Celebrating Mass honoring Martin Luther King Jr.'s accomplishments, Bishop Quinn tells faithful to ‘sow the seeds of justice’
DEARBORN ─ Young people across the Archdiocese of Detroit engaged in service projects over the weekend, doing their part to build a more just and equal world as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned.
Volunteers battled frigid temperatures to gather donated food items, make quilts and blankets and create greeting cards for expecting mothers in need.
Young people from Divine Child and Sacred Heart parishes in Dearborn collaborated on a Martin Luther King Day service project Jan. 18, organizing donations to Mary’s Mantle, Redford Interfaith Relief, and Optalis Health and Rehabilitation Center in Dearborn Heights.
Julia Wieleba-Milkie, director of faith formation and coordinator of youth ministry at Sacred Heart Parish, told Detroit Catholic the two parishes gathered their middle school students together in four rotational stations.
“We started them on making baby bags for Mary’s Mantle," Wieleba-Milkie said. "They painted or drew messages, baby messages, welcoming messages that are going to Mary’s Mantle for their clients.”
The students also organized spice bags at Redford Interfaith Relief for clients to come in and shop while picking up food, and made Valentine’s Day cards for patients at Optalis Health.
“We’re spending the day helping out mothers with gift bags and the poor with food donations,” said Khalil Ammar of Divine Child Parish. “What inspired me is just thinking about, 'What if I were in their position?' Then I’d want people to help me out. So I’m here to help other people."
Ammar said his favorite part of the afternoon was “making the bags (for the expecting mothers), because we got to be creative with them.”
Jenna Zahreddine of Sacred Heart Parish said volunteering felt extra special in the buildup to Martin Luther King Day.
“I think today feels different to give back because ... we are honoring a man of God who preached to the world,” Zahreddine said. “It inspired me because of how MLK was always an example of God; especially with what we’re doing today, helping moms who don’t have all they need to give birth, making it easier for them to have their babies.”
Bishop John M. Quinn, the retired bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minn. (2008-22), and former Detroit auxiliary bishop (2003-08), celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 20. Bishop Quinn preached about how King followed the tradition of many of the great prophets God sent to His people, calling on them to rectify their ways and build a world closer to God’s vision.
“Today we honor Dr. King, because he was one of those prophets that the Lord raised so he could speak the truth and speak about God’s vision for humanity, and how it was so different than how the world was expressing itself and separating people,” Bishop Quinn said.
Bishop Quinn reflected on the discrimination and racial segregation that plagued many parts of the country in the 1950s and '60s, including within the Catholic Church, where some parishes divided the congregation during the distribution of Holy Communion.
“Dr. King knew that is not the vision God has for humanity; separate is not equal,” Bishop Quinn said. “So Dr. King began the movement. Could you imagine the costliness of that movement? To go ahead and publicly organize, to speak against the system and not only that very overt racism, but to address it in its more silent forms. And yet he, along with many others, including those gathered here today, commit themselves to making our world better.”
King’s message of nonviolence, of love conquering hate, traces its roots to the biblical prophets who called on the people of God to reform, even if those prophets knew they wouldn’t see the world God had envisioned in their own lifetime, Bishop Quinn said.
“Every prophet knows they sow the seed for a harvest they won’t see,” Bishop Quinn said. “They sow seeds for a future, for fruit that they will never be able to have.
“Dr. King set in motion for us as Americans, for others of goodwill, how to live as brothers and sisters,” he added. “It’s costly. But anything worthwhile is, and certainly there is nothing more worthwhile than the kingdom of God, to see the world as God sees it, and try and bring about that vision.”
Bishop Quinn said Christian witness means caring for one's brothers and sisters, welcoming the stranger, overcoming hatred and seeking the justice and dignity of every person.
“Brothers and sisters, no matter what our gestures, no matter where we go or what we do, we have to be good to one another and plant seeds,” Bishop Quinn said. “Plant seeds of goodness, justice, seeds of truthfulness. We may not see the harvest, but that harvest will come, and that’s Jesus' promise. And he keeps his promises.”
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