February 11, 2018 PARISH STAFF 788-5483

Rev. Brian D. Konopa ext. 7 Pastor frkonopa@mmoclacrosse.org

Rev. Mr. Richard Sage ext. 8 Deacon rsage@mmoclacrosse.org

Sr. Kathy Stuttgen, FSPA ext. 5 Ministry with the Elderly and Sick kathy@mmoclacrosse.org

Therese van Oss ext. 4 Religious Education and Pastoral Minister tvanoss@mmoclacrosse.org

Tom Thibodeau ext. 2 Confirmation and Adult Faith Formation tathibodeau@viterbo.edu

Andy Foley ext.6 Buildings and Grounds afoley@mmoclacrosse.org

Mary Jo Lium ext.2 Sacred Music mjlium@mmoclacrosse.org

Holly Gerling ext.3 Financial Secretary finance@mmoclacrosse.org

Allie Dunkley ext.2 Parish Secretary secretary@mmoclacrosse.org

AQUINAS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

Ted Knutson 784-8585 President

Patty Gallagher-Kosmatka 782-5998 Principal, Cathedral School

Kay Berra 782-5564 Principal, Blessed Sacrament School

Sue Amble 783-5483 Principal, St. Patrick School, Onalaska

Denise Ring Principal, Aquinas Middle School 784-0156

Principal, Aquinas High School 784-0287

2006 Weston St. La Crosse WI 54601 (608) 788-5483 mmoclacrosse.org mmoc.blog mmoc.mobi

OUR MISSION

Mary, Mother of the Church parishioners are called to be the

People of God, formed by the Holy Word and nourished by

the Holy Eucharist. We joyfully share our faith and gifts of time,

talent, and treasure. We are committed to serve all God's people in the building of the

Kingdom.

MASS TIMES Saturday Vigil 4pm Sunday 8am & 10am

Tuesday–Friday 7:30am

CONFESSIONS Saturday 3:15-3:45 pm or by appointment

PARISH OFFICE HOURS Monday–Friday 8am-3pm

Contact the parish office to register, schedule a baptism, schedule a wed-ding (six months notice required), and to request the Sacrament of the Sick.

SCRIP Scrip is sold before and after all week-end Masses and in the parish office on Fridays from 8am-3pm.

Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time Ash Wednesday Mass Schedule Masses for Ash Wednesday will be Wednesday, February 14 at 7:30am, 12 noon, and 7pm. Liturgical Ministers are still needed to fill many positions at these Masses. Please sign up online or call

Allie in the Parish office at 788-5483, ext. 2.

Lenten Regulations The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 14. Lenten regulations are as follows:

1. Catholics who have celebrated their 14th birthday are to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, all Fridays in Lent, and Good Friday.

2. In addition to abstaining from meat, Catholics who have celebrated their 18th birthday, until they celebrate their 59th birthday, are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Those who are bound to this regulation may eat only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted if necessary to maintain strength according to one’s needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.

Little Black Books Free Lenten booklets are available this weekend on a first come, first serve basis. These books offer daily, 6-minute reflections on the Passion according to Mark.

Catholic Campaign for Human Development Collection Thank you for your generous support last week to the collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to support those on the margins who are living in poverty in the United States. If you missed the collection, it’s not too late to give! Visit www.usccb.org/national collections, and click on “How to Give” on the left. If you would still like to make a donation, there are extra envelopes on the Usher’s table.

Food Baskets for February Catholic Charities is grateful for all the food donations and is most in need of personal hygiene items, paper products such as Kleenex, paper

towels, and toilet paper; canned meats, complete boxed/canned meals, boxed potatoes, rice mixes, baked beans, pasta sauce, ravioli, cream soups, cereal, canned fruit, juice, coffee and hot chocolate.

Sesquicentennial Books For Sale Celebrating its 150th anniversary (March 3, 1868 - March 3, 2018) the Diocese of La Crosse has published a beautiful, hardcover, full-color, 464-page coffee-table book exploring the Catholic faith of the people of west central Wisconsin. The $33 books are on sale in the parish office.

MyParish App Lenten Reflections The MyParish app is offering a special series of Lenten reflections, download the app at MyParishapp.com and then push the Lent button.

Old Palms If you are looking for a way to dispose of blessed palms, there is a box in the gathering space for this purpose. We will dispose of them in a proper manner. Traditionally, the ashes from blessed palms

are used for Ash Wednesday.

