Saint Peter's Point- The Catholic Blog of Saint Peter Parish, Stevens Point Wisconsin

Two weeks ago this opening paragraph of my column was mistakenly omitted. So here it is, just a little bit late! Thank you to all of those who took part in the filming of television Masses last week. Thanks to the lectors, altar servers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, Patrick Burkhart and all the musicians as well as those who made up the congregation. Look for us on TV as the Masses will be broadcast on August 31 and September 7! Thank you, too, to the men who took part in our inaugural event in observance of the Jubilee Year of Saint Paul (June 28, 2008-June 29, 2009). Our recent gathering geared specifically to men began with the praying of Evening Prayer and listening to an extended homily on Saint Paul and how he is a model for living the vocation of being a "real" man, a man of God, as well as a husband and father. Phil Lawson then gave some very practical suggestions how men can prayerfully observe this Pauline Year. We then adjourned to Emy J's for ice cream and good conversation! Keep an eye on the bulletin as we will soon have a similar event specifically geared towards the women of the parish.

Time flies, as the saying goes, and this passage of time brings with it many changes. Our parish pictorial directory is five years old and is clearly outdated. Thanks to our parishioners, Lee Petersen and Mary Skrzeczkoski, who have volunteered to spearhead the effort, we are in the process of assembling a new picture directory of and for our parishioners. Please make sure you stop in the Saint Faustina Room after weekend Mass to schedule a time for your photo to be taken. It costs you (and the parish) nothing to have your picture taken and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. Just for having your picture taken you will receive a complimentary 8 X 10 custom natural portrait and a free directory. Of course, you are welcome to purchase additional copies of your photos in various sizes. Again, please sign up to get your picture taken so that we can have a directory that includes every one of our parishioners!

I never cease to be amazed at how many activities for the building up of God's Kingdom that we have at Saint Peter! This week is a particularly busy one! Our parishioner-designed and led Vacation Bible School runs every morning this week. On Tuesday evening (July 29) our altar servers and their fathers are gathering at the rectory with our priests and our resident seminarian, Dan, in order to say "thank you" to them for their service. But more importantly, the evening will center on exploring the vocation to the priesthood. On Saturday evening (August 2) at 6:30 our parish is offering a night of enrichment for married couples featuring Jeff and Alice Heinzen who will speak about the languages of love. It does not matter how long you have been married, all couples are welcome! Just call the parish office to reserve your spot.

This week also has events of world-wide significance in our Diocese of La Crosse as the church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe just outside of the city of La Crosse will be dedicated. Even during these past few years as the Shrine complex was being systematically constructed, it has already become a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people from all 50 of our United States and from countries around the world. From April to June of 2005 – right before Bishop Listecki assigned me to Saint Peter – I regularly celebrated Mass and heard confessions at the temporary chapel at the Shrine. I can attest first hand to the fact that Our Lady of Guadalupe is already working miracles and astounding conversions through this beautiful place dedicated to her! I very much enjoy my visits to the Shrine to soak up the breathtaking natural beauty of the bluffs and the forest as well as the peace and tranquility of the isolated location – all of which makes time spent there conducive to prayer and reflection. The jewel of the Shrine complex – the church itself – will be dedicated with great solemnity this Thursday (July 31). In attendance will be people from all over the world – bishops and priests, consecrated religious and lay faithful. EWTN (Charter Cable channel 19 and www.ewtn.com) will be broadcasting live as will Relevant Radio (93.9 FM). It will be a privilege for me to concelebrate this Mass of dedication, a once-in-a-lifetime event. The week of activities surrounding the dedication of the Shrine church features many spiritual programs and prominent guests from around the world – including Father Benedict Groeschel, author and host of Father Benedict Live on EWTN; Eduardo Verástegui, star of the highly-acclaimed movie Bella; Raymond Arroyo, host of The World Over Live on EWTN; Drew Mariani, talk show host on Relevant Radio; Anne Ball, author of numerous books on the lives of the saints; Msgr. Paul Lenz, Vatican-appointed Vice-Postulator for the cause of canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha; and Bishop Joseph Madera, a native of Mexico and retired auxiliary bishop of the Military Archdiocese of the United States. Actually, Bishop Madera recently stayed with us at Saint Peter as he celebrated the wedding Mass of his dear friend, Cynthia (Meshak) Calhoun to Leon Kosiec. We are so blessed that this Shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary is located so close to us! Our parish will be organizing a pilgrimage to the Shrine this fall. May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede powerfully for us before her Divine Son!

