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

Dear Parishioners:

We hope you’re doing well and enjoying our beautiful summer. Our children are back in school, and both parents and teachers, are working together to support each other to make lives easier. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your continued support in our journey. We have accomplished a lot over the last two months. Though it was a little tight with many meetings it’s worthwhile. This letter is to let you know about the important updates in our clustering process. Please take time to read it carefully, since it reflects important changes.

One Bulletin for the NW Parishes
The awaited one bulletin is becoming a reality beginning September 15, 2024. This will make the communication among the parishes easier. We will have an 8 page bulletin. Each parish will have their own page. Your feedback will be welcomed to make our bulletin better.

Office Location
We are going to one location for our parish offices effective, October 1st 2024. The office location will be at St. Paul’s, where we are blessed with enough space to accommodate all of our staff. The Planning Committee which met on August 14th 2024, has approved the necessary changes in the office space usage and the change of location. The Cascia Hall (the monastery building at St. Rita’s) situation and the necessity of working together as a team, accelerates this transition. Though the building is secure at St. Mary by the Lake, just one staff at that location doesn’t serve the purpose. The leadership, and everyone involved, are being consulted and they all understand the situation and the importance of being in one location. The staff will keep their same positions and job descriptions until the end of the fiscal year. At that time, we will have the design for the cluster staffing.

How do these changes affect Parishioners?
Moving our staff to one location will not affect parishioners or parish life. You will still use the same phone numbers to call your parish, to set up masses and address any other need you have. There will be a drop box for envelopes in the respective parishes. For funeral planning and your other needs, the convenience of the parishioners will be respected. We already have a working system between St. Paul and St. Louis. So, details for funerals and other parishioner needs should be easy to figure out.

New Weekend Mass Schedule

Saturday:
St.Paul the Apostle: 4:00PM
St.Rita: 4:30PM

Sunday:
St. Louis: 8:00AM
St. Mary: 8:30AM
St.Paul: 10:00AM
St.Rita: 10:30AM

The Subcommittee, after due process with the Planning Committee, submitted their proposal for the new weekend schedule. The Planning Committee, aware of the pros and cons of this new Mass schedule, unanimously approved the proposal. The new Mass schedule will be in effect beginning, November 30th 2024.

We know change is not easy. But we must do what is best for our parish and our staff. Though we are losing three weekend masses in the NW cluster, we believe we have chosen mass times close together, with enough space in each location. This Mass schedule change will help us priests to abide with the rules of the number of masses we can celebrate in a weekend, and this change allows the priests time to spend with parishioners after mass, without rushing to another church. It will also help us to be present in each of the other three parishes every other week. We really appreciate your sacrifice and willingness to adapt to the new realities. Let’s try to continue to be more positive.

Weekday Masses
We will continue the existing schedule for the weekday masses except, a slight change at St. Rita’s for Thursday school mass. The mass will be at 8:15AM, as the school has requested.
Holy day of obligation
Schedule will be published in advance based on the day of the week.

Pastoral Council
One of our goals this year is to form one Pastoral Council for the cluster. The Planning Committee felt the need to form one council at the earliest so that they can work on the vision and mission of our cluster. By the end of December 2024, the current pastoral council will cease and the new Pastoral Council will be formed. Two members from each of the existing councils will be discerned for the new council. Along with them two trustees from each parish will form the new council which will come into effect in January 2025.

Their terms will be determined and after 18 months a normal election process will take place, to replace the outgoing members.

We know that this is a lot to understand now. But if we don’t let you know about these decisions right away, rumors can kill the right information. Feel free to talk to us with your questions and feedback. Once again, we really appreciate your patience, support and understanding.

Peace,
Fr. Thomas and Fr. Marco.