FEBRUARY 2013 The St Kilian Voice To pray, serve, and love together in Christ The quilts which were created for the 150th celebration were designed to symbolize the essence of what we are commemorating during our anniversary as the Catholic Community in the Hartford area. The vibrant liturgical colors, representing the full spectrum of the Seasons of the Church Year, are reminders of the importance of our Liturgical and Sacramental celebrations. These are at the very heart of our Catholic faith and identity. The variety of hearts, bound together by bonds of prayer, service, and love represent our congregations past, present, and future members. As St Paul says, There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13 The celebrations of our 150 years of faith will continue in each month of 2013. February 15th will feature Valentino s Café, when the music ministry at St Kilian will delight the mind, heart, and soul with the music of beauty and love. Delicious home made desserts, hot chocolate, and luscious coffees will be served by waiters. Service and music begins at 6:30PM and continues until 8:00PM in the Church Gathering Space. Come with family, friends, and neighbors to celebrate the spirit of St Valentine, or come alone and feel welcome at this special night among friends. Candlelight will bring the warmth of love to the evening and beautiful melodies will fill the hearts of all. March 17th will celebrate the Irish heritage of our patron saint and the special gift of our members who joined St Kilian Congregation following the closing of St Patrick Church in Thompson. The festivities will begin at 2:00PM in the St Kilian Gathering Space. It will be an afternoon of song, reflecting on Celtic spirituality, and enjoying a hot cup of Irish tea and the delightful treat of Irish Soda Bread and jams. Our feature speaker will be Rev Dr Jerry Doherty, the father of Pastor Anna from St Aidan Church of Hartford. Dr Doherty did his doctoral studies at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary studying in the Celtic Spirituality of the Irish people and will share the treasures of the Irish faith with us. Also featured will be a display of pictures of St Patrick s Church in Thompson. Audrey will provide some lively Irish songs. All are welcome. And, yes, feel free to participate by the wearing of the green if you d like. The month of April will feature an opportunity for any member to display baptismal pictures. It could be a picture of an ancestors baptism, your own, or more recent baptismal ceremonies. Tables will be placed around the Gathering Space for you to place your pictures. Bring as many as you like and help all of us reflect on the important part that Baptism plays in the life of St Kilian Congregation. Watch the bulletin for more details. More about the special 150th Anniversary celebrations for the rest of 2013 will appear in the next issue of the St Kilian Voice and Parish Bulletins.
The hard work and commitment of the many people who helped with the Dinner Auction and the generous contributions and funds raised through the Dinner Auction continue to benefit a wide range of needs here at St Kilian. In addition to the funds transferred to the Education Endowment (which benefits both St Kilian School and our Religious Education Program) and the needs of the congregation to fulfill its mission, the money raised through this great event has also had other benefits. One important change in the school is the renovation of the little kids restrooms, near the kindergarten classroom. The lower counters and automatically activating water faucets created to be user-friendly are for our younger students to wash-up. Kohler Company donated the hardware and a parishioner helped with the installation, multiplying the Dinner Auction funds ability to fund this important renovation. Many thanks to Kohler, Ralph Kuepper, and those who supported the Dinner Auction. Another project was the replacement and addition of two new vestments for Eucharistic celebrations at the church. We were in need of an everyday white vestment and a white vestment for major celebrations, including weddings and funerals. Both were made possible through the success of the Dinner Auction. The journey through the liturgical celebrations of the Church Year will continue with a Presentation of Lent and Easter. This adult faith formation program is open to all members and guests. It will trace the history, meaning, and faith-practices of Catholics during Lent and Easter. Learn about our rich heritage, diversity and development of centuries of observing these holy seasons, as well as ways that they can be more meaningful in our daily lives, prayer, and reflection. We will also look at the church environment for these seasons to see how the way that we pray influences the way that our worship space is designed and enhanced. This program is meant to be inspiring, informative, practical, and bring greater appreciation and understanding to two of our most important liturgical seasons. The presentation and discussion will be: Thursday, February 7th 7:00PM St Kilian Gathering Space Page 2, February 2013
