C A T H O L I C P A R I S H E S O F

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WI 53821

St. John Nepomuc

710 S. WACOUTA AVENUE · 326-6511

St. Gabriel Archangel

Tuesday / Thursday ...................................................................... 6:45 am Monday / Wednesday / Friday ................................ 8:30 am Saturday ...................................................................................................... 4:00 pm Sunday ............................................................................................................ 8:00 am

Monday / Wednesday / Friday .................................6:45 am Tuesday / Thursday .......................................................................8:30 am Saturday .......................................................................................................7:00 pm Sunday ....................................................................................................... 10:00 am

ST. GABRIEL’S ST. JOHN’S MASS SCHEDULE

Rev. Hubert G. Boschert S.J. Pastor

Rev. James B. Warosh S.J. Associate

THIS WEEK at St. Gabriel’s and St. John’s

SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 - LABOR DAY No Bingo because of the Holiday TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 6:00 pm 1st meeting for St. Gabriel’s Fall Fest will be held at St. Gabriel’s School Hall - all interested parties, especially chairpersons should attend WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 7:00 pm Depression Support Group will meet in St. John’s Church Hall THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

9:00 am Exposition & Adoration at St. John’s Church until 1:00 pm 6:30 pm Education committee will meet at St. Gabriel’s School Hall FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 AND SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 9:00 am Coffee & Rolls will be served in St. John’s Hall by the September Group plus drawing for the Lottery Sweepstakes Calendar E-Mail Address: stgabriels@centurytel.net Website: www.prairiecatholic.org

August 31, 2008 - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

506 N. BEAUMONT ROAD · 326-2404

Baptism Please make arrangements with the Pastor Marriage Please contact the Pastor at least 6 months prior to the wedding date. Joint Parish Pastoral Council Joe Faust, Mark Forsythe, Jim McGrath, Holly Nicholson, Mike Mezera, Steve Schwager, Pat Mercaitis, Keith Neisius, Patrick Nolan, Carl Orr Joint Parish Finance Council Lucy Cornford, Pat Dagnon, Mark DuCharme, Mike Gar-rity, Mark Mara, Phil Mezera, Brad Linder, Tom Stram, Jim Welsch, Jerry Wachuta Endowment Trustees: St. John’s: Roy George, Mary Pellock & Mike Leard St. Gabriel’s: Dan Kussmaul, Mary Jaynes, Cathy Bierman Prairie Catholic School Phil Mezera, Paul Stark, Mark Mara, Leslie Orr Prairie Catholic School Principal Kathleen Schwartz Parish Administrator Paula Check Office Managers Paula Check, Lana J. Gratace Director of Religious Education Pat Prochaska Parish Nurses Rose Bauer & Shirley Cipra (357-2000) Education Committee Deb Trautsch, Rochelle Fulcher, Kathy Schneider, Tracy & Laurie Pedretti, Rochelle Neisius, Dixie Jackson, Tim Steger Confessions Saturday St. Gabriel’s 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm St. John’s 6:00 pm to 6:45 pm At Rectory anytime; phone to set up a time

Rectory Office Hours at St. Gabriel’s - 8 am to 3 pm

Rectory Office Hours at St. John’s - 8 am to 4 pm

August 31, 2008 St. Gabriel’s Parish

Offertory Gift Bearers-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Karla Rogers & Family

Sunday 8:00 am Terry Meyer Family

Eucharistic Ministers-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Laura Meyer & Tom Steiner-

Bread

Lyle Marfilius & Virginia

Konichek-Cup

Sunday 8:00 am Karen Fritsche, Don Cipra-

Bread

Mary Osterhaus & Donna

Teynor-Cup

Home Communion Ministers for Sept. 7th: Bonnie Reilly, Rose Trautsch

Servers-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Claire Stoeffler & Lauren

Nicholson

Sunday 8:00 am Natalie & Nathan Stram

Lectors-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Mary Stoeffler

Sunday 8:00 am Barb Welsch

Ushers-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Joe Barrette, Bill Check, Randy

Ginsterblum, Ed Steger

Sunday 8:00 am Tom Stram, Ed Mezera,

Dick Tesar & Volunteer

Scrip Workers-September 6/7 Saturday 4:00 pm Terri Strandlie/Jeff or Sue

Groom

Sunday 8:00 am Ken Stoeffler/Sam or Sandy

Halverson

Parish Support This Year Last Year Envelopes for 8/24 $3,208.00 $3,464.00

Plate for 8/24 647.90 707.23

Students 5.40 3.07

Heat Envelopes 67.00 68.00

Holy Day (addt’l) 10.00 .00

Total $3,938.30 $4,242.30

Our average weekly goal at St. Gabriel’s for adult

envelopes is $4,650.00.

