FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Catholic Parishes of July 12, 2020 St. Patrick’s & St. John’s

319 WEST MAIN ST. SPARTA, WI 54656 & 16585 KELLOGG AVE NORWALK, WI 54648

FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCIES OR LAST RITES please call: (608) 633-2192

PARISH CLERGY Rev. Eric Berns, Pastor Office (608) 269-2655 Rev. Fernando Lara Hernández Ph. (608) 790-1316 Church address - 118 South K St.

FAITH FORMATION DIRECTOR (100 South L St.) Charlie Burnett, DRE Attendance Phone: (608) 269-4748

RECTORY (608) 269-2655 Fax: (608) 269-0245 319 W. Main Street Website: http://stpatricksparish.weconnect.com Trisha McCoy, Admin. Asst. email: [email protected] Martha Kudick, Secretary email: [email protected]

SCHOOL (Pre-school thru Grade 8) (608) 269-4748 E-mail: [email protected] Assistant Principal: Lori Lazzari Website: SpartaCatholic.org Office - 100 South L St.

CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST Saturday: 4:30pm St. Patrick’s Saturday: St. John the Baptist, Summit Ridge is suspended until further notice Sunday: 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am 1:00pm & 6:00pm (Spanish)

RECONCILIATION: Live and Pre-recorded Masses Are Available St. Patrick's Fridays: 11am-Noon Saturdays: 3:00-4:00pm & by appointment Please note that live and pre-recorded Sunday Mass is available

CELEBRATION OF SACRAMENTS via diolc.org, the diocesan YouTube channel, Facebook and televised on the following channels: Baptisms: Baptisms can be celebrated year round. Please call the Rectory to register for Baptism Preparation. Eau Claire, Channel 18 at 9:30 a.m. Sunday Marriages: Arrangements need to be made at least six months La Crosse, Channel 19 at 9:30 a.m. Sunday prior to the wedding date. Please contact the Rectory to begin Marshfield (Public Access), Channel 989 at 10:30 a.m. & your Marriage Preparation. Weddings are not celebrated during 5:30 p.m. Sunday the season of Lent. Stevens Point (Public Access), Channel 984 at Noon & BULLETIN Article DEADLINE: 9:00am, Monday 5:30 p.m. Saturday unless noted in bulletin for early submissions due to Wausau (Cable and Satellite), Channel 12 at 6:30 a.m. Sunday Wausau (Public Access), Channel 980 at 6:00 p.m. Saturday & holiday. 9:00 a.m. Sunday Wisconsin Rapids (Public Access), Channel 985 & Channel 3 at 6:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. Sunday Mass Schedule

Sun. July 12th Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8:00am Mass:
Parishioners of St. Patrick’s and St. John’s. 9:30am Mass:
Robert and Margaret Walser and Paul Walser. 11:00am Mass:
Ray and Irene Raimer. 1:00pm Mass: Spanish. 6:00pm Mass: Spanish.

Fri. July 17th Weekday. 11:00am-Noon: Adoration and Benediction 6:00pm: Adoration followed by Mass (Spanish).

Sat. July 18th Vigil. 4:30pm Mass:
Clayton Schmitz and Henry Dickman Family. 6:00pm Mass: Spanish. 8:00pm Mass: (St. John’s)
Willard and Betty (Brueggen) Donskey.

Sun. July 19th Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8:00am Mass:
Sohpia Moe. 9:30am Mass:
Parishioners of St. Patrick’s and St. John’s. Why Do We Do That? 11:00am Mass:
First Holy Communion. Catholic Life Explained 1:00pm Mass: Spanish. Why do Catholics baptize babies? 6:00pm Mass: Spanish.

Question: Why do Catholics baptize babies?

School News Answer: For adults who want to be baptized, the celebration Calendar Winners only takes place after a long, guided, and thoughtful process 7/1/20 Sue May Green Bay through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. This is also true 7/2/20 Ruth and Ralf Zielinski Sparta for many Protestant Christians, who are baptized later in life, of- ten after a personal, transforming religious experience. So, it seems fair to ask why our Catholic tradition includes infant bap- New Date for First Holy Communion tism. After all, if we make adults who want to become Catholic wait months and even years as they grow in their understanding We are setting a new date for First Holy Com- of Christ and his teachings, why should babies — who “do noth- munion. It will be Sunday, July 19th at the ing” — be baptized? 11AM Mass. Rehearsal will be Saturday, July 18 at 10AM. The church is still permitted Our custom of infant baptism dates back to the earliest days of only 25% of capacity, so we ask that you in- the Church, when St. Paul baptized entire households, including, clude immediate family only at the Mass on the nineteenth. If a we presume, children (see Acts 16:15, 33; 18:8). That had be- family has a conflict with this date please respond to this email come common practice by the second century. When Christianity and Fr. Eric can arrange an alternative for you. A follow-up mes- was legalized 200 years later, infant baptism became the normal sage with specific information will be sent to all families soon. practice throughout the Church. Thank you for your patience. We recognize that in Baptism, we are given the grace to over- come original sin — the human tendency to choose ourselves and our own wills over God — and to become members of the Church. This is the gift we give to infants in Baptism.

Join us For Mass In its essence, the baptism of infants also reminds us adult Christians that the gift of salvation and membership in the Church (i.e., the Body of Christ) is God’s initiative. It is freely offered to us, regardless of where we might be in life’s journey. Salvation isn’t something we earn. Instead, we see that Baptism is the be- ginning of a lifelong process of growing into the kind of disciples that Jesus wants us to be.

