Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

                                    “Corpus Christi”

            As we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we perhaps do well to consider Who we consume in the Eucharist. 

            Katrina was a 16 year old when I met her.  She had just returned from a Steubenville Catholic Youth Conference.  At these conferences the young people often come to a deeper realization of Jesus’ Presence in the Eucharist.  Katrina shared with me that after the conference, her knees would shake as she would go up to receive Communion.  She KNEW who she was receiving.

            A few years ago I saw another young lady, a freshman in high school.  She had just exited the Church on a Wednesday evening after spending some time in Eucharistic Adoration.  As she walked through the inner church door, she looked back one last time at the Monstrance and blew a kiss to Jesus.   I was amazed.  For she KNEW the one who was present in the Eucharist, Jesus our Lord.

            A long time ago, the King of France, St. Louis IX would serve Mass on his knees on the bare floor.  One time a servant offered him a kneeler, but the king responded, “At Mass God offers Himself as a sacrifice, and when God sacrifices Himself, kings should kneel on the floor.”  He KNEW before whom He was kneeling.

            One of the few things I remember from 2^nd grade was this tidbit from Sr. Mary Ella Francis, “when you go up to Communion, repeat to yourself, ‘My Lord and my God’ for that is who you are receiving.”  You may note that those are the words of St. Thomas upon seeing the Resurrected Christ in John 20:28.   You know what?  I still repeat those words to myself every time I go up to Communion some 27 years later!  Sr. Mary Ella Francis KNEW who she was introducing us too. 

At the recent training session for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion I shared with those present that when I first began assisting in the distribution, my hands would tremble at what I was doing, and Who I had in my hands.  I KNEW who I was giving to others in Communion.  I try never to lose sight of that reality and encouraged the Extraordinary Ministers of Communion to do the same. 

Pope St. Pius X famously said, “Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven.”  And why wouldn’t it be as the same Lord we KNEW in this life in the Eucharist is the one who escorts us and grants us access to Heaven in the next. 

May we all come to KNOW the One we adore and receive in the Eucharist. 

God bless you!

Phil Lawson                                                                                     

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

                                    “Among my Heroes”

            Whenever I conduct Communion services at any of our area nursing homes, I refer to the residents as some of “my heroes.”  When I look out at the residents gathered to receive our Lord in the Eucharist, to receive him as “food for the journey” in the Eucharist—they inspire me.  I hope my faith is as strong as theirs when I’m 75, 80, 90+ years old!   During one visit a few years ago, there was one resident, 100 years old.  Because of her physical condition, she couldn’t come to the Service, but the resident staff made sure I visited her with Holy Communion.  She was sleeping when I arrived, but the staff knew how important receiving Jesus in the Eucharist was to her and so they stirred her awake.  She looked up as I gave her Holy Communion, received It, smiled, and said, “now I’m ready to go” with a great look of peace upon her face.  Wow!   I don’t know that I’ll ever forget that encounter. 

            During another recent nursing home visit I was talking to a couple who had been married over 60 years.  And while I was technically there to bring Christ to them, and indeed we said some prayers, I was happy to sit and listen and learn from their experience and modeling of a lifelong commitment to Christ and each other!  

            My wife’s grandfather, “Papa” as he was called, recently passed away, at the tender age of 102!  (Living in San Diego may have had something to do with that!)  Even well into his 90’s, he still would walk to daily Mass early each morning.   In fact, he would never miss it.  His passing reflected the “holy death” that we pray for each time we say the “Hail Mary”. 

            Pope John Paul II wrote a Letter to the Elderly in 1999, writing “as an older person myself”.  The document can be found on the Vatican’s website www.vatican.va or by simply doing a Google Search.  It is a beautiful reflection on the dignity of our older brothers and sisters and the gifts they have to offer.   A few years ago, I even assigned this papal letter to my junior high and high school students.  Far from being a “burden” as society would sometimes castigate them, these folks are amongst the heroes of life. 