The second collection at St. Gabriel’s came to

$3,487.25 and will be used for school expenses.

Thank you for your offering!

St. Gabriel’s Mass Intentions

Monday, September 1 - Labor Day

8:30 am †Clement V. Mezera:

by Pat & Kay Lorenz

Tuesday, September 2

6:45 am †William Hoffman, Jr: by M. Fagan

Wednesday, September 3

8:30 am †June Tyler: by Family & Friends

Thursday, September 4

6:45 am †Marie Mahan: by Lorraine & Dan Groh

Friday, September 5

8:30 am †Viola Kane: by Family & Friends

Saturday, September 6

4:00 pm †Mayme Quinn: by Family & Friends

Sunday, September 7

8:00 am For the People of St. Gabriel’s Parish

and St. John’s Parish

Bingo Winners from Monday, August 25th:

$25.00 - Jenni Stagman, Bob Heinrichs; $30.00 - Peg

Stoeffler, Maggie Check; $40.00 - Helen Ellenbolt -

$100.00 - Lindsey Davis; Consolation Progressive

($100.00) - Helen Ellenbolt

50/50 Winner ($53.50) - Luke Wright

Bingo will not be held on Monday, September

1st because of the Labor Day Holiday. Bingo

will resume on Monday, September 8th.

Choose Life: On the eve of the Pope’s visit to the

United States, it was reported that he had

experienced the horror of the Holocaust first hand in

the death at Nazi hands of a cousin with Down

Syndrome. A Holocaust expert has noted that the

medical crimes of the Holocaust “started with the

acceptance of the attitude basic to the euthanasia

movement, that there is such a thing as a life not

worthy to be lived.” (Dr. Leo Alexander, NEJM article, 1949)

The first meeting for the St. Gabriel’s

Fall Festival will be held Tuesday, Sep-

tember 2nd at 6:00 pm at St. Gabriel’s

School Hall. All interested parties, es-

pecially chairpersons, are encouraged

to attend.

In Sympathy Please remember Lorraine Betz in your prayers. Her funeral was held at St. Gabriel’s on Friday, August 29th. May God grant her eternal life and comfort to her family.

Reminder: Prairie Catholic School and Par-

ishes now has a website at www.prairie

catholic.org. We encourage you to browse

through it and tell others about it. Inside you

will find information about our school and par-

ishes, church groups, news, schedules, calendars,

church bulletins and more. Please visit us often

because this is a dynamic site which offers up-

dated news and content that is growing and

changing each week.

St. Gabriel - St. John, Prairie du Chien

Notes Common to Both Parishes

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading: Jer 20:7-9:; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

Theme: Love Implies Sacrifice. Those who are dedicated to a once given commitment know that their dedication implies sacrifice. Married people may think of their mutual commitment in love; religious sisters, broth-ers and priests may think of their vows; chil-dren and parents, if committed to mutual happiness in the family, may think of their daily living under one roof. Love means giv-ing of self. This self-giving is a source of happiness but it entails sacrifice as well. For Jeremiah, duped by the Lord into loving, it was “derision and reproach all the day” (First Reading). After Paul has described God’s redemptive work in Christ (Rom 1-11), he explains the human response in love: “Offer your bodies (selves) as a living sacrifice...to God” (Second Reading). Christian life, although seen as a response to God’s love for human beings, implies car-rying a cross, as the Lord Himself has done (Gospel). Is Christian life then a miserable life, a life of those trapped in a situation from which there is no escape? No, as long as “sacrifice” is seen in the perspective of love. The secret of a happy Christian life is not to avoid “the cross,” but to keep love alive! “Lord God…….place in our hearts a desire to please You and fill our minds with insight into love” (Alternative Opening Prayer).