To learn more, see the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (no. St Patrick’s Parish: 1250-1252 and 1262-1270). ©LPi Saturday: 4:30pm Sunday: 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am St. John the Baptist Summit Ridge Parish Saturday: 8:00pm From the Desk of Fr. Eric

I'm finishing up a book I've been writing off and on for about ten years now, a modest little history of a resort built in the 1940's on the site of an earlier logging operation at the northern end of Minnesota. It is the only historic location in the area without a book writ- ten about it. The place is in Voyageurs National Park. The novelty of my writing is that it began with signatures. I was able to track down vacationers who stayed at the resort and signed the wall of a building seventy years ago. They shared with me names and de- tailed stories and original pictures, putting me in the unique position to write the story from their first-hand perspective. As I tracked down these vacationers, I took out an ad in the weekly newspaper of a small town in Nebraska back in 2013. The town was mentioned in two of the old signatures on the icehouse wall. I got a phone call from a wildly excited Jerry B., who stumbled across my ad over his breakfast. He never signed the wall, but he had spent nine years going to this particular resort from his childhood, capping it off with a summer he spent there cleaning fish. We began a friendship that involved regular phone conversations that went on over an hour. He was delightful conversation, and I think Jerry found in me a link to a happier time in his life. By the time our friendship began in 2013, he'd had both his legs amputated above the knee. And he was all alone, with only one local friend that he would only talk with over the phone on occasion. Jerry and I made plans to meet in the fall of 2017 up in Voyageurs Park, and we were planning to visit together the abandoned resort so rich with his memories. He would have to hire a driver as he had no one and was unable to fly. He would not let me assist with his expenses, but he would call me often with an excited update about how he was saving money for this historic trip.

Then he called me one morning to tell me the doctors were saying that his body was declining, and he was scared. Our conversations turned to spiritual matters after that day. He had a Methodist upbringing but told me that he had no religious practice or habits of prayer throughout his life. Now eternity loomed near, and suddenly an old resort didn't seem so important. Our conversations intensified when he called me from a hospital and then a nursing home in great pain, telling me he was afraid of dying. I talked with him about the Gospel and heaven, and Jerry was able to say in words that he believed in salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Sav- ior. That he was sorry for all the sins of his life. I told him to be at peace, that Jesus is full of mercy, and that I was praying for him. Then I didn't hear from him, and I was unable to reach him for more than two weeks. Then a call came from his closest acquaint- ance, a retired professor, telling me Jerry had died. This was a matter of months before Jerry and I were to finally meet in person in Voyageurs Park. I asked about funeral arrangements. There were none, except that Jerry had left only one instruction. "Send me ashes to my priest friend in Wisconsin. He'll know what to do."

So the first thing I did was offer a Memorial Mass one Monday morning for Jerry's eternal repose after informing parishioners about it. Seventy-five people came. I told them about Jerry and about our last conversations, and I was moved by the sincere prayers of the holy people at that Mass. Then I carried his ashes north to his special place, blessed the ground, and prayed the Church's commit- al prayers as I laid him to rest near the building with the signatures of people who had vacationed there but are no longer in this world. I marked the place with a rock. Last week I carved a grave marker which I will place just under the surface of the ground at Jerry's burial place....public burials are rather frowned upon in that place.

I’ve been thinking more about Jerry and the way our beautiful Lord works in wonderful ways. This is a discouraging time that we are in. It's weighing on us. Life isn't easy, especially these days. Visiting the old abandoned resort and all the signatures and Jerry re- minds me that this world is passing. Jesus and his kingdom are not passing. Keeping my eyes fixed on the Lord, and staying rooted in prayer, I remember that the last mention of my service to your parish will be in my obituary. Know where I write my signature most often? On paychecks. Those signatures--so important to us in this life--will be the first to disappear. Know where my signature will last the longest? In your parish sacramental records of people I have baptized , married and buried. It's timely that Jesus speaks in these Sunday gospels about the Kingdom of Heaven. Believing in that kingdom has taken on a whole new perspective for me.

Yours, Fr. Eric 215 North Black River Street Alan J. Domeyer D.D.S. Supporting Catholic Churches 311 Jefferson Ave. Call us for all your heating & cooling needs in Jones Plaza 608-269-5008 Sparta, WI 911 W. Wisconsin Street, Sparta 269-2556 www.spartafamilydentist.com 608-269-5757 Phone: 608-269-1500 Tomah Granite The power of personal attention working for you. Service Plus ® Heating & Cooling Denise L. Halverson, AAMS Company Financial Advisor Sparta Monuments - Markers Providers of Quality Physical & 2101 West Wisconsin Street, Suite C “It’s hard to stop a Trane!” Lettering Occupational Therapy Services Sparta, WI 54656 Thanks for your Patronage 501 W. Wisconsin St. 608-269-9136 George Mack 269-1818 372-6200 Sparta, WI 54656 608-269-0555 www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC B. ANDERSON EXCAVATING LLC …”If it’s not perfect, All Your Excavating Needs Black Dirt, Grading, Backfilling, Digging of Basements & Water it’s not finished!” Lines, Septics, Demolition, Site & Lawn Work, Gravel Products Available, Driveways & Waterways, Snowplowing & Sanding Brian Anderson 1501 W Wisconsin Street, Sparta (608) 374-3019 (608) 269-4289 • Gr8buyauto.com (608) 797-3519

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