Merry Christmas December 20, 2020 SAINT ANNE & SAINT JOSEPH ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 2 Christmas Letter from Fr. Joseph Joy to the World! In just 4-5 days we will be celebrating Christmas, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who would ever imagine that God would love us so much that he would become one of us in his Son, Jesus? God’s love for us is, we could say, crazy and makes no sense. Therefore, I would call Christmas is a celebration of God’s love for us. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says that Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; Love is not ill mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; Love is not happy with evil, but happy with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, Love never gives up….. Love is eternal. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) What a wonderful saying of Paul it is about love. There is a beautiful meditation song in my mother tongue (Telugu) on this say- ing of Paul about love and I love listening to it in the mornings as part of my meditation, some- times. When I look back into my life – being born in a poor family in India I have experienced a lot as a child what it is to be living in poverty. I still remember that it was my school teachers who bought me school uniform, books and paid of my school fee for some years until I completed my 10th grade. I don’t want to share everything in detail - may be in the future when time permits I can give a great witness to God’s love in my life. There are pleasant and unpleasant moments, some scary things, difficulties, hardships – we know that life is not easy but let us remember that God is with us all through this. He will never ever abandon us because He loves us. No matter what happens in life, how difficult our life seems to be – keep moving forward because our God is always with us. This is my message to you for this Christmas. It’s more than a year since I have come to our parishes. This is going to be my second Christmas with you. Thank you for all that you are to me. Your love, care and support – it’s awesome. I know that you consider me as one of your family. Keep doing that! You are very loving and caring and you love your priests. I am happy here and I love to be here as your priest. Thank you for every- thing that you are to me. Special thanks to all our cutest little angels of our parishes (children) for being an inspiration to me with their cute and innocent smiles. My thanks to all of you who have been faithful parishioners, for all you do even through the tough times. It is with humble joy that I give thanks for the honor of serving you as your priest. May our Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, bless you, your families at this blessed time of hope and grace. May Mary, the Mother of the Child Jesus and our Mother, watch over you and our beloved parishes. Know that God always loves you. Love you all! May God Bless you now and always. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Father Joseph 3 S AINT A NNE The Sanctuary Candle The sanctuary candle at St. Sharing and Caring Tree for the St. Croix County Anne burns the month of December in memory of Ei- Nursing Home. THANK YOU to everyone who donat- leen Thompson by Family. ed to the residents of the nursing home. What joy and love you shared with them. May God bless you and your families. Thank you for your generosity! Christmas Decorating TODAY ~ Please consider helping decorate the Church for Christmas on Sunday, December 20th after the 11:00 am mass. We will have refreshments when the work is al- most done. Hope to see you there. Thank you in Our Facebook Page advance. St. Anne’s Catholic Church– Eucharistic Adoration ~ Eucharistic Adoration at St. Anne Somerset, Wisconsin will be on Thurs., January 7th. It will begin with Exposition of the Blessed Sac- rament at 9am and concludes with Bene- diction on Friday at 9am. What is T4T ~ T4T stands for Today for Tomorrow. It was started a while ago. The fund is meant to be used for projects that arise in the Parish. We take this col- lection each week and put it into a savings account and Please like and follow for the weekend it isn't used except for special needs. Some of the Mass & other information things the T4T has helped with is the stain glass window project, the new roof on the church and the crack