St. John the Baptist Parish, Plum City, WI St. Joseph Parish, Arkansaw, WI
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PARISH STAFF Pastor: Very Reverend Joseph Okine-Quartey St. John the Baptist Parish, Plum City, WI Suzanne Brunner, Housekeeping, St. John the Baptist Rectory Dave Drier, Maintenance Director, St. Joseph St. Joseph Parish, Arkansaw, WI Gwen Glaus, Housekeeping, St. John the Baptist Church Vickie Hartung, Housekeeping, St. Joseph DECEMBER 13, 2020 Pete Helmueller, Maintenance Director, St. John the Baptist Dorothy Kopp, Bookkeeper Denise Pelzel, Secretary Aletha Pullen, Bulletin Editor Robyn Trannel, Director of Religions Education PARISH COUNCILS St. John the Baptist Parish Pastoral Council Connie Ahlers, Kevin Coulson, Peggy Gilles, Gwen Glaus, Sarah Hinrichs, Steve King, Dianne Lecheler, Terry Pelzel, Mike Rhiel, Audrey Ryan, Jacqui Steele, and *Dan Wieser (Chair) Parish Finance Council Lawrence Bechel, Marie Berger, Jeff Bergmann (Chair), *Todd Glaus, and Deb Radle St. Joseph Parish Pastoral Council Dave Anibas, Brad Bauer, Bud Bauer, David Drier (Chair), Gerald Leiffring, Linda Leiffring, Howard Martin, and Dennis Milliren Parish Finance Council *Jeff Brunner, *Dale Klein (Chair), and Sue Milliren *Corporate Board Members ORGANIZATIONS Holy Name Society Parish Council of Catholic Women Knights of Columbus St. Ann’s Altar Society BIRTHDAY & ANNIVERSARY BLESSINGS Elaine Hartung’s Birthday: 12/13 Bob Binkowski’s Birthday: 12/16 Felix Berger’s Birthday: 12/16 Dean Gilles’ Birthday: 12/17 Central Office, Rectory, and St. Joseph Catholic Church Bulletin Announcements St. John the Baptist Catholic Church W7805 County Road Z, Arkansaw, WI, 54721 [email protected] 212 Church Road, Plum City, 54761 [email protected] Bulletin Deadline: Monday Noon [email protected] Office: 715-647-2901 | Rectory: 715-647-2301 Follow us on Facebook for Live Stream Masses, Bulletins, and More! (The Parishes of St. John the Baptist & St. Joseph) THE GIFT OF JOY A farmer and his wife were hit by a bad situation which made it very difficult for them to make ends meet. They tried every means to live above their difficulties, but no better days came. Life got unbearable; happiness eluded them, but they had one thing - the spirit of prayer. As their difficulties multiplied, so were their temptation to curse God and the day of their birth. However, having been raised in the fear of God, they prayed, constantly begging God neither to let them be too poor as to curse him nor too rich as to forsake him. Every day, they prayed for their daily bread, lifted their lives into his hands, and asked at least to be happy and satisfied with their lot. One day they had the chance to welcome three elderly strangers to their home. As fate would have it, the couple was supposed to accommodate only one of them in accord with their priorities. They hosted the three men to a meal prepared from their scarce victuals. After the meal was the time for choice. The strangers introduced themselves as the angel of wealth, the angel of happiness, and the angel of love. After battling over the choice of either wealth or happiness, they decided to accommodate the angel of love. To their surprise, wealth and happiness followed their choice of love and the couple lived ever joyfully after. They constantly rejoiced in their love and love conquered in all the battles they had to fight in life. Dear friends, this Sunday is Gaudete Sunday. As the name implies, Gaudete means Rejoice and so the liturgy calls us to a life full of joy. It is in the spirit of joy that we light the rose candle of our advent wreath. It is in the same spirit that the priest dons the rose vestments. We rejoice because the Lord whose coming we await is the only source of our joy. He is our God who is love. We choose him when we choose to love and love spells out the abundance of wealth and joy. Pope Francis once laid out a beautiful distinction between joy and happiness when he said that to be happy is good, but joy is something more. There is one thing being happy and another thing being joyful. Whereas the former has external undertones, the latter does not depend on external motivations or transient issues. Joy, according to the Holy Father, is more profound, it is a gift. The Pope intimated that to be happy at all moments, at all costs, can, in the end, turn to superficiality and shallowness in the Lord, which robs us of Christian wisdom and makes us as dumb and naïve as to think that all is joy. Joy is a gift, a given from God, the God who is himself the