THE ADVOCATE News of Holy Spirit Parish|October 2018

Filling our Building On a Firm Foundation Fr. Steve Brice

P lans are coming together to break ground for our new ministry center and renova-

tions of the Church in May, 2019. The Pasto-ral Council has officially launched a new Pasto-ral Planning cycle. “Pastoral Planning” is Church language for discerning what God is calling us to become. Even as we put up a new structure, we need to work on what will happen in it and through it.

Through the end of 2018, each of our Minis-try Committees are gathering information about all that is happening within their minis-tries and reading to expand their vision of what is possible. Through this study they will propose a vision of where we could be in three to five years.

Meanwhile, the Pastoral Council is expanding its vision by reading Forming Intentional Disci-ples by Sherry Weddell. This book assesses the condition of the Church in the United States today and proposes a way to re-evangelize and revitalize the Church.

The Council will gather the Vision State-ments of the Committees and add its own insight from its reading to fashion a first draft of a new Parish Vision Statement. This will be presented to the parish during Lent of 2019 for reflection and feedback. Those new in-sights will be integrated into a final draft to be celebrated and confirmed at Pentecost, about the time that construction will begin on the new building. By the time the new Ministry Center has been built on a Firm Foundation, it will be filling with a community of inten-tional disciples and those they draw to Christ.

Commemorating a love that never ends Julie Meadows

E ach November, as the days grow cold and the shadows come early, we are

invited to bask in the warm glow of this simple truth: nothing can separate us from the love of God, or the genuine, deep and abiding love we share with one another. This truth is illuminated for me most fully as I visit with families in preparation for the funeral of a spouse, parent or significant friend and listen to them speak, with full-ness of heart, to the story of souls faithfully intertwined. This same light shines through our Grief Support groups as those touched deeply by mourning give voice to the love and longing still within them, and give gratitude for the empathy and affection still around them. So many faithful witnesses have taught me that despite the seeming fragili-ty of life and love, both are, in fact, resilient - fiercely resilient - even in the face of death. For, when life is founded on love, and rela-tionships are built on openness to life, love becomes stronger than death. Just as Jesus promised and demonstrated to us, through death life is only changed and not ended.

We acknowledge the change that death brings and celebrate the love that is set as a seal upon our hearts when, as the gathered community, we remember and pray for all saints and all souls throughout the month of November. We begin on October 31st and November 1st with Solemnity of All Saints celebrations honoring those holy

men and women who, hearts aflame with divine love, protect and guide us on our journey with Christ. On the weekend of November 3-4, at each of our Masses, we will recognize and pray for members of our community who have died during the past year as we share in the care and support of their loved ones. During this special time, we will invite the family members of those deceased parishioners to help us create an Altar of Remembrance by placing a framed and named picture of their loved one on a small side altar. The Christ candle, repre-

sentative of the light of Christ that shines eternally in every darkness, and the Book of the Dead, in which we reverently inscribe the names of our faithful departed, will also be found within the Altar of Re-

membrance space.

Throughout the remainder of the month, all parishioners are welcome to place the framed and named pictures of deceased loved ones - whether Catholic or not - on the Altar of Remembrance. The names of these people of good will also may be in-scribed in the Book of the Dead.

This November, let us come together to express the unending love we share with those whom we have set as a seal upon our hearts and to worship and give thanks to God, who has set us as a seal upon His heart and who strengthens and upholds us in His unending love.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; For love is strong as Death, longing as fierce as Sheol.

Its arrows are arrows of fire, flames of the divine." Song of Solomon 8:6

“Go and make disciples of all nations.”

T he Faith Formation Committee got started with a great crew — and watch out!

More are coming! We hope to have input and conversation from all the ministries and communities that serve our parish — and there are a lot — about where we are being called and steered by the Holy Spirit towards lifelong conversion in Jesus.

Some of the springboard topics revolved around the reality that Faith Formation is always lifelong — we are never done getting to know Jesus. Who Jesus is to me today is different than who He was 5…10…25 years ago — just as I am different as I grow in Knowledge, Community, Ser-vice, and Prayer/Worship. At our first gathering we also talked about how to untangle the perception that Faith Formation is mainly for children — when really it begins with the adults in a family and in the home.

How true is this understanding in our parish?