The late Pope John Paul II concluded his letter to the elderly with this:

“Despite the limitations brought on by age, I continue to enjoy life. For this I thank the Lord. It is wonderful to be able to give oneself to the very end for the sake of the Kingdom of God!   At the same time, I find great peace in thinking of the time when the Lord will call me: from life to life!”

So to all our older parishioners, I say thank you.  And my prayer is that all of our faiths’ be as strong when we also reach the twilight of our lives! 

God bless you!

Phil Lawson                                                                                     

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

                                          “The Gospel and the Digital Age”

             Pope Benedict has spoken a number of times of the need for the Church to engage the digital world with the truths of the Gospel.  In fact, the Vatican even hosted a conference for bloggers, especially Catholic ones in 2011. 

            St. Peter’s is blessed to have a substantial presence online via our parish website:  http://www.saintpetercatholic.com/        and our Facebook Account.  Special thanks to parishioners Jason & Darcy Bunn who both set up and maintain the website and Facebook account!   Unlike most of my generation, I’m not the most savvy with regard to the “New Media” so they’ve helpfully made it simple enough for even me to upload material!    

            Some time back I received an email from a parish in Florida who had come across our website.  They were impressed with the Eucharistic Adoration we have at St. Peter’s and the resources on the website in regard to it.  So they asked if they could use our material as they sought to implement Adoration at their parish.  We happily agreed to do so!  Similarly, every year we get requests from all over the country (and even the Philippines!) for our Vacation Bible School materials, all of which our very talented parishioners have created from scratch.  

            As I’ve written previously, Stevens Point held its first ever 40 Days for Life Prayer Vigil this past Lent.  St. Peter’s, and our own Jennifer Dunnett, were a huge part of making this a success.   Pro-Life Wisconsin wanted to put together a short documentary on the experience of 40 Days for Life here as a tool to encourage other communities to take up the effort.   Virginia Zignego, Communications Director for Pro-Life Wisconsin recently spent a day at St. Peter’s doing video interviews of the participants.  Since, St. Peter’s Parishioners were such a huge part of the effort, it seemed natural to do the filming here—and we were only too happy to cooperate!  I’ll be sure to let you know when the finished product comes out! 

It was the first time Virginia had been to St. Peter’s and she was awed by the beauty of the church, so much so that she took lots of pictures and then posted them on a statewide blog she’s a part of, The Badger Catholic.   More good (and free) press coverage for our beautiful church!   You can find the link either off of the Parish Facebook account or at:  http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2012/05/st-peter-stevens-point.html?spref=fb         

God bless you!

Phil Lawson                                                                                     

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

            “Boy, you guys have a lot of kids around here.”

That was a comment said by a recent visitor to the parish following the Sunday morning Mass.  The number of Baptisms a parish has is a good indicator of the “youthfulness” of a parish and the spiritual vitality of the parish.  Out of curiosity, I went all the way back to 1995 and counted the number of Baptisms we’ve had at St. Peter’s each year up through 2011.  We averaged 25 Baptisms a year with a high of 37 (in 2008) and a low of 15 (1998 and 2004).

Last summer, while visiting another parish, I got roped into helping move a few items around in the Sanctuary—one of which was actually the Baptismal font.   As the priest and I slowly moved it, he noted the dust and commented, “it’s never good to have a dusty Baptism font. “  In other words, it hadn’t been used in a while.  Thanks be to God we don’t have any dust on ours!  

This Easter we’re blessed to add 3 more names to our Baptismal Register as Yvonne Stanke, Joelle Koelzer and Martin Rakacolli are Baptized, receive their 1^st Holy Communion and are Confirmed.  Each has been preparing over the course of this last year to enter into union with Christ and His Catholic Church through the RCIA Process.  They have each made a remarkable journey.  Please keep them in your prayers and warmly welcome the newest members of our Church!

God bless you!

Phil Lawson                                                                                     

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

            The number of priests worldwide, continues inching upward.

