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

Join Sr. Mary David, FSGM, Sr. Michelle Nemojeski, and other young women for an evening of prayer and discernment.  Starts with pizza at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  For more information, see the flyer, or contact Mr. Phil Lawson, Director of Catechesis and Evangelization at 715-344-6115 or lawsphil@gmail.com

“Giving and Giving of Ourselves”

I want to highlight the beautiful response of our parish to the Giving Trees undertaken this past Advent.  Did you know St. Peter’s provides a gift to every one of parishioners who is in assisted living, nursing homes, or homebound?   Furthermore, the parish gives a Christmas gift to every single resident of Portage County Nursing Home and the Stevens Point Health Care Center, regardless of whether they are parishioners. This adds up to a hefty total of 224 gift bags that were distributed.  The beauty of this effort, apart from the token of love it shows those who are unable to physically get to St. Peter’s, is the wide breadth of parishioners involved.    The Family Life Committee does much of the preparation and coordination.  Countless parishioners took the tags from the trees and brought in an abundance of gifts.  When it came time to coordinate and prepare all the gifts for delivery, it was the Family Life Committee, aided by our homeschool families, last year’s RCIA Class, and various other parishioners who did the work.  For the delivery of the gifts—a large undertaking in and of itself!—the College DTS group took care of the 2 nursing homes, our parish Eucharistic ministers to the homebound took many of the gifts to the people they regularly visit, and students from Pacelli delivered the rest during their Service Day.   Overall, what a beautiful gesture for a parish to come together and give a gift of love and unity this Christmas.  Thanks to all who helped!

The ultimate “gift” we can give to Jesus is of course our lives in service to Him, in whatever way He calls, i.e. marriage, religious life, priesthood, or single.  This Saturday, Jan. 7^th was the Annual “Called By Name” event for the diocese.  Every parish is asked to submit names of high school and young adult men and women who they think might be open to a religious vocation.  These individuals then receive a personal letter from Bishop Callahan inviting them to a Day of Reflection at the Diocese which features priests, religious, conversations, presentations and Mass with the Bishop.  St. Peter’s submitted a list of 38 high school and college students to the Diocese.  Now, obviously not all of them will be called to those vocations, but it speaks highly of the parish to have such a large number!  And it’s a credit to the individuals named that the parish thinks so well of them!  Continue to pray for and encourage these vocations!

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Phil’s Notes & Tidbits

St. Peter’s as a “Vocation Friendly Parish”

On Oct. 22^nd, Sr. Mary Agnes of the Poor Clares made her first profession as a religious.  What does this have to do with St. Peter’s you may ask?  This parish played a part in her discernment.   In 2006, Sr. Mary Agnes, then Katie Devitt, was a member of our college DTS group.   In 2007, Katie Devitt participated in our annual John Paul II Young Adult Discernment Retreat.  Not long after, Katie joined the convent.   Our own Fr. Letona was able to be present at her profession ceremony down in Indiana.

The John Paul II Discernment Retreat, which I have organized the past 7 years for our young people, along with the Diocesan Vocations Director, Fr. Joe Hirsch, has born some amazing fruit.  To date, 4 marriages, 3 religious sisters, 1 religious brother, and 3 seminarians—including Deacon Dan Oudenhoven who is scheduled to be ordained a priest next June.

This past summer, within roughly a week of each other, I had a young man and later a young woman come to the Rectory door asking to talk about religious vocations. The young woman I was happy to put in touch with our own Sr. Michelle and the young man I put in touch with Fr. Joe Hirsch.

Just last week I had a wonderful conversation with another college student who found his way over to St. Peter’s.  He told me that last year he started coming to St. Peter’s and “my faith just took off”.  He has been investigating the priesthood.

Of course, none of these encounters and the fruits that flow from them are by accident.  They are the fruit of a parish with a vibrant life of prayer, especially in the Sacraments and Eucharistic Adoration.   Notice as well, that all of these encounters happen slowly over time, and not overnight.  Much as we might like to see instant results and vocations, that’s not the way God works. Its 4 years after Katie’s participation in the discernment retreat that she’s now a sister.  It’s also 4 years since Dan Oudenhoven attended that same retreat and now is on the verge of ordination.   I’m reminded of that as I look at our phenomenal group of altar boys.  I recall Fr. Louis saying “I’ll be disappointed if at least a few of you don’t end up in seminary!”  As well as the amazing group of young ladies who regularly show up at our vocation events for women religious (next one is in February!).

Our job in the meantime is to continue to foster that life of prayer in

ourselves and parish, encouraging our young people in the process and remaining a “vocation friendly parish”.

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

The Poor Clares & Sr. Mary Agnes

“I want to be a teaching sister like Sr. Rose Anthony.” This was the comment from 8 year old Chloe after spending some time with my sister-in-law, Sr. Rose Anthony, OP at the summer open house our family hosted with her. Another young girl, about 6 years old went up to Sr. Rose Anthony and informed her that she had already chosen a religious name for when she eventually entered the convent! She had been exposed to the Nashville Dominicans before her family moved to Stevens Point, and wanted to be just like those sisters. Some 30 people stopped by that day to spend a little time visiting with Sister, including a fair number of young ladies.
I came across this great reflection from a Cleveland priest and seminary professor, Fr. Damian Ference:

“The inspiration to consider a vocation rarely comes from vocation literature; it comes from real people living out their vocations in the real world. In order to know what it means to be a good family, a good priest, a good religious, and a good Catholic, one needs to have living, breathing examples of each. I would have never considered the priesthood if I had not known some great priests as I was growing up; the seminarians I teach continue to tell the same story about their call. Disciples beget disciples – good marriages beget good marriages, good religious beget good religious, good priests beget good priests, and good Catholics beget good Catholics. When discipleship is modeled well, it becomes an invitation for others to become disciples themselves.”

We thank God for the joy-filled sisters (including our own Sr. Michelle!) we have encountered, the holy priests who have touched our lives, and the faith-filled marriages present in our parish—all of the above living there discipleship in Christ fully. And when our young people are exposed to these examples, no doubt the vocations will follow and flourish.
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

“Every time that you approach the altar, you have the good fortune to assist in God’s great loving gesture as he continues to want to give himself to each one of us, to be close to us, to help us, to give us strength to live in the right way….Do your task as altar servers with love, devotion and faithfulness…You lend Jues your hands, your thoughts, your time. He will not fail to reward you, giving you true joy and enabling you to feel where the fullest happiness is.” –Pope Benedict XVI addressing altar servers at the Vatican 8-17-10.

For a number of years now we have taken the altar boys on a summer pilgrimage. This is both to thank the altar servers for their wonderful service and to give them opportunities to consider the vocation God is calling them too. Past years trips have included:
-Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.
-Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help near Green Bay, WI.
-Pilgrimage to the High School Seminary in LaCrosse
And, of course, fun outings like last year’s memorable canoe trip.

This summer’s trip takes place Monday, August 1st with a pilgrimage to the Rudolph Grotto where Fr. Joseph & Fr. Letona will concelebrate Mass in the outdoor chapel. Following that, we’ll head to Wisconsin Rapids to take in a Rafters Baseball game. Thank you boys for your great and dedicated service at Christ’s Altar. And please pray for these young men as they seek to follow wherever God is calling them!

God bless you!
Phil Lawson
Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

St. Peter’s seems to be providing fertile ground for vocational discernment.  Below is the bulletin column that was written in conjunction with the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, May 15th.

We especially keep in prayer Sr. Mary Veronica Buss, of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (Mother Angelica’s order), who was formed at St. Peter’s.

Read on, enjoy, and keep praying!

Original Column:

Sunday, May 15^th has been designated “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.”  Our bishops have regularly spoken of creating a “culture of vocations” where every young person is encouraged to ask the question of where God is calling them.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) yearly surveys those to be ordained to the priesthood and then reports the findings.  This year’s results were recently released.  480 men are scheduled to be ordained priests this year in the United States.  Around a third of the men have a relative who is a priest or religious.  Over half of the class has more than two siblings, with a quarter of those surveyed reporting five or more siblings.  The average age at which those surveyed first thought about a priestly vocation was 16.  The vocations grew out of a life of prayer as 70% reported regularly praying the Rosary before entering seminary and another 65% participated in Eucharistic Adoration. (Interestingly enough, this was one of the motivations for St. Peter’s to introduce weekly Eucharistic Adoration).  Some 71% reported that they were encouraged in their vocational discernment by a friend, parent, grandparent, relative or parishioner.  Unfortunately, half also reported that someone discouraged them in this path.

Vocations do not appear suddenly, they flow from a life conformed to our Lord and stem from asking the Lord, “What do you want me to do with my life?”  Our part as parents, grandparents, mentors, teachers, and parishioners is to encourage that formation and the asking of the question.  And of course it begins with young people being able to look at our lives and seeing us doing the same.

Concretely, we have been blessed at St. Peter’s to help make the soil fertile for vocations.  The parish has sponsored the John Paul II Discernment Retreat for young adults (age 18-36) for the past 8 years.  From those retreats have come 4 religious sisters, 3 seminarians, 1 religious brother and 4 marriages. The first of those seminarians, Dan Oudenhoven, is scheduled to be ordained a transitional deacon this June.  Specifically, for the young ladies, we have hosted the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr Saint George (FSGM) from LaCrosse the past few years.  This past February, 25 young women came out to spend some time with them in prayer and conversation.  Similarly, we have an amazing group of altar boys, who are all open to the call to the priesthood.  The Diocese of La Crosse hosts a day of reflection for high school and college students seeking God’s Will for their lives in January.  They invite parishes to send in a list of names of those who would seem to have the foundations of a religious vocation.  Between our high school and college students, St. Peter’s submitted a list of 34 names, each of whom received a personal invite from Bishop Callahan to the event in La Crosse. Please continue to pray for these young men and women!

Ultimately, every vocation comes down to God’s call and a person’s response to it.  As one priest said, “There’s no vocation crisis.  God’s still calling, we’re just not listening.” He’s right.  God didn’t suddenly stop calling men and women to religious vocations in 1970.  As societies and families, we stopped listening, responding, and/or encouraging those vocations.  Thankfully, that’s beginning to change.