Please note the following changes in the usual Mass schedule at Saint Peter due to the events of the week of dedication of the Shrine. Thursday morning, July 31, there will be a simple reposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 7:50 am instead of the usual Benediction. That day there will be no Mass but rather a Communion Service at 8:00 am. Friday, August 1, is the First Friday of the month in honor of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. There will be exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as is customary at Saint Peter. The morning will begin with a Communion Service at 8:00 followed immediately by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The First Friday afternoon schedule remains the same, however: Confessions at 4:30, Benediction at 5:00, and Mass at 5:15. Please note that no confessions will be heard the mornings of July 31 and August 1.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Father Kevin C. Louis

Please prayerfully remember our former parishioner, Sister Mary Veronica of the Divine Indwelling (in the world Katie Buss), who on July 16 completed one year of the novitiate of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. The community was officially established in 1962 by Mother Angelica who, of course, also founded the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). The community's charism – or particular supernatural character, goal and spirit – bestowed by the Holy Spirit and confirmed by the Church is offering prayers and sacrifices for the salvation of the whole world. As their name indicates, the life of prayer of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration is specially centered on adoration of our Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. God's blessings on Sister Mary Veronica and all the members of her community!

Have you ever thought of visiting the Holy Land – to see and pray at the places made holy by Jesus Himself and that are spoken of in the Bible? Father Robert Schaller – former Pastor of Saint Peter now serving at Saint Elizabeth in Holmen – and I are leading such a pilgrimage February 8-18, 2009. We are the spiritual guides for the pilgrimage celebrating the Holy Mass each day. A growing number of parishioners from Saint Elizabeth and our own Saint Peter have already committed themselves to this spiritual tour. The number of pilgrims is strictly limited so that we can all travel together on one bus thereby creating a more intimate atmosphere conducive to a prayerful absorption of all that we will see and experience. Some of the highlights include visits to Caesarea Philippi (now known as Banias) where Jesus declared to Simon, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church", Cana in Galilee where couples may renew their marriage vows, Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, as well as Jerusalem where we will walk the Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Of course, this only scratches the surface of the magnificent and moving sights to be seen and places to offer prayers! The cost of $2799 includes airfare, expert native Christian tour guides, many meals, and lodging in first class hotels. For a complete itinerary and more information please consult the brochures available in church or at the rectory or contact Father Louis.

In the next five years our parish anticipates having to address a number of issues with regard to our physical plant including the increasingly dangerous buckling of the carpet in the church proper and the sanctuary (which is very obvious now in the humidity of our Wisconsin summer), the hazardous deteriorating bricks and concrete between the garage and the church, the incredibly wasteful heating system in the rectory, and the security of our magnificent church (which has been vandalized three times in recent weeks!) – to name just a few. We will only be able to solve these problems if each and every parishioner generously participates in the We Belong To Christ Campaign now being conducted in our parish. Complete and return your pledge card immediately. If we do not hear from you we will be contacting you personally.