The 2012 Pontifical Handbook was just released and includes some interesting information on the number of priests worldwide:

            “The steady increase in the number of priests which began in the year 2000 has continued. In 2010 their numbers stood at 412,236…whereas in 2009 they numbered 410,593. The number of clergy has increased in Asia (by 1695), Africa (765), Oceania (52) and the Americas (42), while their numbers have fallen by 905 in Europe.” (source:  www.zenit.org )                  

Last fall I came across an article about Monsignor Stephen Rosetti who recently published a book “Why Priests are Happy” (Ave Maria Press).  This was also found on Zenit’s website.  In it he cited a number of studies which consistently show priests to be among the happiest of people.  In his study, which included 2,500 priests in the US, he found 92.4% indicated they were happy.  Similar studies have reported the same conclusion averaging around 90%.  This is especially significant when compared with a yearly poll that the National Opinion Research Center recently conducted of 27,000 Americans.  They found that clergy were the most satisfied and happiest of all Americans.  This all the more remarkable since over 50% of Americans indicate they are unhappy with their jobs.  

In a recent email I received from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, of which my sister-in-law is a member, they reported that 150 girls had attended their most recent weekend discernment retreat.  That’s an incredible number and pretty consistent with their other recent retreats.  God’s continuing to call men and women to these beautiful vocations, may we continue to support them and help them to hear that call.

Here’s a Prayer for Vocations that the Diocesan Vocations Office has just put out.  (Copies of these prayer cards can be found in the St. Faustina Room.)

            Heavenly Father,

Bless your Church with an abundance of holy and zealous priests, deacons, brothers and sisters.

Give those you have called to the married state and those you have chosen to live as single persons in the world, the special graces that their lives require.

Form us all in the likeness of your Son, so that in Him, with Him, and through Him, we may love you more deeply and serve you more faithfully, always and everywhere.

With Mary we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Guest Column:  Ray Heitzinger 

                        -A Template for Conversion                                                                            

We hear the story of the “Woman at the Well” (John 4:5-42) on the Third Sunday of Lent when the RCIA 1^st Scrutiny is celebrated.  This story is one of the strongest conversion stories we hear in the Bible. How fitting we read this story during this holy season of Lent, a season of conversion.

We can imagine Jesus; hot, tired, thirsty and hungry from His morning walk. Perhaps the day’s intense heat has made Him weary. The Apostles have left to find nourishment.  Jesus stays at the well. The woman, whose name we never know, no doubt also weary from her walk to the well is startled by Jesus’ request for a drink. Jesus offers her “living water”. While the woman continues to ask practical questions, Jesus forges ahead with His offer of new life.

Water means life, and is not easily obtained in that area of the world. But Jesus freely offers her “living water”. The woman, not understanding the gift offered asks for this water so she can diminish her struggles; hauling water every day in the hot sun. She fails to grasp the nature of the gift. So Jesus tries another way to get her to see who He is and what He is offering.

Jesus asks her to call her husband. In this exchange we see the sinful nature of the woman exposed. We can imagine Jesus waiting to hear her response. We come to understand why she has come to get water in the heat of the day; she does not want to face the scorn of the other women. She feels ostracized because of the hushed talk, fleeting glances and hurtful speech hurled at her. We see in this woman someone desperately longing to be loved. She desires to be loved so much that she has forgotten the dignity given to her by God. She, like us, seeks fulfillment in the wrong place. What she seeks; truth, meaning in life, can only be found in God’s love. We too, often seek love in things of this world and lose our way on the path to true joy. And when Jesus tells of her history of failed relationships she does what most of us do; changes the subject. We do not like being confronted by our sin. We try to push it aside and avoid this subject.

Once again, Jesus pushes her deeper calling her to worship the Father in Spirit and truth. You can see the recognition begin to dawn in her. She has had an encounter with the Messiah. Jesus invites her in the words; “and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship Him.” She is given an invitation to free herself from a sinful life. She has a powerful conversion; one she cannot contain within herself. She leaves her former self behind, in the image of the water jar, and goes to spread the good news! We can imagine the initial skepticism she faced; after all, she is not regarded highly by the townspeople. It cannot have been easy for her to draw attention to her past. Yet she does not let this stop her. With courage she proclaims who has come to visit.