We know that Faith Formation is critical for everyone — and especially for folks who are not attending weekly Mass — what can we do to help parents and other adults who are on the margins or not participating at all to:

-HEAR the story of God’s great Love for us (“Kerygma”) -ENCOUNTER Jesus and be in relationship with Him, God and the Church -BE ENCOURAGED in a functional community where God, faith, and religion are normalized, as opposed to tra-ditional (“I do it because I have to/that’s what we do”).

AND — how do we do all this while also encouraging and challenging people who are already at this point to go fur-ther and deeper in their desire to learn, pray, and grow at a higher level — and also to hear God’s call to give back to family and community?

How do we create a parish environment that supports, in a primary way, the formation of adults/parents/young-at-hearts? — with the intention of creating confident and faithful adults who can then model formation in their families, with friends, in workplaces, and in larger commu-nity...and then with children and young people.

Our own bishop (and others) reminds us that “Jesus played with children and taught adults.” Not the other way around. We desire more opportunities for small adult faith communities. What other kinds of adult formation are we interested in at Holy Spirit Parish?

Over the next few months this team will be looking at some short selections from Church documents as well as some more recent writings/homilies so we can start mov-ing towards what we want Parish Faith Formation to look like in the years to come.

Faith Formation Committee Colleen O’Dowd

S o far, the year has been going well for Point Catholic! We are running all of the same programs as last year,

which includes women and men’s bible studies, a Salva-tion Army meal ministry, student suppers, late night Mass, and praying the Rosary to name a few. Some new things that have been incorporated include taking students to Franciscans Downtown and a Mere Christianity book study. At the end of October, we will have a student-led retreat at the Lions Camp in Rosholt, WI!

As you may know, the Catholic Church is currently hold-ing a Synod in Rome to discuss the Church in relationship to young people. The statistics on young adult involve-ment is sobering and likely to get worse before they im-

prove. This is a complicat-ed issue, which takes a lot of research, reflection, and trial and error to resolve. To help understand this problem, under Fr. Steve’s direction, the parish has formed a Campus Ministry Committee. At the first

meeting, we had 7 parishioners, two of whom are college students involved at Point Catholic. Over the next couple of years, I would like to work with this team to optimize our ministry to college students. While establishing rela-tionships, we will read the book Everyone Leads: How to Re-vitalize the Catholic Church by Chris Lowney.

One of the blessings of a campus ministry connection to a parish is that it presents a realistic scenario for the stu-dents to understand what life will be like post-college. Coming from a Catholic university not connected to a parish, I have seen how so many of my friend’s faith lives went into dormancy following their graduation. The rea-sons are many, but I suspect a large reason is because they weren’t prepared for the reality that they walked into. Again, a complicated issue, but our parishes aren’t always young adult friendly. And, our young adults aren’t always ready to develop the new strategies that are needed for the 21st century. With all of this in mind, it would seem that Holy Spirit Parish is an optimal environment to begin developing this sort of attitude. Changing culture in a parish might be challenging but will be very worthwhile for our college students and for all of us!

Please keep the students in your prayers and feel free to reach out if you need anything from me by sending an email to zach@holyspiritstevenspoint.org. God bless!

Campus Ministry Committee Zach Laughlin

O ver the coming months the Social Justice Committee will be working

on developing the future vision of what the pursuit of justice and peace will look like at Holy Spirit Parish.

To help us expand our vision of Social Justice at Holy Spirit Parish, we will uti-lize a document that has been created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) titled Communities of Salt and Light. This document is available at the USCCB website www.usccb.org. The Social Justice committee will spend the next several months exploring this document to aid in creating a new vision of Social Jus-tice at Holy Spirit Parish.

Here is a sampling of some areas in which Holy Spirit Par-ish is active within the area of social justice: monthly Mat-thew 25 food collections, helping to pay teacher salaries with our Help Educate the Children – Haiti Mission, our Feed Hungry Kids program supplies local students with food for breakfast before they start their school day, and our Campus Ministry Salvation Army Meal Ministry pro-

vides a hot meal to members of our local community each Tuesday.

If you would like to join our new team consisting of Pat Boylan, Karen Clifford, Sr.

Barb Knauf, Mary Ann Krems, Harry Magee, Carol Stel-tenpohl, Ginny Williams, and our Campus Ministry repre-sentative Jessica Enstad, please email me, Deacon Rick, at deaconrick@holyspiritstevenspoint.org.

Social Justice Committee Deacon Rick Letto

“Love one another even as I have loved you.”

