June 20, 2021

​Two weekends ago, we had mentioned at the weekend Masses that most (but not all) diocesan guidelines and restrictions on parish life have been removed.  One of the most notable of those guidelines had to do with the number of people allowed at each Mass.  We developed the current weekend Mass schedule in light of the capacity limits we were under a year ago, which was to maintain attendance at 25% capacity in the church.  Now that all capacity and distance requirements have been removed, we can use the church to its fullest capacity.  In light of this we are going to make one adjustment to the weekend Mass schedule and one change beginning the weekend of July 3rd/4th.  The adjustment will be that the current 8:45 AM Mass will move to 9:00 AM.  The change is that we will be combining the 10:00 AM and 11:15 AM Mass into a new Mass time: 10:30 AM.  Our hope is that this new time will neither be too late for those who have been going to the 10:00 AM Mass, nor too early for those going to the 11:15 AM Mass.  The rest of the Sunday Mass schedule will stay as is.  In addition, this weekend will be the last weekend we will be broadcasting the Mass into the Atrium.
 
Daily Masses will continue at the usual 6:30 time Monday through Friday with an 8:00 Mass on Saturday mornings.  It is our hope that the school Masses will once again be open to the public when school resumes in Fall.  We are also adding a 10:00 Traditional Latin Mass on First Saturdays.  Confession times will remain as they currently are.  
 
I thank everyone for their patience as we have navigated the ups and downs of this past year, it has certainly been challenging for all of us, but God, in His mercy, has helped us to make it through.  Of course, God has also used human tools to help make it possible – so I want to thank the Parish and School Staffs who have worked so hard over this year to adjust things and still to accomplish good work.  I also want to thank Deacon Richard Piontek and Deacon Dick Niggemann who have been willing to step in and lend a hand wherever needed over the course of this year.  Finally, I want to also officially welcome Fr. Patrick Behling our new Associate Pastor, who began this week and also to point out that we are blessed to have Deacon Matthew Kirk as our Seminarian Intern with us in a particular way over the course of this summer – we look forward to his ordination to the priesthood in May of next year. 
 
The summer has certainly hit us with some hot and humid weather right off the bat – from the furnace to the air conditioner in a matter of days as it so often is in Wisconsin, but with the coming of the summer, I hope and pray that these months are times of rest and family and friends and joy, and, most especially, an ever deepening awareness of the depths of God’s love.   
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