Members of the St. Joseph Guild at Holy Spirit Parish in Brighton meet every Wednesday morning for their weekly assignments to help the parish with miscellaneous maintenance jobs as well as new projects. According to Father John Rocus, pastor of Holy Spirit, the group has saved the parish a great deal of money, while members have formed a tight-knit social group.

One member of the guild, Chuck Dumiller, cooks lunch for the group each week and talks about their ministry.

Witness: No one has to show up; it’s not mandatory. But by showing up on a particular day of the week to work, there is witness to the community that we’re all here to serve. In doing so, we also serve one another; that’s why we sit and have coffee and donuts in the morning to see what’s going on in each other's lives – we listen and do the best we can to support one another as part of what we do.

Invitation: The guild operates on a totally voluntary basis, so during Mass or at functions at the parish, we’re always inviting – generally speaking, retired people – but we have some people who come once a month because that’s their work schedule. We have volunteers with disabilities, as well, and there are lots of functions that folks can do to make them feel useful as part of the Holy Spirit Parish community.

Prayer: The most important prayer is our beginning and foundation, which is morning Mass. We say grace before our meals, and individually everyone has their prayer time as well. Prayer, obviously, is not to be neglected. We are even reminded by the noon Angelus bells, which for centuries was the time for workers to come in for their lunch, so that is part of prayer as well. There are lots of ways we incorporate prayer.

Accompaniment: The guild members accompany each other in our walk by getting to know one another, and knowing when people are having an issue or a problem – that’s when we try to make ourselves available to help. But I also want to point out that this is fun: We kid each other, we joke with each other, we give each other a tough time. In that sense, it’s all about friendship with our fellow workers.

The St. Joseph Guild ministry was started at St. Agnes Church in Flint by Ed Stepulkoski when Father John Rocus served at the parish prior to arriving at Holy Spirit. For information about starting a St. Joseph Guild in your parish, contact Tim Comperchio at tcomperchio@holyspiritrcs.org.