Silver Circle The Spring Silver Circle has been delayed for a few weeks in order to use the new Parish Hall. (We won’t need to haul our equipment to another location!) Mark your calendar for March 8th. The Silver Circle is open to anyone who is retired and would like to share a meal with other parishioners. More info will be coming in a few weeks.

ACS Open Houses Aquinas Catholic Schools is now enrolling for the 2018-19 school year. For more information, please visit www.aquinasschools.org or call (608) 784-8585.

Cathedral Elementary School is holding their three-year-old preschool and four-year-old Kindergarten Open House on February 13th at 1pm and again at 6pm. You are invited to visit the school and see how Aquinas Catholic Schools can Educate, Challenge and Inspire your child.

Lent Mite Box Collection Children received their Lenten Mite Boxes during Religious Education classes. They are to be returned at the March 21 class. The Mite Box program is an outreach from the Missionary Childhood Association, one of the Pontifical Mission Societies represented in the La Crosse Diocese Mission Office. In the past several years, the sole beneficiary of the Mite Box collection has been Santa Cruz Parish, founded through the missionary work of Fr. Joe Walijewski. This last year, the Diocese completed its financial obligations to the parish and to the Archdiocese of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Thus, this year, the Diocese will send half of the proceeds collected through the sacrifices of our children to the Missionary Childhood Association. The remaining half of the collection will be sent to Casa Hogar, our diocesan orphanage in Peru, which was also established by Fr. Joe Walijewski. This will connect the children of our parish with the children in Casa Hogar - "connecting children to children!"

Aquinas High School Presents Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at the Aquinas Campbell Theater Saturday, Feb. 10 at 7:30pm and Sunday, Feb. 11 at 2pm. $6 admission.

Catholic Education

Congratulations!! The 2018 Mardi Gras Rex and Queen are our own Rick and Robin Wilson. We congratulate them and thank them for their generous support of Aquinas Catholic Schools.

Requiescat in Pace Please pray for the repose of the soul of Joseph Hottinger. Our prayers and sincere sympathy are extended to his family and friends who mourn his loss. Eternal rest grant onto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

Welcome to the Waters of Baptism Congratulations to Finnian Bartly Osowski who was baptized on February 4 at the 10am Mass! We welcome him to God’s family with great joy!

National Marriage Encounter Weekend A National Marriage Encounter Weekend is scheduled for March 10-11 in Eau Claire. Marriage Encounter is designed for couples who are interested in having a closer relationship in their marriage. It begins Saturday morning with 7:30 registration and closes Sunday afternoon by 3:45 pm. For more info. contact Chippewa Valley Marriage Encounter at 715-832-3296, rippsk@charter.net or www.marriage-encounter.org/Affiliates/chippewa.htm.

Take your Marriage to the next level of Happiness Want a more joyful marriage? We invite you to take part in the Domestic Church retreat at St. Anthony’s Spirituality Center on April 26-29. The Domestic Church

movement is a lay led ministry for sacramentally married couples that enhances marriage and family life by opening the treasures of the Church's teachings on love and life. Couples attending the retreat will experience a renewed love as spouses together in Christ. Register at diolc.regfox.com/domestic-church-evangelization-retreat-april-2018. For more info, call 608-791-2673.

Baptism Class Parents who are welcoming a new baby to their families are asked to attend our Baptismal Preparation.

Session I - Monday, March 19 at 6 - 7 pm

Session II - Sunday, March 25 at 9:00 - 9:50 am (immediately following the 8 am Mass)

Upcoming Baptism weekends will be April 7 & 8 and May 5 & 6. Please contact the parish office to register: 788-5483 x. 2

The Catholic Charities Warming Center Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to volunteer at the Warming Center this season! There are only a few areas of the schedule we still need assistance in the spring. Please phone the parish office for Allie at 788-5483, ext. 2 to fill a time slot. Again, thank you for your service!