filling and sealing of the parking lots. Prayer Request ~ Please remember Cynthia Jenkins, Carol Krenz, Ann Austreng, Andy Vanasse, Betty Silbernagel, No- End of the year giving ~ The end of the year is fast lan Milton, Ann Grahovac, Scott Plourde, Ava Pattschull, approaching and many of you like to give additional Jodi Jansen, Sean Springer & Dave McCluskey from our funds to the parish so it can be added to your given parish family who are in need of our prayers. If you would statement. Any giving that you want to be included on like to be listed in the bulletin please call the parish office. this year’s giving statement MUST be received by the Parish office no later than 12/31/2020. Thank you! Your Gift of Treasure Dec 13, 2020 Hospital Admissions and Visitation of the Sick Because of Federal and State privacy laws, our cler- St. Anne Weekly Fiscal YTD gy may not become aware that a parishioner has Information Unavailable been admitted to the hospital unless the spouse or a relative tells them. All are encouraged to inform our Parish offices whenever family members are hospital- ized or would like a home visit so that the sacraments Give a legacy of faith for our of the Church can be made available to them and future generation. prayers offered for their healing. 4 A SSUMPTION O UR P ARISHES The Sanctuary Candle The sanctuary candle at As- sumption burns the month of December in memory of Christmas Mass Schedule Joe Bonneprise by Family. St. Anne Catholic Church December 24 • Christmas Eve • 3 pm &5pm December 25 • Christmas Day • 7am &11 am Your Gift of Treasure Dec. 13, 2020 St. Joseph Catholic Church Assumption Weekly Fiscal YTD Information Unavailable December 24 • Christmas Eve • 4pm December 25 • Christmas Day • 11am Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary December 25 • Christmas Day • 9am End of the year giving ~ The end of the year is fast approaching and many of you like to give additional New Year Mass Schedule funds to the parish so it can be added to your given (Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God) statement. Any giving that you want to be included on this year’s giving statement MUST be received by the St. Anne Catholic Church Parish office no later than 12/31/2020. Thank you! December 31 • New Years Eve • 5pm January 1 • New Years Day • 9am St. Joseph Catholic Church S AINT J OSEPH January 1 • New Years Day • 10 am Your Gift of Treasure Dec. 13, 2020 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary January 1 • New Years Day • 11 am St. Joseph Weekly Fiscal YTD Information Unavailable Christmas & New Years Office Hours at St. Anne & St. Joseph Parish offices Closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Closed New Years Eve and New Years Day Advent Reconciliation Service With General Absolution Our Last Reconciliation Service for this advent season is at St. Anne Catholic Church Wednesday, December 23 at 7pm 4 5 MASS INTENTIONS M I N I S T R Y S C H E D U L E Saturday, Dec 19 4:00 pm †Harris & Marlene Parent St. Anne Ministry Schedule December 26&27 By Deacon Dick Peterson SJ Lectors: Online: Peter Steffen by John Steffen SA 5:00 pm Suzette Sontag 5:00 pm †Greg Peterson by Darrel & Peggy Koehler SA 7:00 am Kate Schmitt Sunday, Dec 20 11:00 am John LeRoy 7:00 am For the people of our Parishes SA Sacristans: 9:00 am †Jerome Felling 5:00 pm Renee Carufel 7:00 am John Schmitt By Harold & Jean Schachtner AS 11:00 am Jeff DeGeest 11:00am †Larry Martell by Eloris Rivard SA Ushers: 11:00am †Jim & Betty Montgomery 5:00 pm Troy Wink, Tysen Wink, Peter Kocik, John By Eric & Lala Graf SJ Schaefer Monday, Dec 21 No Mass 7:00 am Jim Lanser, Dave Durand, Fred Pasno, Bob Landry Tuesday, Dec 22 11:00 am Jeff DeGeest, Joe Studnicka, Mike Bullock, Eliza- 9:00 am †Annette Germain by Family SA beth Ziller †All Souls PM Wednesday, Dec 23 9:00 am †Michael DeRosier by Family SA St. Joseph Ministry Schedule December 26&27 Thursday, Dec 24 Christmas Eve Sacristan: 3:00 pm For the people of St. Anne Parish SA 4:00 pm Mary Berklund 4:00 pm For the people of St. Joseph Parish SJ 11:00 am Ann Abrahamson 5:00 pm For an increase in vocations for Lector: the Diocese of Superior SA 4:00 pm Dave Berklund Friday, Dec 25 Christmas Day 11:00 am Tony Havranek 7:00 am Father Joseph’s Intention SA Ushers: 9:00 am For the people of Assumption Parish AS 4:00 pm Harold Gjerning 11:00am For the children of St.