Dear Friends:

Welcome to St. Mary’s Visitation, Elm Grove. St. Mary’s Visitation parish has been serving Catholic believers in this area for over 160 years. It is a long and noble history. Pioneer priests, pioneer Notre Dame religious sisters and pioneer believers have all contributed to the strength of faith that graces this parish.

We continue in their footsteps. Cars have replaced horse and buggy. Text messaging and e-mail have superseded word of mouth over fences and gatherings at the village feed mill. However, the faith that people share remains the same. The commitment to the parish remains strong. From the two dozen pioneer founders of the parish, we now boast some 1450 families who form our parish community.

Imagine the responses of those early believers if they could see the noble buildings that are located in the places they trod! This last year has witnessed two great additions: the parish Atrium, a worthy place for the People of God to gather and share faith, goodwill and hospitality, and the new entrance to the school, reaching out to welcome eager young scholars to the journey of faith and knowledge.

A new kind of pioneer spirit faces our parish at this time. New faces and new charisms continue to help St. Mary’s Visitation to build on its strong legacy of solid faith. St. Augustine long ago wrote that the church, in the person of Jesus Christ, is “semper antiqua et semper nova” – always ancient and always new. We look forward with confidence that the Holy Spirit will continue to shepherd us into the Kingdom.

We are known as “St. Mary’s Visitation”. The hospitable moment shared between Mary and Elizabeth is echoed in the greetings that are shared by parishioners as they assemble each week for our prayer together. Sunday worship is augmented by many other forms of worship and service. Our school, itself 150 years old, provides an excellent education as well as quality formation in our Catholic faith. Many other programs that appreciate our heritage as well as the needs of contemporary believers keep us alive in spirit.

From young to old, St. Mary’s strives to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ into daily life at home, at school, in the workplace and in the neighborhood. Our beautiful church building, contemporary and classic at the same time, is an image of the life of the parish itself. As the great wooden beams arch toward the heavens, our prayers are lifted up to God in faith, in hope and in love.

On behalf of the whole parish community, welcome. I hope you find the pages of this website informative. If there is any way that we can be of service to you, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Fr. Laurin J. Wenig