Tag Archive for: updates

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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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Pet Blessing 24

Join us for our 2024 Pet Blessing

In keeping with tradition, we will be remembering St. Francis of Assisi, with a drive-thru Pet Blessing at Noon on Sunday, October 6th at St. Louis Church, 13207 County Trunk G, Caledonia.
If you have any questions, please call the parish office at 262-835-4533 for more details.
Visit our pet blessing page for event photos, etc.
We hope you and your furry & fluffy family members can join us! 🐾🦜🐕🐈‍⬛🐇
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Pastor Update

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.

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Pastor Update

Dear Friends of NW Racine parishes,

It has been a month since we got into the boat together and started sailing. We are so happy that He is with us and He is not sleeping yet. Your prayers and support keep Him up in our boat.

Fr. Marco and I would like to thank you for the warm welcome and the great support you have given.

We are so happy to be with you in this journey.

We have met with so many of you and had chances to listen to many as well. The Leadership team also has brought up some points to be addressed immediately. We know that in our busy lives we are not able to pay attention to all the details of everything and we forget things as well. We do understand the fact that the more we communicate, the less we really say, so it’s necessary to have periodic letters to keep everyone in the loop. We would encourage you to read the bulletins as well as it will have the updates published after each planning meeting. Some of the letters may have repetitions, please understand that they are for the new parishioners and the ones who missed the previous letters. We will use all the means to keep you in the loop as we work together in building up this NW Racine cluster more efficiently.

We would like to address some of the common questions that came up recently: 

  1. What are the immediate changes that we anticipate? And when?
    You have already seen some of the changes. Two priests for the four churches. The major changes for the year are the following: (a) One bulletin for the cluster. Plans are underway and will happen as soon as the initial process is complete. (b) New Mass Schedule. Effective on Saturday, November 30th we will have a new mass schedule. (c) One Pastoral Council. We will have one pastoral council for the cluster. The process of building one council will begin soon, so that they can work on making a vision and mission for the cluster. Hoping to have it done by January 2025. (d) One Staff for the cluster: Effective on July 1st. Decisions will be made by March 31st.
  2. Who is making the decisions?
    Most of you are aware of the Big planning team having four representatives from each parish. Their names and the areas they serve in the subcommittees have been published in the bulletins. If you haven’t seen them, please check July 21st bulletin. The subcommittee studies, in detail, the areas that pertain to their subcommittee and bring suggestions to the Big planning committee guided by the Archdiocesan Planning team. With the approval of the pastor decisions are made. The areas we need approval from the Archdiocese are done accordingly.
  3. Why do it?
    It’s a short question but long answer. It’s impossible to give all the details in this letter. The letter you have received from each pastor in the beginning of the planning process explains all the reasons why we do it. In case you missed it and if you would like to have that letter we can make it available through the parish office. Or you can approach the parish representatives and they will help you understand. In Short, less attendance and too many Masses, Clergy shortage, and Shortage of the resources.
  4. Are we going to close?
    No that is not in our thoughts right now.

We will keep you posted with updates as the planning committee meets.

Please feel free to talk to us with your concerns and ideas. Let us continue our journey trusting in Him who will save us from the winds and waves.

Blessings,

Fr. Thomas and Fr. Marco

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