Each year June 30 ends one fiscal year and July 1 begins the next. We ended the 2005-2006 fiscal year in financially catastrophic fashion being $112,848.76 in debt. You will recall that thanks to a most generous grant from Bishop Listecki (through the Diocesan Annual Appeal) and absolution of the remaining debt by the Dean of the Stevens Point Deanery, we broke even. We ended the 2006-2007 fiscal year with a $39,090.00 surplus, although that was very misleading insofar as we again received a substantial grant from Bishop Listecki (through the Diocesan Annual Appeal) as well as the proceeds from an incredibly large estate. As of June 30, 2008, we have ended our 2007-2008 fiscal year $26,600.00 in debt. In all likelihood, we will be required in short order to take out a loan in order to pay off this debt. We were fortunate again this year to receive a grant from Bishop Listecki (through the Diocesan Annual Appeal), but significantly less parishioners remembered Saint Peter in their wills and in memorials of loved ones compared to recent years. As soon as humanly possible, we will be publishing the financial eport for this year's picnic as well as the parish fiscal year report.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Father Kevin C. Louis

Thank you to all of those who took part in the filming of television Masses last week. Thanks to the lectors, altar servers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, Patrick Burkhart and all the musicians as well as those who made up the congregation. Look for us on TV as the Masses will be broadcast on August 31 and September 7! Thank you, too, to the men who took part in our inaugural event in observance of the Jubilee Year of Saint Paul (June 28, 2008-June 29, 2009). Our recent gathering geared specifically to men began with the praying of Evening Prayer and listening to an extended homily on Saint Paul and how he is a model for living the vocation of being a "real" man, a man of God, as well as a husband and father. Phil Lawson then gave some very practical suggestions how men can prayerfully observe this Pauline Year. We then adjourned to Emy J's for ice cream and good conversation! Keep an eye on the bulletin as we will soon have a similar event specifically geared towards the women of the parish.

Thank you for your prayerful support during this past year as I participated in the certification program in Catholic bioethics sponsored by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has proven to be a very rigorous program – much more demanding and time-consuming than I had anticipated. Recently they sent me my grades for the "classroom" (via the internet) portion of the course (94 out of 100) and the final oral examinations (190 out of 200). This week I will turn in the last of the course requirements – my thesis on the moral evaluation of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). By the end of the summer the Center will notify me if I passed and thereby receive their certification as a bioethicist.

As I have mentioned to you before, I keep track of the number of confessions I hear – a habit I got into thanks to Father J. Floyd Dwyer who was Rector of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman, my first priestly assignment. During the period of July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, I heard at Saint Peter Parish an amazing 3679 (that is not a typo!) individual confessions. It is a joy to be kept so "busy" reconciling sinners to God and His Church!

Recently something happened that I have never experienced in 19 years as a priest. As you will recall, each parish is required to have a Fund for Works of Charity, an account that is separate from all other parish accounts and that is not commingled with other parish funds or with the Mass Offering Account. Into this Fund are deposited gifts that parishioners specifically designate for this purpose. But the bulk of money in this Fund comes from the offerings that parishioners make on the occasion of the celebration of the sacraments (for example, Baptism or Matrimony) or other sacred rites (for example, funeral) apart from the Mass offering or "intention." In turn, I disburse monies (but never cash) from this Fund to assist the many needy people who come to the rectory each week seeking help. So many times over the years those who received assistance assured me that they would return shortly to repay what was given to them. Not one person has ever kept their word and come back to return to the Fund that which was given them. That is, until this past week! A parishioner had an unexpected and substantial expense with regard to his vehicle and I arranged for payment of the bills through the Fund for Works of Charity. At the end of the month, as he had promised me, he returned to the rectory and repaid in full what had been given him. No doubt the Lord will bless this young man for his honesty and integrity!

In the next five years our parish anticipates having to address a number of issues with regard to our physical plant including the increasingly dangerous buckling of the carpet in the church proper and the sanctuary (which is very obvious now in the humidity of our Wisconsin summer), the hazardous deteriorating bricks and concrete between the garage and the church, the incredibly wasteful heating system in the rectory, and the security of our magnificent church (which has been vandalized three times in recent weeks!) – to name just a few. We will only be able to solve these problems if each and every parishioner generously participates in the We Belong To Christ Campaign now being conducted in our parish. Complete and return your pledge card right now. If we do not hear from you we will be contacting you personally.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Father Kevin C. Louis