Workers scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 4 are: FOOD (to be delivered to 413 S. 3rd St. by 6:30 pm): Linda Schwartz, Lisa Conzemius, Linda Gillette, Mary Jo Lium, Bruce & Karen Nordstrom INTAKE (6:30pm-9pm) Mary Olson, Bruce & Karen Nordstrom, Terri & John Pedace, Phil & Shannon Klar, Linda Gillette, Fr. Konopa NIGHT SHIFT (9pm-12am) Neil Kumm FIRST SHIFT NIGHT (9pm-3am) Donna Burns SECOND SHIFT NIGHT (3am-8am) Brad & Lynn Sturm MORNING VOLUNTEER (6am-8am Friday) Wally & Betty Stoll CLEANING VOLUNTEER (8am-9am Friday) Wally & Betty Stoll

Hoops Mania Tickets The Men’s Club is raising money for the Building Fund. Similar to Football Mania, the Men’s Club will be selling HoopsMania March

Madness Basketball raffle tickets at $10/ticket. Each ticket is randomly assigned 8 seeds in the men’s NCAA tournament bracket (e.g., #2 seed in Midwest). You will find out your teams when the NCAA brackets are selected and teams are assigned seeds. Your teams then earn points each round based on their game score. Winners are determined at the end of the tournament, after the National Championship game. The 45 tickets whose teams score the most combined total points throughout the tournament, and the 4 tickets with the fewest combined points WIN! See game card for complete details. All proceeds go to the Building Our Future Together fund! Tickets will be on sale next weekend after Mass in the gathering space.

Upcoming Events of the La Crosse Diocesan Council of Catholic Women: March 3: "Embracing Your Call to Holiness" Catholic Women’s Retreat at St. Mary’s Community Center in Altoona. For more information or to RSVP by Feb. 24, call Julie Brindle at 715-456-6351.

Family Life

Social Justice

Men’s Club

PCCW

Mary Mother of the Church

March 10: “Lord, Teach Me to Pray” Morning of Reflection Blessed Sacrament Parish Center. 8am Mass, 8:45 light breakfast, 9:45-10:30 presentation on prayer by Msgr. Del Malin. Please sign up on the Bulletin Board in back of church by Feb. 28 or call Sue Groetsch at 608-787-0717.

End Of The Year Contribution Statements 2017 end-of-year Contribution Statements have been mailed. If you did not receive yours or if you have any question about your statement, please call Holly Gerling, the finance secretary at 788-5483, ext. 3. Just a reminder: A statement of your Annual Appeal donations should have arrived from the Diocese. If you have questions, please contact Sarah Komperud at skomperud@diolc.org or 608-791-2653.

Scrip Look at all the places with in a 3-mile radius of Mary, Mother of the Church where you can use scrip: Ace Hardware, Burger King,

Culvers, Dunkin Donuts, Festival Foods, Great Clips, Kwik Trip, Marcus Theaters, McDonalds, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Ship Shape Carwash, Shopko, Subway, Walgreen’s, Walmart and Wendy’s. Scrip is available for purchase before and after all Masses and on Friday’s in the Parish office.

This Year’s Flu Season As we deal with the flu season, please be aware there are hand sanitizers dispensers at several church entrances (and more are installed in the new Parish Hall) If you are not feeling

well, or have a weakened immune system you may chose to refrain from shaking hands during the Sign of Peace and from partaking of the Precious Blood from the cup.

Do you like to travel? Would you like to learn a new skill? The La Crosse Bell Choir will be going to Germany and France for a 10 day concert tour in July. They are looking for 2 more people who would like to join the group and play handbells. For more information about the itinerary and rehearsal details, contact Nancy Misch at 788-6379.

Finance

FYI

February 11, 2018

Liturgical Roles February 17th & 18th

Ministers of Holy Communion

4:00 p.m. Mary Calkins, Gary Heilman, Linda Heilman, Michelle Schaub, Mary Schaub, Larry Weibel

8:00 a.m. Gloria Biesen, Karen Nordstrom, Chris Schlegel, Mary Jo Schumacher, Kathy Skiles, Dan Skiles

10:00 a.m. Barbara Hauke, Rozan Iverson, Tony Kath, Rebecca Kath, Betty Koenen, Lance Miller