Operating Budget October 1, 2012 December 31, 2012 Budgeted ---------------------------- 395,304 Actual -------------------------------- 343,021 Hartford Food Pantry ---------------------------------------------- $3,681 St Vincent de Paul ---------------------------------------------- $1,588 Children s Collection October Christian Foundation of Children and Aging ------------------------------------------------ $270 November Special Casa Guadalupe Collection ------------------------------------------------ $139 December St Vincent de Paul ------------------------------------------------ $273 Your commitments to our stewardship campaign was another testament to your faithfulness even in difficult economic times. It shows a genuine desire to share in and fulfill the many mission goals of St Kilian Congregation. Your increased giving or continued generous contributions have helped us to be able to plan more realistically for our financial obligations and program funding. Stewardship is the on-going recognition of the blessings that God has shared with each of us. It s the week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year return of time, talent and treasure to support the Catholic Community at St Kilian. Our 150 years of service in the Hartford area has brought many blessings in education, worship, community service, and faith-fellowship for many generations. Thank you for your faithfulness in maintaining your stewardship commitments! We are very grateful for the generous donations St Kilian parishioners gave us to help the needy this past year. We are also grateful for the donations you made to our Washington County St Vincent de Paul Stores (Hartford, Slinger, and West Bend), and for the purchases you made at these stores. The profits help us pay for needy families rent, utilities, food, and transportation. During the last fiscal year, our St Vincent de Paul Conference made over 250 home visits and helped over 1,600 people. We offered emotional and spiritual support to those we served in addition to financial assistance. St Vincent de Paul members donated 3,600 hours of their time to accomplish these tasks and drove 10,862 miles to make their visits and deliveries. Through home visits we established the genuine need for help. We made payments directly to landlords and utilities to ensure proper use of our funds. A total of $42,900.00 was disbursed to the needy in the Hartford and Slinger area during the past fiscal year. Of these dollars, $7,171.00 came from St Kilian Parish parishioner donations, $597.00 from member's meeting donations, $5,544.00 from special donations made by individuals and organizations in our community, $688.00 from previous year's funds, and $28,900.00 from our store profits. We cannot begin to answer the financial needs of all families. However, we can make a difference because of your generosity. Thank you for helping us help others. Mark Thomas St Kilian St Vincent de Paul Conference Page 3, St Kilian Voice
Food for the Soul and Body Tuesday mornings after Mass February 12th, 19th, 26th March 5th, 19th, Thursday evenings after 5:15PM Mass February 14th, 21st, 28th March 7th, 21st Women Reflecting Together Saturday, February 23, 9:30AM Gathering Space Seasons of Life and Celebration Lent and Easter Thursday, February 7th 7:00PM in the Gathering Space Do You Know John Mondays, February 25th, March 4th, 11th 7:00PM Neuman Place Celtic Spirituality Sunday, March 17th 2:00PM Gathering Space Lent Ash Wednesday February 13th 8:20AM Mass (with students) 12:00PM Prayer Service with Ashes 7:00PM Mass Mass 8:20AM Tuesday through Friday 5:15PM Thursday Evenings Stations of the Cross Every Friday after Morning Mass Stations Led by School Students Thursday at 2:15PM in Church February 14th, 21st, 28th March 7th, 14th, 21st Living Stations Thursday, March 28th, 1:00PM Lenten Penance Service Tuesday, March 19th, at 7:00PM Wednesday Evenings at 7:00PM February 20th @ First United Methodist February 27th @ St Kilian March 6th @ Redeemer Lutheran March 13th @ St John s UCC March 20th @ St Aidan s (including 5:00PM-7:00PM Potato Bar) Fast and Abstinence Customarily, fasting required that a person take only one meal a day, but current Church discipline permits one to take a main meal and two lesser meals which together do not equal the main meal. All persons who have reached their 14th birthday are bound by the law of abstinence. All adults are bound by the law of fast from their 18th to their 60th year. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat and meat products as well as days of fast. The other Fridays of Lent remain days of abstinence from meat and meat products. Holy Thursday, March 28 7:00PM Mass of the Lord s Supper Good Friday, March 29 1:00PM Good Friday Liturgy 7:00PM Good Friday Liturgy Holy Saturday, March 30 8:00PM Easter Vigil Easter Sunday, March 31 8:30AM Mass 10:45AM Mass The Fridays of the year outside Lent remain days of penance, but the traditional abstinence from meat may be substituted with some other practice of voluntary self-denial or personal penance. This may be physical denial, self-restraint or acts of religion, charity or Christian witness. Page 4, February 2013
When you go to heaven, what one question would you ask God? This is a reflection question I had my 7th graders answer, in their health class journals, when I was teaching. Year after year, one common question came up most often. It had to do with asking God, Did I do what you wanted me to do? or Did I serve my purpose? Every year, I was pleasantly surprised to hear such a profound concern among 7th grade children. At twelve years old, our sons and daughters are already wondering what their purpose is in life. Thank God we can help them find the answer in our Catholic schools and churches. As my students and I pondered this question, I admitted I did not have the perfect solution for finding out if the goals we set for ourselves are indeed what God wants us to do. The best advice I could give is to take what talents God gave each of us, and use them to the best of our ability. We need to also take what scripture teaches us, and live it to the fullest every day. God gave us strengths, talents, and abilities for a reason. We should not waste the gifts He has given us instead we should learn from His greatest gift, His son Jesus Christ, and serve others who are less fortunate than we are. By using our God given talent, we show appreciation for His generosity and truly become The Hands of Christ. Please help promote Catholic education to help children find the answers they are looking for. Friday, March 8th 4:00PM to 7:00PM Our #1 Jail Bird Can we come in now? Can We?!!! Each year the St Kilian Gym is transformed into a circus style carnival complete with boardwalk games where students can test their skills and win prizes. The Carnival also includes temporary tattoos and face painting. There is also a jail where students and teachers can trade tickets for their freedom. Each game or activity costs 1 ticket and students can purchase 10 tickets for $1.00. There are also popcorn and cotton candy vendors selling their treats for a ticket. All money raised goes to the Barb Arnold Memorial Scholarship. The Barb Arnold Memorial Scholarship goes each year to an upcoming college freshman who is an alumni of St Kilian Grade School. 2013 marks the 12th year of the Barb Arnold Memorial Carnival. That will be $1.00 Come try your luck. Just 1 ticket. Just like Christmas! Golf anyone? WOW!!! Make-up Page 5, St Kilian Voice