P articipants on the Family Life Committee will engage in study and prayer, and consider new program devel-

opment, as we envision how to better strengthen and en-courage the families that make up our parish, and our par-ish family as a whole. In addition to the sacramental sup-port provided to families through baptism, confirmation, marriage and anointing, we offer weekly communion to our homebound parishioners, provide pastoral care to those who are ill, hospitalized or dying, extend grief sup-port to our bereaved families and enjoy hospitality and fellowship, as a parish family, during Spirit Breakfast Café and Spirit Lunch Club gatherings.

We know there is more we can do to love and serve one an-other, in and beyond our fami-lies! As we expand our vision, we will reflect on portions of two Apostolic Exhortations:

Amoris Laetitia and Evangelii Gaudium. We will also study the mission and vision statements offered by our Diocese, and others, supporting Marriage and Family Life. From there, we will create a renewed vision for Family Life at Holy Spirit Parish.

These parishioners have expressed interest in being part of the Family Life Committee: Renee Brzezinski, Tim Bude-lier, Praveena Duraikannu, Karoleen Glenzer, Ruth Kulas, Carolyn Laude, Karalyn Peterson, Marian Scheider, Ginny Williams and Sarah Zaborowski. Your experiences and insights are also essential as we chart the course for the future! Please let me know how you’d like to help by emailing me at julie@holyspiritstevenspoint.org.

Family Life Committee Julie Meadows

Sacred Worship Committee Mary Pionkowski The Sacred Worship Committee has gathered for two meetings so far. Members of the committee include Jus-tine Brilowski, Rita Brilowski, Kathy Budelier, Kevin Czer-winski, Tom Firkus, Guy Gehrman, Michele Miller, Adam Osypowski, Mary Pionkowski, Peggy Stenborg and Fr. Steve Brice.

The committee will be studying Liturgical documents and we will use the Guide for Liturgy Committees as a resource. We will also look at seasonal scriptures. Our main focus is to determine how we can bring what we are living in our dai-ly lives, and the message of the scriptures, to our worship and prayer. We will identify seasonal themes and discuss how they can be brought to our experience through our prayer, environment and music, so that our community is encouraged to active participation throughout the weeks, months and seasons of each year.

Holy Spirit Financial Picture John Clifford/Fr. Steve Brice

Income for the month of September was $20,725 more than expenses. That is very good, but we need to accu-mulate savings during these fall and winter months to compensate for the leaner months of summer. September was a strong financial month however, the Adult Enve-lope income year to date is still less than budgeted due to a shortfall in the July and August Adult Envelope income. Expenses for the first three months of the fiscal year have been running almost exactly on budget.

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Building Project Update Fr. Steve Brice

T he Holy Spirit Building Committee has met three

times so far with Ellis Con-struction.

Members of the committee are Deacon Rick Letto, Lee Olsen, Chris Burch, Michele Miller, John Krupka, John Clifford, Kevin Czerwinski, Rick Zahn, Wendy Mitch, Bob Hollar and Fr. Steve Brice.

The original architect’s overall design has undergone three ma-jor modifications. Instead of an elevator and ramps inside the new construction, the entire new addition will be at the same level as the church. The elevation gain will be made through landscaping the en-trance. Secondly, the new hall and kitchen will be separated from the existing church by 15 feet. This avoids a very costly firewall where new construc-tion meets old and also allows natural light to enter the stained glass windows. Third-ly, instead of putting a costly basement under part of the new construction for the new furnace, a location in the exist-ing building will be found for the much smaller units needed.

These decisions allowed us to finalize the schematic design portion of the planning and move on to the design develop-ment phase, which will deter-mine in detail the design of the building. There is a commit-ment to integrate as many as possible of the environmental standards LEED certification requires. All possible will be done to ensure the new gather-ing area can double as a small chapel, providing an intimate worship experience like the present Newman Center.

An expressive arts event

About loss, grief and hope

… FOR THEY SHALL BE

OCTOBER 28 2 P.M.

HOLY SPIRIT PARISH

Now that we have the ground breaking date of May 2019, we will be sending out letters to those who’ve said they would make a pledge when ground was broken and also to those who haven’t pledged at all to invite them to join the 672 families who have pledged to build a bright future for Holy Spirit Parish, on a firm foundation.

Building Upon A Firm Foundation Capital Campaign

Pledges to date: $3,619,230 Pledge payments received to date: $1,196,672