members have served hundreds of hot, nutritious meals made from scratch to those in need since the soup kitchen reopened in January 2023.
• A new work of mercy for the Michigan Area is the Pope St. Paul VI Ministry, which has obtained over 130 plenary indulgences. The ministry is named after St. Pope Paul VI, not only because he is an important saint of the Order, but also because he helped revive the indulgence process as an act of charity. Through this ministry, Michigan Area members perform an important work of mercy while being reminded of the Church’s beautiful teachings about praying for the dead.
• Starting in January, the Area expanded its “First Saturday” events to offer the full First Saturday devotion requested by Our Lady, including Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the Rosary.
• The “Into the Fire” ministry, led by Patrick Jones, KM, and John Juriga, KM, continues to provide lunches to people living on the streets of Detroit.
• After an enforced hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, the Michigan Area is resuming its prison ministry, led by Associate Hon. Stephen Murphy. The ministry is being expanded to the Wayne County Jail in Detroit with the help of Associate Hon. Maura Corrigan.

The annual meeting closed with the awarding of service pins:

• Five years: John Apap, KM; Rev.. Msgr. Michael Lefevre, ChM; Tim Page, MD, KM; Hon. Robert Sisson, KM
• 10 years: Patrick Jones, KM
• 15 years: Linda Couzens, DM; Chris Rutkowski, KM; Barbara Wilson, DM; Robert Wilson, KM
• 20 years: Pat Conroy, KM
• 25 years: Dan Goodnow, KM; Lud Koci, KM
• 30 years: Lou Grech-Cumbo, KM; Peggy Stanton, DM
• 35 years: Dan Kelly, GCMOb

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