Celebrate the Irish heritage of our patron saint and the special gift of our members who joined St Kilian Congregation following the closing of St Patrick Church. Sunday, March 17th 2:00PM St Kilian Gathering Space Feature Speaker: Dr Jerry Doherty father of Pastor Anna, St Aidan Church Tuesday, March 19th at 7:00PM A journey home to God. God's reconciling work in us doesn't happen in an instant. Reconciliation is often a long, sometimes painful process. It is a journey not confined to, but completed in, sacramental celebration. It is a round-trip journey away from our home with God and back again that can be summed up in terms of three C's: conversion, confession and celebration and in that order. Renew yourself to be a person of genuine love and feel the gentle peace that stirs within. Who was John, the Evangelist, for whom our Milwaukee Cathedral is named? Why don t we read his Gospel for a full year like we do with Matthew, Mark, and Luke? What is unique about the Gospel of John s telling? For our Adult Education study during this Lent, we will spend three evenings looking more closely at John and the Gospel that bears his name. Monday evenings February 25th March 4th March 11th 7:00PM to 8:30PM Neuman Place middle of school building from parking lot The various Churches of Hartford will again cooperate in the effort to help the poor nation of Haiti which has suffered from hurricanes and cholera in recent years. For the third year, the Food Pack will be held at St Aidan s Church. See the Church bulletin boards for dates (there are a number of Saturdays as well as a few weekdays). You may register to help as an individual or as a group. A fee of $20 is requested for shipping costs, but scholarships may be available. Call 414-588-3788 to register for a day and time to help. One of the offerings during Lent will be a Saturday morning time for women similar to what was offered last year. It will be a time to pray together and to share stories of those women in our lives that have had a lasting impact on us. These are the stories of the saints that we have known personally. Saturday morning, February 23rd 9:30AM to 11:00AM Gathering Space Take time out from your regular Saturday morning routine to be enriched and encouraged. Bring a friend. All women are invited. Page 6, February 2013 Weekend of March 2nd /3rd Sponsored by: Christ Have Mercy Community at St Kilian in the Gathering Space. All proceeds will help cover the cost of food supplies and local shipping. Identity: the condition or fact of being a specific person or thing. We who answer Jesus gentle call, we who know Him as Lord and Savior, are identified with Him. We belong to him forever. He knows our names; He has written and sealed them in His Book of Life. Heaven has no need for identification bracelets, account numbers, passports, or birth certificates. This promise is the solid foundation of God s people: The Lord knows those who are his 2 Timothy 2:19. We belong to Him. He redeemed us on Calvary. We have been bought and paid for by His blood, shed on the cross.
In this, our year of celebration (150 years), we give thanks for the family of St Kilian Congregation and all of its members. One of the ways of celebrating this year is in the telling of stories about what the Church and School has meant in our lives. The telling of stories is a wonderful way to learn history and to be affirmed in one s own beliefs and celebrate relationships (past and present). The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is trying to focus on Evangelization this year. Evangelization is a way of telling non-catholics of our faith experience and inviting them to be a part of the Church. But it is also a way of spreading one s experience of faith to those who once were Catholic, but may no longer come to Church, and stories can also enliven the faith of those who do come to Church but have weakened in enthusiasm. So don t be afraid to share your story of St Kilian in the bulletin highlights, and further, don t be afraid to share your story of faith on a one-to-one level with friends, relatives, and acquaintances. That is a way of fulfilling the command to share the Good News of Jesus with others. As part of telling our parish story, pictures are worth a 1000 words. We would like to display your pictures or picture of your family each month April through June in the Gathering Space. Feature Pictures: Baptismal Pictures in April First Communion Pictures in May Wedding Pictures in June. St Kilian Congregation 150 Years 1863-2013 To pray, serve, and love together in Christ Graduation Class 1915 1st Communion Class 1945 Page 7, St Kilian Voice
The St Kilian Voice To pray, serve, and love together in Christ. Quarterly Newsletter February 2013 Return Service Requested Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Hartford, WI 53027 PERMIT NO. 180 Valentino s Café Friday, February 15th 6:30PM to 8:00PM St Kilian Gathering Space... Make it a Date... We re on the Web www.stkiliancong.org Contact Information Parish Office St Kilian Congregation 428 Forest St Hartford, WI 53027 Phone: 262-673-4831 Fax: 262-673-4872 Parish School St Kilian School 245 High Street Hartford, WI 53027 Phone: 262-673-3081 Fax: 262-673-0412 Emergency Number 262-623-1262