St. Luke's United Church of Christ will hold a Service of Installation for the Rev. David B. Borthwick at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at the church, 25 Seminary Ave., Auburn. Borthwick has been serving as the pastor of St. Luke's since January. All are invited to attend this service. There will be a reception following in the Fellowship Hall. Thanks so much to Carleen Curran for sharing the news from St. Luke's.

In other news:

• St. Hyacinth Church, 63 Pulaski St., Auburn will hold First Friday devotions Sept. 5 and every first Friday of the month. Mass is celebrated at 9 a.m. followed by the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The church remains open for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until the Divine Mercy Devotion at 3 p.m.

Also at St. Hyacinth's, a retirement party will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, in honor of Roberta Kukiela who has served as the Catechetical Leader of St. Hyacinth's parish for many, many years. This celebration will take place in the St. Hyacinth's Parish Center and everyone is welcome. Thank you Roberta for your lifetime of service in His name.

• An old fashioned pilgrimage will be traveling by bus from St. Francis Church in Auburn to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Youngstown, just outside Niagra Falls Sunday, Aug. 31. This will be in dedication to Our Blessed Lady of Fatima and will be a day of prayer and thanksgiving for the many blessings we have received. There will be hymns and prayers as the pilgrims travel to their destination. They will attend Mass, followed by the Way of the Cross devotions and then dinner at Salvatore Italian Garden in Buffalo.

Upon their return to Auburn, they hope to visit the new chapel in Rochester dedicated to St. Padre Pio. Saint Padre Pio, a very recent saint for our times, was so devoted to Jesus, that like St. Francis of Assisi, he lived most of his life miraculously marked with the stigmata; the holy, painful and weeping wounds of Jesus on his hands and feet. This new chapel is now home to the original statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, from inside the shrine at St. Franics here in Auburn, which will now be adored by the many pilgrims visiting this special chapel.

In addition, a local Lourdes celebration is being planned for 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes located next to St. Francis Church on Clark Street in Auburn. The Rosary & Scapular Society of St. Mary's along with the Sunday Night Rosary Group of St. Francis, will be observing the 150th anniversary of the apparitions at Lourdes, France. This celebration will parallel the Holy Father's visit to Lourdes, France on this same weekend. The Auburn celebration will include a living rosary, singing of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a candlelight procession with the Lourdes hymn and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Everyone is invited.

• Holy Family Church on North Street in Auburn will offer an Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 7 to 11 p.m. starting Friday, Sept. 5, and continuing on the First Friday of every month.

Also at Holy Family Parish, sweatshirts and hoodies, in honor of the upcoming 175th anniversary, will be on sale following all the Masses for the next three weekends.

• Please pray for our seminarians: Brian, Michael, Zachary, Matthew, Peter and David, who are beginning another year of studying and discerning a call to the priesthood for the Diocese of Rochester.

Also, please remember our pre-seminarians - Peter and Greg - in your prayers, as they are on retreat this week and begin a year at Beckett Hall, prayerfully discerning if God is calling them also to serve as priests for our diocese. If you would like to know more about the diocesan discernment house, Becket Hall, contact the Office of Vocation at (585) 461-2890 or visit www.dor.org/vocations.

• More good news! The St. Mary's Pasta Supper Team is back in action again after a summer break, and they will begin serving pasta dinners again. The first one will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, in the hall behind the church on Clark Street in Auburn. Dinners will continue on the second Tuesday of every month.

• Also, be sure to watch your parish bulletins as CYO sign-ups will begin very soon, another sign that autumn is just around the corner.

Wishing a restful Labor Day and safe back-to-school for everyone. Remember, God loves you so very much.

“God, help me to know that nothing can defeat me if I keep myself humbly in contact with you. Grant me the greatness of soul to confront my problems intelligently and courageously. For this, I thank you. Amen”

Denise Bennett is a parishioner at Holy Family Church in Auburn. She can be reached at deniseb132@yahoo.com