 This woman convinces the town to invite Jesus to come dwell with them. These are the “fields ripe for the harvest” of which Jesus speaks. They are ready to hear and accept the gospel Jesus proclaims; they are ready for conversion. The Samaritans begin to believe because of the word of the woman who testified.

In her brief encounter with Jesus, this woman has been shown the path to salvation. She has heard of the “living water”, has been convicted of her sin, has been shown the Messiah and has believed. She took the bold step to accept the truth. Then filled with the joy of true love, went forth to spread the gospel. She has had a conversion. 

We see in this beautiful story how powerful the word can be. The word of Jesus has caused a conversion that simply cannot be contained. We too, have heard these powerful words; we too have been offered “living water”. Hopefully our action mirrors that of the woman we hear of, a course of conversion, action, and proclamation. Indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

I have written extensively in this column on the good things going on at St. Peter’s and of the fruits that have been produced by this parish.   We recently received a beautiful letter from a young man who spent his teenage and college years at St. Peter’s.  I thought it was worth passing on, as it’s something we can all take pride in.

“I was a member of your parish from 1996-2005.  During that time I received so much from the parish, including love and support while I studied for the priesthood in 2000-2005.  I come home to Stevens Point a few time(s) a year, and I am glad to see the parish doing well. 

“I have been hoping to make a contribution for awhile, out of gratitude for all I’ve received.  It isn’t much, but I hope it will help the parish that has helped me so much.

“I now live in Milwaukee, where I am active in youth and young adult groups.  However, I’ll always consider myself a son of St. Peter’s!”

A warm thank you to this young man for his generosity and kind words!   May our parish continue to produce and encourage such beautiful fruit!

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

                        Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

Where can you find 4 religious sisters, 3 religious communities, 4 priests-including our diocesan vocation director, Irish ceili dancing, snow football, presentations on Saint Francis and Saint Claire, the Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, Stations of the Cross, skits, all-night adoration, confessions being heard till 1:15AM in the morning, Mass, and a host of amazing young adult Catholics?   All were part of last weekend’s John Paul II Young Adult Discernment Retreat.  44 people were part of this retreat, now in its 9^th year.  

To give you a sense of the faithfulness of these young people, confessions began about 9PM on Saturday evening and didn’t end till 1:15AM. (Don’t worry, the priests truly enjoyed working with the young adults, even for such a long duration!)  Similarly, we had no difficulty filling all the time slots for all-night Eucharistic adoration.   It is always such an inspiration to be around so many amazing young people! 

The retreatants came from St. Peter’s of course, but others came from as far away as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and La Crosse.   As far as I know, this is the only retreat of its kind in Wisconsin.  It is a beautiful gift to get this large a group of faith-filled young adults (ages 18-39) together to strengthen each other, inspire each other, and ultimately ask the most important questions, i.e. “what does God want me to do with my life?” 

This retreat was first initiated as an opportunity for the St. Peter’s college-DTS group to go deeper in their faith and concretely as God to what vocation He is calling them. 

Some of the evaluation sheet comments: 

“I was reunited and convicted of my Catholic faith again. I believe I have the strength and courage to say yes to God’s will and say no to my own.”

“…it was BEAUTIFUL being around people my age asking God about vocations.”

“I am encouraged by how many young folks are discerning their call.”      

“Please keep having these retreats!”

Please keep these young adults in your prayers—from retreats like this will come our future priests, future religious, and the future adult pillars of our parishes.    

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

“Now it springs forth…”

This phrase from the Book of Isaiah in today’s first reading is a good description of what has been flowing forth from St. Peter’s these past few years!  One way of measuring a parish’s relative “success” is the fruits that spring forth from it.  

