Fr. Rick Heilman celebrates 25th anniversary of ordination

Regular readers of this blog know Fr. Rick Heilman of the Madison Diocese to be one of the best priests in the state universe.

That--plus Fr. Heilman's awesome tendency to go all out in everything he does--is why it was no surprise that his anniversary celebration yesterday was a party of epic proportions. Like I told my wife, "I wasn't expecting to see a Ferris Wheel as we drove up, but I certainly wouldn't have been surprised if there had been one.

Well, there was no Ferris Wheel, but there was everything else. Hundreds of people, a Mexican dance troupe, a Celtic band, all kinds of food, and much, much more made yesterday afternoon in Pine Bluff, WI an excellent foretaste of Heaven.

A look under the food tent

The line to get into the tent. Believe it or not, food was also being served inside the old parish school.

The man of the hour addresses those who came to celebrate with him.

Another look under the tent.

An awesome Celtic band provided entertainment.

A traditional Mexican dance troupe surprised Fr. Rick with a series of dances in honor of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe and St. Isidore

More dancing

Fr. Rick applauds the performance.

Because the Mexican dance troupe was so colorful and a lot of fun to photograph, I'll post a bunch of additional pictures:

From all of us here at the Badger Catholic, thank you to Fr. Rick Heilman for an amazing quarter century of service to the Mystical Body of Christ through the holy priesthood.