Sacristans

4:00 p.m. Dorothy Beyer

8:00 a.m. Betty & Wally Stoll

10:00 a.m. Linda Schwartz

Lectors 4:00 p.m. Joseph van Oss, Mary Olson

8:00 a.m. Bob Mahr, Donna Omernik

10:00 a.m. Lisa Caya, Barb Kruse

Servers

4:00 p.m. Joseph Lecheler, NOT FILLED

8:00 a.m. Maria Kainz, Amelia Kainz

10:00 a.m. Isaac Schelfhout, Abigail Schelfhout

Musicians

4:00 p.m. Judy Roraff

8:00 a.m. Mary Jo Lium

10:00 a.m. Mary Jo Lium

Cantors 4:00 p.m. Mary Kulas

8:00 a.m. Haylee Pagenkopf

10:00 a.m. Ensemble Choir

Ushers 4:00 p.m. John Dooley, Ron Fitzpatrick, Matthew

Hafner, Peter Hansen, Kadon Hansen, Rick Mix, Dale Olson, Laura Papenfuss

8:00 a.m. Allan Baumler, Paul Chapiewsky, Marv Elsen, Peter Engh, Kevin Hennessy, Bob Klar, Leah O'Neill, Rich Waller

10:00 a.m. Zanna Alexander, Marlin Buchner, Mike Burns, Steve Clements, Henry Kabat, Caelen Lansing, Lauren Lansing, Natalie Oelke

Gift Bearers 4:00 p.m. Colleen Weibel, Larry Weibel

8:00 a.m. Bruce Nordstrom, Karen Nordstrom

10:00 a.m. Caelen Lansing, Lauren Lansing

Hospitality 8:00 a.m. Bob Flottmeyer, Nancy Flottmeyer

10:00 a.m. Kim Lansing, Paul Lansing

Scrip Sellers 4:00 p.m. Kevin Moyle, Sue Olson

8:00 a.m. Bob Jansky, Charlene Jansky

10:00 a.m. NOT FILLED, NOT FILLED

Money Counters

10:00 a.m. Bill Antony, Margaret Hammell, Patty Watson

Building Our Future Together

Thank you to everyone who attended the Parish Presentations last weekend. We announced that we are proceeding with plans to continue construction to finish the lower level of the new building for our new Religious Education Center and Music Rehearsal Room. We also announced that our capital cam-paign for this Phase III construction was successful! We had a target of $375,000 and received gifts and pledges of $710,000! Coupled with the $300,000 be-quest from Pat McCabe’s estate we have just over $1,000,000 heading into this project. We anticipate costs to be approximately $900,000.

You will note on this page the Building Our Fu-ture Together “thermometer” has been updated. The first column, “Pledges,” shows that we have met our goal for the current Phase II and for Phase III, the build-out of the lower level. Consequently, there are some funds moving into Phase IV for church im-provements – including addressing the “old” boiler systems in the church.

Thank you to everyone who has responded so generously to the Building Our Future Together Campaigns. The response has been amazing! God truly has blessed all of our prayers, work, and gener-osity.

Looking ahead in just two weeks we will hold an Open House in the new Parish Hall after all of the weekend Masses. You will have a chance to look around (even ride the elevator if you wish) and sit down to enjoy visiting with one another in the new hall. We will serve refreshments after the 4:00 Mass and our regular Sunday hospitality in the back of church will be in the Parish Hall that weekend … plus we’ll serve some fresh baked goodies from the new kitchen! Plan to stay and enjoy!

Please continue your prayers for our parish and for the safety of the construction workers as we con-tinue to Build Our Future Together.

February 11, 2018

Weekly Mass Intentions (Please excuse the construction noise which begins at 6am)

Tuesday, February 13, 2018 7:30 am † Rose Weber by Virginia Horstman Wednesday, February 14, 2018 7:30 am † Adele Stolder by Virginia Horstman 12:00 pm † Henry Kreibich by Jennifer Kreibich 7:00 pm † Fr. Robert Wagner by Father Konopa Thursday, February 15, 2018 7:30 am † Burr Wenzel by Patrick Wenzel 2:00 pm † Kenneth Riepel by Marlene Riepel (at Hillview) Friday, February 16, 2018 7:30 am † Irene Nedvidek by Ken Nedvidek Saturday, February 17, 2018 4:00 pm † Helen Kuka by Dale and Sue Olson Sunday, February 18, 2018 8:00 am For the People 10:00 am † Charles Wuensch by His Parents

ACHIEVED!PHASE I $400,000 School Bldg. Deconstruction

Building Our Future Together As of February 6

PHASE IV $870,000 Church Maintenance

PHASE III $900,000 Religious Education Center

PHASE II

$4 Million

Parish Hall

$4.00mil

Pledges and

Other Projected Earnings

$3.74mil

Received

$900K

$117 K

$596 K