One of the great blessings of working with young adults is seeing where God calls them.   Amazingly, 3 of our former college-DTS members are now religious education directors at their parishes.  In addition a fourth is volunteering for young adult offerings at her parish.   Phil Kosloski now directs all the religious education and evangelizataion efforts at Saints Peter & Paul Parish in Wisconsin Rapids.  Nick Landwehr is now the Director of Religious Education & Evangelization at St. Lawrence Parish in Wisconsin Rapids.  And Melissa Riese is the religious education coordinator and Youth Minister for 3 parishes in the Cashton area.   Finally, Natalie Elskamp is working on young adult events for her parish in Iowa.   I don’t know that you’ll find another parish in the diocese with that kind of results!  

St. Peter’s was blessed to both use their talents during those college years and in having the privilege of helping to form them in the careers they now work at.   A few years ago I was part of a conversation where my colleagues were lamenting the number of young people who were entering into parish work such as this.  We haven’t had that problem here!

On Wednesday, Feb. 8^th, we hosted the Vocation Night for Women with Sr. Mary David, FSGM and our own Sr. Michelle SSJ-TOF.  What a blessing it was!  We divided the evening into 2 sections, starting with pizza and conversation and with the sisters at 530PM.  25 young ladies showed up for this part!   The second half was a more formal presentation by the sisters on their vocations and both listening and responding to God’s call. For this, we also brought over the religious education girls from Grades 3-9.  Some 43 young ladies attended this portion.  The girls loved it, being glued to every word the sisters were saying.  Sr. Mary David, before heading back to LaCrosse that night, said to me she’s happy to come any time and mentioned how impressed she was with the young women here! 

This weekend I am with young adults from our parish and throughout the diocese at the annual John Paul II Discernment Retreat.  As I’ve mentioned previously, this retreat has been very powerful in helping young adults hear and respond to God’s call, with (so far!) 3 seminarians, 3 religious sisters, 1 religious brother, and 4 marriages coming out of it over the past 7 years we’ve held the retreat.  Please keep this weekend’s participants in your prayers!

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

                        Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

“Thank you for helping (us) prepare for our wedding day & marriage, and for helping us understand how God is with us during it all.  It feels good knowing that the Church cares about us and keeping our forthcoming marriage healthy and strong.” 

The above was received as a thank you note from a couple married at St. Peter’s.    

St. Peter’s spends more time preparing couples for marriage then most parishes.  The couples have 4  – hour long  sessions with me in which we cover everything from the Church’s teachings on marriage to the practical skills and communication that help a marriage to flourish.   The couples then attend a retreat weekend organized by the deanery.  We also have large group sessions for all the parish engaged couples.  Finally, the couples take an online course in NFP (Natural Family Planning.)  In addition, the couples have a total of 4 meetings with the pastor which covers the FOCCUS Test, a prenuptial questionnaire and of course planning the actual ceremony.  The whole Marriage Prep Checklist which couples are given can be found on the parish website.  

About 5 years ago, an effort was undertaken to strengthen the parishes’ marriage preparation program.  Everyone knows the dire statistics on divorce and we want to ensure we do everything possible to prevent that from ever happening to the couples who approach the altar at St. Peter’s.  The vast majority of couples appreciate the efforts on their behalf as indicated by the note above.  I recall last year a couple who was going through the process. They shared with me a conversation with a friend about the marriage preparation process.  The friend expected they would be dreading all the steps they had to take to get married here.  The soon to be groom instead told his friend how much he was enjoying it and how much it was strengthening his and his fiancees’ relationship!

“The family that prays together, stays together.”  As we celebrate Valentine’s Day this week, here’s a prayer I give to couples and encourage them to pray daily.  I first discovered this prayer when my wife and I got engaged—and it’s a prayer we’ve prayed every night since. 

Prayer of Spouses for Each Other

Lord Jesus, grant that I and my spouse may have a true and understanding love for each other. Grant that we may both be filled with faith and trust. Give us the grace to live with each other in peace and harmony. May we always bear with one another’s weaknesses and grow from each other’s strengths. Help us to forgive one another’s failings and grant us patience, kindness, cheerfulness and the spirit of placing the well-being of one another ahead of self.

May the love that brought us together grow and mature with each passing year. Bring us both ever closer to You through our love for each other. Let our love grow to perfection. Amen.

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization