ST. BERNADETTE 8200 Wes t Den ver Av enu e Mil w au kee, WI 5322 3 PARISH FACILITIES 8200 West Denver Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53223 E-mail: stbernadette@archmil.org Website: www.stbweb.com or www.archmil.org under Parishes Pastor: Fr. Greg Greiten CHURCH OFFICE: 414-358-4600 Fax: 414-358-1478 OFFICE HOURS: Monday through Friday 7:00AM to 3:30PM NORTHWEST CATHOLIC SCHOOL Phone: 414-352-6927 E-mail: info@nwcschool.org Website: www.nwcschool.org MASS SCHEDULE Saturdays: 5:00PM Sundays: 10:30AM Tuesdays & Thursdays: 5:30PM Wednesdays & Fridays: 8:00AM Holy Days: Check bulletin or contact the parish office CONFESSION First and third Saturdays of each month at 4:00PM ST. BERNADETTE WELCOMES NEW PARISH MEMBERS New membership registration is held after each Mass the weekend of the fourth Sunday of each month. There is a table in the gathering area where people can sign up. We would be thrilled to have you join our parish family! To live for God only, for God everywhere, for God always! - St. Bernadette (1867) J ANUARY 6, 2019 T HE E PIPHANY O F T HE L ORD
IN OUR PARISH COMMUNITY Schedule of Masses and Special Intentions SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2019: Epiphany of the Lord 10:30AM For all the parishioners MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2019: St. Raymond of Peñafort TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2019 5:30PM MaryAnn Strelecki WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2019 THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2019 5:30PM Joseph Buehner FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2019 SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2019 5:00PM Alvin Winefeld SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2019 10:30AM For all the parishioners Readings for the Week of January 6, 2019 Sunday: Is 60:1-6/Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6/Mt 2:1-12 Monday: 1 Jn 3:22 4:6/Mt 4:12-17, 23-25 Tuesday: 1 Jn 4:7-10/Mk 6:34-44 Wednesday: 1 Jn 4:11-18/Mk 6:45-52 Thursday: 1 Jn 4:19 5:4/Lk 4:14-22a Friday: 1 Jn 5:5-13/Lk 5:12-16 Saturday: 1 Jn 5:14-21/Jn 3:22-30 Next Sunday: Is 40:1-5, 9-11/Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7/ Lk 3:15-16, 21-22 Please Remember in Your Prayers Virginia Lemberger, 12-25-18 Harold Klein, 12-17-18 Lois Stout, 12-22-18 MaryAnn Strelecki, 12-11-18 Otto Timm, 12-16-18 Thomas Mayer, 11-30-18 Please Pray for Our Long-term Sick: Bob Radtke All those listed in the Book of Assembly Prayer St. Bernadette Parish, Milwaukee January 6, 2019 PARISH LIFE Sunday, January 6, 2019 - Bingo, 6:00PM/7:00PM in the cafeteria Monday, January 7, 2019 - NMCP Human Concerns Committee meeting, 6:30PM in the lobby meeting room Tuesday, January 8, 2019 - January 13th bulletin deadline: 12:00PM in writing Wednesday, January 9, 2019 - Grade school Christian Formation, 6:00 to 7:00PM at St. Catherine Thursday, January 10, 2019 - Choir rehearsal, 7:00 to 9:00PM in the church Friday, January 11, 2019 - January 13th pulpit announcements deadline: 12:00PM Sunday, January 13, 2019 - High school Christian Formation, 6:00 to 7:30PM at St. Catherine - Bingo, 6:00PM/7:00PM in the cafeteria Follow-up to NMCP read of Evicted On January 14, at 6:30PM in the Granville Room at St. Catherine, we will be hearing speakers from Legal Action of Wisconsin s Eviction Defense Project, from the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, and from individuals who minister directly to Milwaukee s impoverished. They were invited to give us information on poverty in Milwaukee, particularly as it affects homelessness. This is a followup to the NMCP reading of the book Evicted. Please join us to learn more about the struggles of the poor in our community. Bingo report From September 30 through December 31, bingo brought in $9,765.10. As you can see, this is a vital fundraiser for the parish. Thank you so much to all the current volunteers who help to keep bingo going. We could really use some more help. The time commitment can vary based on a volunteer s duties, but generally it s from 5:00 to 9:00 on Sunday evenings. The more volunteers we have, the less often they have to work (unless they want to work more often). If you might be interested in volunteering, please call Sue Riedijk at 414-234-3239 or Mary Kucharski at 262-253-6577. Thank you for considering this great volunteer opportunity! Christian Formation reminders Christian Formation classes High school Christian Formation classes resume on January 27. Adult formation Scripture Study will meet on Tuesday, January 15, at 6:00PM in the Granville Room at St. Catherine. Bible Basics will meet on Tuesday, January 8, at 8:30AM in the St. Catherine Parish office.
IN OUR PARISH COMMUNITY Winter Farmers Market & Brunch Our Farmers Market & Brunch will take place on Sunday, January 20, from 9:00AM to 12:00PM in the cafeteria. Brunch tickets are on sale in the gathering area after Masses this weekend. Volunteer sign-up sheets are also available. Help us make this a fantastic event for our parishes and surrounding communities. St. Ann Center needs your unwanted jewelry Moving, downsizing, or just cleaning house? St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care can use it all your out-of-style necklaces; bracelets; rings; watches; cufflinks; pierced or clip-style earrings; vintage, heritage, or costume jewelry of any era, color, or metal. Our volunteers will sort it, clean it, repair or reinvent it, and price it to sell at our legendary sales throughout the year. (Next Chili and Jewelry Sale date is March 16.) Even single earrings and pieces beyond repair get new life when packaged and sold by the pound to artists and crafters for their projects. All proceeds fund necessary health and wellness day services for our clients of all ages and abilities, from tiny infants to the frail elderly to those with severe disabilities. Many of our clients live below the poverty line, and the donations are so appreciated. If you will be in the area of either St. Ann s location, 2801 East Morgan Avenue or 2450 West North Avenue, you can drop off pieces at the front desk anytime between 6:00AM and 6:00PM Monday through Friday, or call Ross, 414-977-5040, if you need items picked up. You can also bring items to the parish office or leave them in the Rest-A-While bench and Theresa will get them to St. Ann s. Thank you so much! Live the Liturgy We all have had the experience of walking into a dark room and searching for the light switch. If we are really unfamiliar with the space, anxiety, uncertainty, disorientation, and even fear can easily arise. Once we find the light, all is illuminated and we are at peace. Our light has come into the world! The glory of God has been revealed! Today s feast of the Epiphany teaches us to look to our Savior, Jesus Christ, for the way to truly be the human beings we were created to be. He shows us how to prioritize our lives, order our relationships, care for creation, and live as daughters and sons of God. God s love and creative power is universal, transcending all races and nations. Jesus brings the light of peace to a broken world that still struggles to understand itself, and to you and me who also struggle to understand who we are. May we find ourselves overjoyed that we have found our truth and allow Jesus to bring light to the darkness of our lives! Congratulations to our Calendar Raffle winners 12/22/18 Jeff Thorn 12/23/18 Deb & Frank Klaman 12/24/18 Kathleen Krieser 12/25/18 Jan Phillips 12/26/18 Lyn Reed 12/27/18 Scott Maury 12/28/18 Cathy Roxas 12/29/18 Diane Moncher 12/30/18 Susan Marsolek 12/31/18 William Hermann 2019 Calendar Raffle Thank you to everyone who bought or sold raffle tickets. We exceeded our goal of 500 with 584 tickets sold at last count. Please return pledge cards If you have not already done so, please turn in your pledge forms. Please remember to include your name and address where indicated so we know whose pledge it is. Thank you! Stewardship Report Weekend Collection December 29 and 30, 2018 The figures for the weekly contributions were not available at time of publication. The three kings in today s Gospel traveled a great distance at considerable cost to offer their richest gifts to the Infant Jesus. How far will I go and what will I offer to do homage to this newborn King and Savior? St. Bernadette Parish, Milwaukee The Epiphany of the Lord
January 5-6, 2019 At the beginning of 2019, I extend blessings to the parish communities of Our Lady of Good Hope and St. Bernadette. While remaining the Pastor of St. Bernadette Parish, I will also be the Administrator of Our Lady of Good Hope with the mission of collaborating together and bringing the leadership of these parishes together. I truly look forward to the opportunities and challenges that are before us in this moment. When Debbie Hintz, the parish director of St. Catherine, retires in 2020, we will ultimately be bringing together the three parishes ministering to the Northwest side of Milwaukee. I know that these discussions have been taking place throughout the years; however, now is the time that more action steps will be undertaken to make this planning a reality. I want to highlight the following efforts that have been taking place during the past few months: (1) PASTORAL COUNCILS: On October 30, 2018, the pastoral councils from the Northwest Milwaukee Catholic Parishes met with Mark Kemmeter from the Parish Planning Office of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to discuss the major demographic trends which will influence the parishes over the next ten years, as well as to identify the important trends of these parishes. For instance, in the past fifteen years, membership has declined in the cluster parishes by nearly 5,000 members. Taking the average number of member decline (326 parishioners per year), there will be no parishioners remaining in six years. Despite the declines in membership, parish income has been relatively flat for the past seven years. Furthermore, the 65 and over age group is the fastest growing segment of the population and the young adults (ages 25 to 34) are projected and forecast to increase in numbers in the area. Poverty is significantly above the state average with 27.5% of area residents with household incomes below $25,000. While this is only a brief summary of the information, a writing team consisting of two members from each parish is meeting monthly with Mark Kemmeter to develop a rough draft plan to guide us forward into the future. (2) AMAZING PARISH CONFERENCE: October 17-19, 2018, there was an Amazing Parish Conference held here in Milwaukee with every parish sending representatives. As a result from this conference, parishes were encouraged to develop a Parish Leadership Team. I attended with representatives from both OLGH and St. Bernadette Parishes and made the decision to develop one Parish Leadership Team for the two parishes. We have been meeting several times a month already since November. I realize that we are building something new with this cluster and not simply maintaining what currently is or was. I believe that this leadership team will help me to prioritize the needs of the parishes and implement decisions to move the parishes forward. This team will meet regularly and function as an operating body, active in carrying out the day-to-day decisions and the plans of the parishes. The Parish Leadership Team will be meeting generally on Friday mornings.
I also want to highlight just a few of the immediate issues happening in the beginning of 2019: (1) DIRECTOR OF LITURGY (STAFF CHANGE): As of January 1, 2019, I am appointing Valerie Adamski as the Director of Liturgy for both OLGH and St. Bernadette Parishes. Valerie has been serving currently as the Director of Liturgy and Music at St. Bernadette for the past four years. She will be the Director of Music at St. Bernadette and will be working together with the new Director of Music, Kostyn Tyksinski, at OLGH. Valerie will bring her many years of liturgical experience in order to fill in the gaps created at OLGH with the departure of their Director of Liturgy in October. (2) WEEKEND MASSES: The weekend Mass schedule will remain the same at the present time as long as we are able to find available help-out priests. OLGH will have a Saturday evening Mass at 4:00pm and St. Bernadette will have a Saturday evening Mass at 5:00pm. This is possible because of the assistance of Fr. Joe Jagodensky who is available on Saturday evenings. As Pastor of St. Bernadette and Administrator of OLGH, I will be switching back and forth every two weeks between the two parishes so when I have Mass at OLGH, Fr. Joe will be doing Mass at St. Bernadette. On Sundays, I will generally be doing the 9:00am Mass at OLGH and then be quickly getting over to St. Bernadette for the 10:30am Mass. Help out priests will also be filling in on a Sunday from time to time whenever there are scheduling conflicts. (3) WEEKDAY MASSES: In looking at the weekday Mass schedule, I kept the basic weekday services at each parish. At OLGH there is an 8:45am Northwest Catholic prayer service and an 11:00am Mass on Wednesdays. At St. Bernadette, there will be a Tuesday and a Thursday evening Mass at 5:30pm. There will no longer be an 8:00am Mass on Wednesday and Friday mornings at St. Bernadette Parish. St. Catherine Parish offers a First Friday Mass at 8:00am. We can continue to dialogue about the best times to offer Mass during the week realizing there will also be funerals happening in the parishes. (4) JOINT PRAYER AND WORSHIP MEETING: On January 8, 2019, we will be having a joint prayer and worship meeting with representatives from OLGH and St. Bernadette to discuss where each parish is currently and look forward to new directions and opportunities going forward. Since help-out priests and I are going to be going back and forth between the two parishes, I would like to ensure that the basic liturgical practices are consistent between the two parishes. Furthermore, this is going to help us with services that are going to be combined in the upcoming year such as Triduum Celebrations (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) and Holy Days. (5) COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION: As we look forward to the future, I know that we are going to be developing new ways of being a parish community and collaborating on new models of parish leadership. We will develop and add parish staff members who will be able to address the needs of individuals in our communities of faith and the needs of individuals in the community. I hope and pray that we can build a strong, vibrant Catholic presence on the Northwest side of Milwaukee for years to come. I can assure you that there is no set plan for that future already developed by any of our parishes or the archdiocese. In our collaborating and visioning, we are going to create that plan together. Please join me and all of the parish leaders in living our faith and praying that we remain faithful to our calling in the Lord. May God who has begun a good work in us, bring it to completion! Fr. Gregory J. Greiten Pastor of St. Bernadette and Administrator of Our Lady of Good Hope Parishes