Whenever I lead retreats for young people, I encourage them to pray each day, “Lord, help me to be the man/woman you want me to be in all things and in all ways.”  To the extent that they do that, they will find the peace and happiness for which they were made, and their vocation in the process.

God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Director of Catechesis & Evangelization

Strengthen Your Brethren, – July 30, 2006

One of the signs of the vitality of the faith and families of a parish is the number of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life that the parish has nurtured. God has truly blessed Saint Peter’s raising up from our midst many young men and women to these special vocations. This weekend several native daughters of our parish are celebrating their Jubilee of Religious Profession as Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Third Order of Saint Francis. We rejoice with Sister Florence Domka on the 60^th anniversary of her religious profession and with golden jubilarians Sisters Catherine Kieliszewski, Gerri Kryshak, and Mary Ann Stoltz. Although not a native of Saint Peter, we also beg God’s blessings on Sister Michele Nemojeski on her 50^th anniversary. May the witness of these women “who are consecrated in a special manner to God by the profession of the evangelical counsels (of) chastity, poverty, and obedience” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 178) inspire our young people to prayerfully consider the consecrated life. Congratulations, Sisters!

Thank you for the beautiful cards, kind wishes, gifts and prayers on the occasion of my 17^th anniversary of ordination to the Priesthood! In some ways July 22, 1989 seems just like yesterday and in other ways it seems like a million years ago! I am most grateful to those who helped me to hear God’s call to the Priesthood and to embrace it with joy. “The anointing of the Spirit seals the priest with an indelible, spiritual character that configures him to Christ the priest and enables him to act in the name of Christ the Head. As a co-worker of the order of bishops he is consecrated to preach the Gospel, to celebrate divine worship, especially the Eucharist from which his ministry draws its strength, and to be a shepherd of the faithful” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 328). Please pray that I may always remain faithful to this wondrous gift! Thanks, as always, for your many signs of support, encouragement, and affection!

Our Diocese of La Crosse was honored recently as Pope Benedict XVI appointed a native son, Archbishop Raymond Burke of Saint Louis, to the Vatican’s supreme court. He remains the Archbishop of Saint Louis, but now also serves as one of the 15 judges of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. This means that Archbishop Burke will occasionally have to travel to Rome for the court’s business. The Church’s high court hears final appeals of decisions by Vatican administrators and offices and ensures that justice is administered correctly in the Church. Archbishop Burke explained that the Apostolic Signatura’s work involves more than merely handing down legal decisions. “The Signatura serves a very important function in promoting reconciliation and peace within the Church,” he said. “Efforts are made to bring a peaceful resolution.” May the Holy Spirit guide the deliberations of Archbishop Burke and the other members of the Church’s supreme court!

Father Louis’ bulletin column 6/11/06

The Catechism of the Catholic Church helps us see the practical implications of this weekend’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: “The Church is one because of her source: ‘the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit [Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, 2].’ The Church is one because of her founder: for ‘the word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross . . . restoring the unity of all in one people and one body [Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 78].’ The Church is one because of her ‘soul’: ‘It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that He is the principle of the Church’s unity [Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, 2].’ Unity is of the essence of the Church” (813). A few paragraphs later the Catechism continues: “The Lord’s missionary mandate is ultimately grounded in the eternal love of the Most Holy Trinity: ‘The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit [Vatican II, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, 2].’ The ultimate purpose of mission is none other than to make men share in the communion between the Father and the Son in their Spirit of love” (850).

A warm welcome to all our guests who have joined us for Saint Peter’s Picnic! We appreciate your presence with us this weekend! Please know you are always welcome here!

Two times per year all the priests of the Diocese of La Crosse gather to strengthen our fraternity in the priesthood of Christ, to hear presentations by various speakers, and simply to enjoy some time of relaxation together. The summer gathering in La Crosse – called “Priest Unity Days” – begins at 4:00 pm on Sunday, June 11, and ends at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, June 13. At Saint Peter Father Worzalla will celebrate Mass as usual at 8:00 am on Monday, June 12. However, there will be no Mass on Tuesday, June 13, as Father Sakowski and I will still be in La Crosse and Father Worzalla will be on vacation. On that Tuesday at 8:00 am our parish’s deacon-in-training, Gary Glodowski, will lead a Liturgy of the Word with the Distribution of Holy Communion. Gary has already been trained to conduct such a service, which is detailed in the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship’s 1973 Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass. Please pray for your priests, for those studying to be priests, and for the young men of Saint Peter’s to have hearts open to the call to the priesthood.

Very early Saturday morning, June 17, I will be leaving for Hanceville,Alabama, leading a week-long Eucharistic pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Shrine is at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, home of the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration established by Mother Angelica in 1962. It is into this religious community that our parishioner, Katie Buss, will be entering July 16. Please pray for all the pilgrims and for me as their spiritual director, that it will be an occasion of many blessings and graces. You will be specially remembered in my prayers at this holy place.