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Pastor Update – Lent 2025

Dear Friends,

Lent is here. This Wednesday, we will mark our foreheads with ashes, proclaiming to the Lord and to the world that we repent of our sins and are ready to do penance for our shortcomings. As the priest or minister places the ashes on our foreheads, we are reminded: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” But are we prepared to embrace this call willingly and purposefully?

Before we enter into Lent, we must prepare our hearts for it. Let us take these days to reflect on our lives, especially the past year, and make a plan for this sacred season. In life, we recognize the need for pauses—whether for rest, reflection, renewal, or repair—so that we can perform better. Lent is precisely such a time. It invites us to withdraw from our busy schedules and spend time with the Lord, who will guide us to focus on the areas we need to improve. This season is an opportunity to bridge gaps, heal wounds, and strengthen our relationships with
both God and others.

There is no single path that works for everyone. Each of us must discern what will bring us closer to God. But one thing is certain no one else can do it for us. As we begin this Lenten journey, let us place our trust in the Lord and ask for the grace to emerge as better, more faithful people—ready to celebrate Holy Week and Easter with renewed hearts.

Blessings on your Lenten journey!

Fr. Thomas Vathappallil
Pastor

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Winter Fest Thank You

Just a quick thank you to all that attended, volunteered and donated to make our event a success. We really appreciate it. We will soon be presenting a check to HALO with the money raised from Winter Fest 2025.

Take a look at some of the photos from our event.

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Winter Fest

Please join us for Winter Fest – February 16th – 11:00AM – 4:00 PM at St. Louis Parish.

There will be Kids games, a basket raffle & meat raffle.

We will have pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, coffee & hot chocolate.

Sponsored by Confirmation candidates of St. Mary By the Lake Catholic Church, St. Louis Catholic Church, St. Rita Catholic Church and St Paul the Apostle Catholic Church Racine.

For more details contact the parish office at: (262) 835-4533

We hope you can join us!
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Come to the Manger

Religious Education students and teachers presented their Christmas Program, Sunday, December 22nd following the 8:00 Mass.
It was a wonderful time for the children as they shared the story of the birth of Jesus through words and song!
They really helped tell the story of the nativity and make “Come to the Manger” come alive!

Take a look at some of the photos from our program.

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Stories of the Advent Wreath

A Big thank you to our Confirmation Class (and Randy Hughes) for sharing the stories of the Advent Wreath and St. Nicholas with our elementary and middle school students.
What a great night we had listening to these stories! In the spirit of St. Nicholas, we continued the evening, making Advent wreaths and crafts that have been given to Primrose Retirement and Assisted Living Community.
“Give with an open heart, expect nothing in return”

Take a look at some of the photos from our event.

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Saint Scavenger Hunt

Students travel the room seeking to learn about some of the heroes of our Catholic faith. They then listened to the middle school/ high school student share a short story about their saint. They tried to guess which saint the student was speaking about choosing from their Saint Scavenger Hunt list. They received a token to help remember the saint.

A big thank you to our middle school and high school students for providing a great learning experience for our younger students with a saint scavenger hunt!

The students had so much fun, future saints in the making!

Take a look at some of the photos from our event.

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Pastor Update

Dear Parishioners,

The readings of the weekend focus on marriage. One of the most beautiful things I enjoy seeing is very elderly
couples walking together holding their hands. Definitely it is not that easy to have a very long married life. It
needs God’s blessings and a lot of sacrifice. When I bless the couples on their milestone anniversaries I normally
say that your life is your message. According to a statistic I read a few years back, the divorce rate in our country
is 43%. We have to try our best to keep our families safe from all kinds of damage. Definitely keeping our Lord
as the center of our family is very important to achieve that goal. I normally bring this in the wedding homilies. A
former Judges was asked to give a piece of advice to a newly married couple. He said; I have only one thing to
say. Don’t ever try to make your home a court room, rather make it a confessional. In the courtroom everyone
tries to say I am right and you are wrong. In the confessional everyone says I am sorry, my mistake. If you can
practice this, you will be successful in your married life. This is very practical and let us keep that in our mind as
we meditate up on this topic today. Let us also pray for all the families going through tough times in their relationships.

I would also like to answer one more important question that comes from many people these days.

What about the festivals in our parishes?

This question was asked by many and we don’t have a clear answer to all the questions. Many of the answers are evolving as we have a few more meetings to go to figure out the details. Yes, we have decided to have one festival in our NW parishes. We know that St. Louis had one in the past and we didn’t have enough volunteers to run it and had to cancel last year. The only remaining one was St. Rita festival. We will continue to have a festival at St. Rita’s. We may have a new name. But as part of the collaboration there are people from all the parishes also ready to volunteer. So, we will have more discussions to make it more collaborative by figuring out certain percentage of the income being shared by all the parishes in the cluster on the basis of the number of volunteers from those parishes etc. Again, we haven’t figured it out. They are being discussed. When we have clarity, we will let you know.

