Our Diocese, Our Mission

It was so good to be at Saint Patrick’s last weekend, to see everyone, preside at Mass, and to offer a homily. It felt like it had been a long time since I was here in the saddle. Unfortunately, I am going to be gone this week. I will be traveling to our cluster of parishes in and around Ladysmith. (Originally, I thought I was going to Bayfield and was looking forward to it as I love seeing Lake Superior.) The Ladysmith cluster is comprised of five parishes. It is quite a different experience presiding at Mass in churches that are significantly smaller than ours and then having to jump into the car and rush off to the next Mass. However, this is the experience for most of the priests in our Diocese.

Last Sunday Father Shaji filled in at two parishes and the weekend before that I was at two different parishes. We had priests appropriately assigned to our parishes as are needed, but two of our priests are ill. One’s condition is serious enough that he needs to return to India immediately. The other priest is going to need time for recovery, but will hopefully be able to return to ministry. We have a few of our international priests that are on vacation now as well. The result is that we are finding ourselves short right now and it is sort of like a chess board moving priests around to make sure our Masses are covered. 

Living in Hudson, we often forget about the magnitude of our Diocese. Our Diocese covers sixteen counties across northern Wisconsin. It is divided among 103 parishes that have a total of 65,000 Catholics who are registered in these parishes. Many of our parishes are much smaller than Saint Patrick Parish. A majority have one hundred people or less at Mass and only one in the church on a weekend. To give a picture of how small some of our parishes are, thirty-two did not have a single infant baptism last year. Fifty-two did not have one celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. Sixty parishes did not celebrate a wedding last year. Our experience of parish is very different at Saint Patrick and for most of the parishes in St. Croix County overall than the rest of our Diocese. Yet these small parishes live our faith in beautiful and wonderful ways. 

Speaking of our Diocese, you are hopefully aware of the efforts we have been making to move from “Maintenance” to “Mission.” In other words, we are looking to regain the apostolic or missionary drive upon which our Church was built. An important component of a missionary church is people praying together outside of Mass. Our Diocese is hosting a workshop here at Saint Patrick Parish on Sunday, September 27, from 2 to 6 PM. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn how to pray with someone. Preregistration is required and there is a $25 fee. Many of the offerings from our Diocese require us to drive one or more hours. This opportunity is in our home. It will be a great opportunity to greet and meet others from our Diocese, hear an engaging speaker, and discover the wonderful fruits of praying with others. Often I am asked what one does when children or grandchildren no longer practice their faith. You can pray for them. But even more powerful is you can pray with them. Learn this art by attending this wonderful Diocesan event. 

As I prepare to hit the road, know that even if I am not here on the weekend, I am during the week. I am also with you always in prayer.