Vocation Viewpoint: If you wish to follow Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow. Are you courageous enough to fol-low as a priest or deacon, religious brother or sister? (Mt 16:21-27)

Brothers & Sisters:

I was talking recently with the Bishop and

brought up the topic of what will be hap-pening to the 2 parishes in Prairie after mid

-October. The Bishop commended me for

being concerned for my parishioners but

encouraged me not to be concerned about

the matter as any provision for the future

would be his responsibility. Earlier he had suggested to me to contact Tom Farrell

with whom the Bishop is personally famil-

iar and confident in because of Tom’s

chairmanship of the diocesan finance

council. I was to see whether Tom would be willing and available to work with our

parish administrator, Paula Check, until a

new pastor might be appointed next June.

Tom was willing to become so involved and

so I later informed the Bishop of this. Sub-

sequently the Bishop encouraged me not to bear this burden of providing for the future

and so it is presently unclear just what ar-

rangement the Bishop will make and ap-

prove.

Should the above be part of the Bishop’s interim solution, should there be those who

would question the authority of said lead-

ers, this is exactly what needs to be

avoided. Whatever the final arrangement

approved by the Bishop, that is what the

parishes will be working with. Were all to cooperate, as would be hoped, it would be a

powerful manifestation that the laity can be

sharers in the role of authority, serving

their brothers and sisters in whatever day-

to-day decisions have to be made in the interim period. Otherwise, parish life

would be extremely strained and even un-

manageable.

Along these lines also, let me encourage

you to remain faithful to your volunteerism

and financial support that you have mani-fested over the years. Should you let the

interim period be a source of frustration or

discouragement and you were to give up

your involvement and/or financial contri-

butions during this time, it would be a strong example of “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” On the other hand, if you

were to focus on keeping parish life afloat

during this period, even increasing your

involvement in a positive way, it would see

the parishes coming through with flying

colors and would provide a strong founda-tion for the new pastor to build upon when

he arrives.

If anyone would still like to donate to

our new Reading Series at Prairie

Catholic School - there is still time to

do so. As was stated before it will cost

an average of $130.00 per student for

the program. Many thanks to those

who have already contributed.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time St. John’s Parish

Offertory Gift Bearers-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Dan Schickert Family

Sunday 10:00 am Philip Mezera Family

Eucharistic Ministers-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Mary Pellock & Gail Ehlers-

Bread

Nell Bowar & Sharon Boylen-

Cup

Sunday 10:00 am Pat Dagnon & Jan Duve-Bread

Phil Dagnon & Mary Jaynes-Cup

Home Communion Ministers for Sept. 7th: Chris Ingham, Cathy Swenson, Mary Steiner

Servers-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Brandt & Anna Zeeh

Sunday 10:00 am Peyton Hall & Ryan Garrity

Lectors-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Carroll Polodna

Sunday 10:00 am Donna Cipra

Ushers-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Dan Schickert, Curt Root, Doug

Rickleff & Scott Vorwald

Sunday 10:00 am Richard Panka, Steve Steiner,

Paul Porvaznik, Mark Forsythe

Scrip Workers-September 6/7 Saturday 7:00 pm Arlene Kozelka/Jeff or Karen

Fisher

Sunday 10:00 am Paula Check/Duane or Laurie

Fritz

Parish Support This Year Last Year

Envelopes for 8/24 $2,689.00 $3,115.00

Plate for 8/24 402.75 386.50

Students 1.00 1.50

Holy Day (addt’l) 100.00 .00

Heat & Utilities 30.00 50.00

Total $3,222.75 $3,553.00

Our average weekly goal for adult envelopes at St.

John’s is $4,500.00.

The second collection at St. John’s came to

$216.65 and will be used for school expenses.

Thank you for your offering!

St. John’s Mass Intentions Monday, September 1 - Labor Day

6:45 am †Al Duve: by Maurice & Letty Oehler

Tuesday, September 2

8:30 am †Marie Reger:

by Maurice & Bette Mayer

Wednesday, September 3

6:45 am †Audrey & Harry Lochner: by Family

Thursday, September 4

8:30 am †June Novacek: by Family & Friends

Friday, September 5

6:45 am †Don Shea: by JoAnn Shea

Saturday, September 6

7:00 pm †Teresa Tarrence: by Family & Friends

Sunday, September 7

10:00 am †Fae Schneider: by Family & Friends

BAPTISMS

We welcome into the family of God, Andrew

Norman Geisler and Alexius Elise Geisler, chil-dren of Brian Geisler & Amanda Otte, through the sacrament of Baptism. May God continue to bless Andrew Norman and Alexius Elise.

Coffee & Rolls will be served in St. John’s Hall next Sunday, September 7th by the September Unit. September Unit Chairpeople are: Jean Ann Dillman, Marguerite Engelhardt, Gail Ehlers

Rummage Sale….At this time I will not be

able to conduct the rummage sale in Octo-

ber. If there are any grade levels, that

would like to take over - it would help you

to raise money for your Washington D.C.

trip. Or maybe there is another group that

would like to take it over. If so please con-

tact Fr. Boschert.

Thanks again for giving the rummage

sale committee a helping hand.

-Millie Senesac

IN SYMPATHY Please remember Paul Kueter and Clem

Mezera in your prayers. Both funerals were held at St. John’s Church this past week. May God grant them eternal life and comfort to their families.

FROM SCRIPTURE: Mt. 16:21-27: In this reading

Jesus shocked His disciples - Peter, in particular - by predict-

ing His own horrible death. Like many Jews of the day, Peter

believed that the Messiah would be a triumphant king who

would trample the enemies of his people. Instead Jesus blew

their notions of the Messiah’s role in salvation.

Like any good friend, Peter tried to save Jesus from any

discomfort or pain. He hoped there was an easier way. But

Jesus knew that unless He suffered and died, we would all

die in our own sins. He couldn’t turn from His purpose and

He rebuked Peter for tempting Him, even out of love.

Sometimes our most difficult temptations come from our

loved ones trying to spare us pain. Saving ourselves from

earthly death might mean doing something that causes us to

lose eternal life. Avoiding the pain and sacrifice that comes

with being a Christian could cause us to die spiritually and

emotionally. The secret of a happy Christian life is not to

avoid “the cross,” but to embrace it with love.

St. Gabriel - St. John, Prairie du Chien

Religious Education Classes (Grade

School CCD) will begin on Wednesday,

September 17th at 6:45 pm in St. John’s

School. All new students and all First

Grade students will need to register -

please call Pat Prochaska at 326-8774.

New Fundraiser. We have started col-

lecting aluminum cans to raise money for

Prairie Catholic Schools. We have set up

two fenced in areas - one against the play-

ground fence outside St. John’s Rectory

and one behind St. Gabriel’s School.

Please collect your cans, put them in plas-

tic bags and drop the bags in our new bins.

We would like to thank Mark Mara for

taking the lead in setting up this new

fundraiser. If everyone would participate

by collecting their empty cans, this could

be a great new source of income for our

school. Thanks for your support.

Q & A: I have been away from the Catholic Church

but want to come back. What do I do?

The Church is eager to welcome back her children.

You may want to start by meeting with your local

parish priest or pastor so he can guide you in the proc-

ess. Every priest is happy to help Catholics come

home.

Then, you’ll want to experience God’s mercy

through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A good way

to prepare is to think of ways you may have sinned

through word, thought, action or omission. For guides

use the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes.

Come to Mass, even if you are not able to receive

Communion at first. If you feel rusty, consider buying

an aid such as the St. Joseph Sunday Missal. It is

available at many Catholic bookstores and the Daugh-

ters of St. Paul (800-836-9723).

Many, many thanks to the crew from

both St. John’s & St. Gabriel’s who

gave up their whole Saturday morning and

early afternoon and into the following

week to restore St. John’s Parish and

middle school parking lot. It’s a thousand

percent better and has been provided an

extended life-span. Many thanks and may

God bless all of you.

HAVE A HAPPY

&

SAFE LABOR DAY