source of our true joy. Gaudete Sunday thus reminds us that in the difficulties of life, we need not be afraid, because our God comes, he comes with might, his recompense is with him, he comes to save us, he comes to give us joy. Ours is to give our lives to him no matter what. Ours is to rejoice in him always. Our kindness should be known to all because the Lord is near. We should have no anxiety at all; rather in all things, let us by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make our requests known to God. So the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Gaudete Sunday then must be a moment to stop and reflect on the source of true joy. If in this season of Advent, we have been chasing happiness like chasing the wind, then lighting the rose candle is an opportunity to refocus on the fact that Christmas is about joy to the world. Joy because every heart prepares a room to receive the King whose love makes us wealthy and truly happy. Have a joy-filled week Fr. Joseph Okine-Quartey THAT MAN IS YOU “That Man Is You” program meets this Friday, December 18th from 6:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. on the first floor of St. John the Baptist’s School Building. The topic for week twelve is The Battle Against The ADVENT CONFESSION SERVICE Dictatorship of Noise. Please wear a mask. All men Wednesday, December 16th from 6:30 p.m. until all confessions are heard. are welcome to attend. If you have any questions, please contact Dan Wieser at (715) 279-2152 or Tom CHRISTMAS MASSES Pullen at (607) 244-3010. Thanks! St. Joseph: December 24th at 3:00 p.m. St. John’s: December 24th at 4:30 p.m. YEAR END GIVING St. John’s: December 25th at 9:00 a.m. Please note, due to IRS tax laws, all contributions for We will have sign up for each of these Masses with an attendance of 25 2020 must be received by Thursday, 12/31/2020. Any people at St. Joseph’s and 60 people at each Mass at St. John the Baptist. mailed contributions must be postmarked by 12/31/2020 To attend Mass at St. Joseph’s, please call Linda Lieffring at 715-285-5285 in order to be reported for 2020 contributions. Any or Vickie Hartung at 715-285-5219. To attend Mass at St. John the envelopes received in 2020 will be counted for 2020. Baptist, please call Denise at 715-495-4883 or Peggy at 715-495-3199. Thank you for the continued support of our parishes. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church • Page 2 • St. Joseph Catholic Church MASS SCHEDULE & DAILY READINGS ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISHIONERS Parish Christmas Tree Monday: December 14 - St. John of the Cross We will be having a Parish Christmas tree again this year. If you • No Mass would like to purchase an ornament for the tree, please do so and • Readings: Nm 24:2-7, 15-17a/Ps 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9 [4]/ place it in the baskets at each entrance of the Church. Mt 21:23-27 Tuesday: December 15 LITURGICAL ROLES: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST • Mass: 8:30 a.m., St. John the Baptist - Bill Newcomb Money Counting Rosary • Readings: Zep 3:1-2, 9-13/Ps 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 and 23 [7a]/ Wed., December 16, 9:00 a.m. Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. Mt 21:28-32 Denise Pelzel, Teresa Fedie, Holy Name Society Wednesday: December 16 & Steve King Servers • Mass: 8:30 a.m., St. John the Baptist - Darlene Dettling Announcements & Lector Sun., December 20, 8:00 a.m. Sun., December 20, 8:00 a.m. Gary Lecheler • Readings: Is 45:6b-8, 18, 21c-25/ Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14 [Is 45:8]/Lk 7:18b-23 Theresa Kane Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. Bristal & Cooper Books Thursday: December 17 Ryan Trannel Usher • Mass: 8:30 a.m., St. John the Baptist - Clarence & Loretta Jilk Extraordinary Minister Sun., December 20, 8:00 a.m. • Readings: Gn 49:2, 8-10/Ps 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17 [cf. 7]/Mt 1:1-17 Sun., December 20, 8:00 a.m. Pete Helmueller & Peggy Gilles Chad Steele Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. Friday: December 18 Ramona Schneider Dan Wieser & Terry Pelzel • Mass: 8:30 a.m., St. John the Baptist - Ray & Lucille Budewitz Music • Readings: Jer 23:5-8/Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19 [cf. 7]/Mt 1:18-25 Sun., December 20, 8:00 a.m. Bob & JoAnn Larson Saturday: December 19 Sun., December 20, 10:15 a.m. • Mass: 8:30 a.m., St. John the Baptist - Ollia Fay Caturia Arleen Ebensperger & • Mass: 4:00 p.m., St.