I am happy to see the collaboration in all the other events as well. Volunteers from the other parishes in cluster had already stepped in to help last year at St. Rita festival. We could see that with Chicken Dinner at St. Louis too. Those are the great opportunities for us to come together as one community and have fun. Going forward I would like to see at least one more social event that brings all communities together. We will plan them in the future.

Before winding up let me express my gratitude to all of our staff members and leaders for making the dream of one office location a reality for us. It makes it much easier for all of us to be more productive in our daily work. I am sure that everyone understands the importance of this move and help us with the inconvenience it might bring to a few of our people.

Peace,

Fr. Thomas Vathappallil
Pastor
Pastor NW parishes of Racine

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Pet Blessing 24 Thank You

Thank you for joining us for our 2024 Pet Blessing

Thank you to everyone that came out to our annual pet blessing yesterday. The weather was amazing and our event had great attendance starting right at 12:00pm with over 25 cars. A wide variety of dogs and cats were blessed. A special thank you to Deacon Jim and Kathy & Deacon Keith for your continued time, your blessings and for all of the puppy treats handed out as well. 🐾❤️⛪️
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Pastor Update

Dear Parishioners,

I would like to answer a few more questions that came up these days.

Why do priests need a reserved parking space?
We have multiple parishes and run from one mass to another. If something is going on in a parish and if we are a
little late we don’t have to hunt for a parking space at the last minute and that helps us to start Mass on time. People
can notice the presence and absence of the priests as well. Please understand that it is for convenience not to show
the clerical primacy as some may interpret.

Why can’t we count money in our own parishes?
When we move our offices in to one location it is safe and secure to do it in the office. That makes it easier for the staff also. St. Louis has been doing it at St. Paul’s for the past few years. If we don’t do it for the other parishes, first of all it won’t do justice to them and the security and safety are compromised. We cannot go back in the collaboration; rather we have to go forward. We are aware of the inconvenience it may cause to a few volunteers. You have been a great blessing over the years.

We deeply appreciate your willingness to adapt to the new routine. Your sacrifice is very valuable. The days of counting and the time etc. will be decided after due consultation with people in charge. Thank you so much.

Can we drop the envelopes in the other parishes in the cluster during the Mass?
Yes. I would like to repeat the same explanation that was in the bulletin on 9/15. It doesn’t matter which church you attend mass in our cluster, you are free to drop your envelope and it will be counted in the respective parishes. There is no way to track the offertory cash unless you put it in an envelope and mark the name of the parish it should go to.

Once again, I appreciate your support and feedback. When you ask the questions, it helps to clarify things for many other people as well.

Thank you so much.

Blessings,

Fr. Thomas Vathappallil
Pastor NW parishes of Racine

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Pastor Update

Dear Friends:

I am extremely grateful to you for your support and understanding as we continue figuring out the ways of collaboration. We are so happy to answer all the questions that come to us for better understanding. The following are the questions that came up in the last week and the ones we receive after this goes to print will be answered in the following weeks.

Can we have funerals in our parishes?

Yes. Everything remains the same. If the funeral family would like to meet the priest for the funeral planning in the parish office which is located at St. Paul, they are welcome. If they would like to meet in the respective church where the funeral takes place we will meet with them in that location. If they are too elderly and cannot drive or for any other health reasons if they would like us to meet them in their residence please let us know and we will make arrangements for that as well.

Do you visit parishioners for their sacramental needs and blessings?

Yes, we do. Please call the parish office. We will get back to you and make arrangements for you. Volunteers will bring you communion and if you or your dear ones needs confession/the anointing of the sick/last rites/house blessing, one of the priests will come to you based on the availability of the priests.

Can we still call the same parish number?

Yes, you can still call the number you used to call. Only the location changes. Nothing else.

I lost my Mass time, am I going to lose my church?

If you still come to church, and as long as we can keep the building open, you will not lose your church. Should you decide otherwise and the church is going to be empty, we can’t keep it open then there will be no other option, so it’s up to you. I lost my Mass time, can I serve in the other parishes which have closer Mass times? Yes, every parish in our cluster needs more people to serve. So respective leaders in each parish in our cluster would be happy to have more people to serve in the areas like choir, ushers, lectors, communion ministers etc.

Any Changes for the Office Hours?

We don’t have a plan to change the office hours that we follow at St. Paul. The office hours will be Monday through Thursday 8:00 to 3:00. When we figure out the new staff positions and hours, if we need to make changes it will be revisited.

We would like to know how the changes affects Love One Another case study at St. Rita’s?

The LOA money portion for St. Rita will never be used for anything destructive or negative purposes. It will be used for something positive and creative for St. Rita parish with the permission of the Archdiocese.

Once again, I appreciate your support and understanding.

Blessings,

Fr. Thomas Vathappallil
Pastor NW parishes of Racine

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