The Badger Catholic: Diocese of Superior

Showing posts with label Diocese of Superior. Show all posts

Day of Healing and Remembrance for the Loss of a Child hosted at St Terese Lisieux in Phillips WI on 30-March

This is awesome. Our Lady of the Snows Quinzhee Chapel

Fr. Samuel Schneider (The Superior Priest) with the help of St. Joseph School, built this snow quinzhee called Our Lady of the Snows. It was a lot of fun to carve, crawl, and shovel. It was a true work of love, as the chapel stood complete for only one day, but hosted a lot of visitors in that time. It was the second annual snow chapel, and God willing there will be another one next year. I hope you enjoy watching the construction and use of the quinzhee! #superiorpriest

Great work Fr. Schneider!

For whom the bells toll: Parish helps Hayward WI host Birkie

When the Hayward community welcomes tens of thousands for the American Birkebeiner ski-marathon each February, St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish has a front row seat and VIP status.

The Birkie, as the American Birkebeiner is popularly known, is the largest ski-marathon in North America, and part of an international federation to promote cross-country skiing, the Worldloppet. Comprised of the best ski racing around the world, each of the 20 countries on the Worldloppet circuit is only allowed one race location.

Located in the Hayward-Cable area, the American Birkebeiner trail covers more than 100 kilometers. The Birkie race course is 50K for classic Nordic skiing and 55K for skate or freestyle.

Pastor of St. Joseph’s parish, Fr. Gerard Willger, receives a text message when the elite skiers are on Lake Hayward, making their way toward the International Bridge and Main Street finish line. Fr. Willger then starts ringing the church’s bells – along with two other churches – to announce the lead pack is approaching the finish.

continue at SupCathHerald

Superior seeks national historic designation for Wisconsin Point, once an Ojibwe burial site

Wisconsin Point was a campsite and burial place for native people until the 20th century, when U.S. Steel had a plan to build an ore dock on the sandy point off the Allouez Bay.

Then, people were forced to leave and the remains of their ancestors were disinterred and placed in a mass grave at the St. Francis cemetery in Superior. According to the Diocese of Superior, only about 180 of the most recognized graves, including the grave of Chief Joseph Osaugie, were interred at the St. Francis mass grave.

It was only later determined that Wisconsin Point was too sandy to construct an ore dock.

continue at Duluth Tribune

Superior, La Crosse dioceses plan to review files for abusive clergy

At least two more Catholic dioceses in Wisconsin plan to open their archives in search of abusive clergy members throughout their history.

Representatives for the Diocese of Superior and the Diocese of La Crosse both said their organizations will review their files, following the release by the Diocese of Green Bay last week of a list of 46 priests who had sexually abused minors.

Neither Superior nor La Crosse provided a date that any list would be finished or made public.

continue at Wausau Daily Herald

'Jayme is home': Barron County church holds service to honor missing teen's return

CAMERON - For 88 days, the people of Barron County prayed that Jayme Closs would be found.

On Sunday night, the community turned to church for a different sort of prayer — one expressing gratitude for the 13-year-old's safe return home.

Family, friends and neighbors gathered at St. Peter Catholic Church in Cameron for a prayer service to honor Jayme, who freed herself from the northern Wisconsin home of Jake Thomas Patterson on Jan. 10 after nearly three months in captivity. Patterson is charged with shooting and killing Jayme's parents, James and Denise Closs, on Oct. 15, abducting her and holding her in his Town of Gordon home.

continue at JS

Bishop James Powers asks for continued prayers for Jayme Closs

Parish and family of missing Barron girl ask for prayers

The family of 13-year-old Jayme Closs, abducted from her Barron home last month, is asking for prayers, said Patty Gerber, parish director for the Closs family’s parish cluster of St. Peter, Cameron; St. Boniface, Chetek; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Strickland; and St. Joseph, Barron.

“They believe in the power of prayer, and that’s all that they request,” Gerber added.

The eighth-grader, who is in the religious education program, was kidnapped after her parents were shot to death by unknown people at their home.

Gerber said the students in Closs’ class talk about her every week and pray together for her return.

The Diocese of Superior held an hour for prayer on Jayme’s behalf Sunday, Oct. 28.

Superior Catholic Herald

St Patrick, pray for us!

Former Superior Diocese priest arrested for assault charges in the early 1980s

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A former priest with several allegations of sexual abuse beginning in the 1980s was arrested Friday on sexual assault charges.

The Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office says Thomas E. Ericksen, 71, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, second-degree sexual assault against a child and second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim. These three charges stem from complaints reported between June of 1982 to September of 1983.

continue at CBS 4

$800,000 church embezzler from largest parish in Superior Diocese sentenced to three years in prison

Turtle Lake resident Deborah Marcellus, 64, who admitted stealing nearly $823,000 from the congregation of Barron County’s largest Roman Catholic congregation earlier this year, was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, in U.S. District Court in Madison.

Marcellus pleaded guilty last July 2 to federal charges of wire fraud and filing a false income tax return in connection with the theft of $822,900 from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Rice Lake, during a six-year period from 2011 through 2017.

Federal authorities charged that, as director of development for the parish, Marcellus generated more than 200 unauthorized checks to herself. Investigators analyzed the church’s accounting software to determine that while the unauthorized checks were originally written to Marcellus, she often quickly changed the name of the payee to a legitimate church vendor. Marcellus also forged the signatures of multiple church leaders on the checks.

continue at Barron News-Shield

Bishop Powers of Superior on the current abuse crisis

Once again we are all hurt, confused and angered by the recent news of Archbishop McCarrick’s abuses, the grand jury report from Pennsylvania, and the accusations against Pope Francis. As we move forward, the way is not totally clear, but I vow with the help of God to do everything in my power to lead our diocese with transparency and integrity in all things.

First and foremost, I offer my prayers and support for justice and healing to all victims of clergy abuse. Second, I offer my apologies for Church cover-ups and lack of transparent action, which led to sexual abuse of both children and adults, including seminarians. Third, I strongly encourage any victims of Catholic Church sexual abuse to bravely come forward and report the crimes committed against them. Finally, I ask for prayers of support for the great majority of our holy priests and bishops, who will continue their good and dedicated service to all of us and our Catholic Church.

As a priest and pastor, I have fully supported the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and believe that the Diocese of Superior has taken every step possible to prevent abuse from happening in our diocese since its adoption 16 years ago. I am not aware of any currently serving priests or parish staff in our Diocese that are known or rumored to be abusers. I firmly believe that any of our active or retired priests would come to me if they have any knowledge of abuse. We have been carefully following the safety guidelines of the charter since 2002. Independent auditors have consistently found our diocese to be in compliance with all audited articles within the charter, most recently in July of 2018.

continue at SupCH

Newman Center at UW-Superior closed, building sold

On the opposite side of the coin as UW-Madison, sadly the Newman Center at UW-Superior goes the opposite way.

With the start of UW-Superior’s 2017-18 academic year, a 55-year history was coming to an end. On-campus Catholic ministry was changing.

The UW-Superior Newman Student Center building, dedicated in 1962, had long been a topic of discussion in the Diocesan Finance Council. From an administrative standpoint, the building was underutilized. From a ministry standpoint, a permanent location was not essential to its mission.

Dan Blank was hired in earlier this year as the director of Administrative Services for the Diocese of Superior. “With groundwork laid previously by others, I was charged with helping facilitate some discussion with the university to find out if they were seriously interested in purchasing the building or not,” Blank said. In fact, the university was interested and made the diocese a reasonable offer. With a sense of fulfilling the diocese’s goal of being good stewards of its resources and assets, the offer was accepted and the sale finalized in mid-September.

continue at SupCathHerald

Superior Diocese to host pro-life conference Sept 30

The Diocese of Superior, with support from the Diocese of Duluth, is hosting a pro-life conference Saturday, Sept. 30. Speakers are Gloria Purvis, co-host of EWTN Morning Glory on Real Presence Radio, and Nic Davidson, a Duluth native and Theology of the Body speaker who has appeared at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Whittlesey, and other parishes.

“God’s Gift – To Love Every Body” is the title of the conference; the theme is “focusing on the meaning and importance of life in all forms, and loving every body at every stage.” The event, which also includes a dinner with the speakers Friday, Sept. 29, will be held at UW-Superior. Visit http://catholicdos.org/events/gods-gift-to-love-every-body to learn more or to register.

SupCH

Superior Diocese looking at virtual/distance education for high schoolers in city of Superior

Note: the entire Superior Diocese has no Catholic High Schools(a difficult prospect considering the remoteness of the area).

The Diocese of Duluth is in the process of planning a bricks-and-mortar Catholic high school in Duluth, and Cathedral School is simultaneously studying the feasibility of launching a virtual/distance education Catholic high school in Superior.

Our Lady of the Lake, Ashland, revived Catholic high school education in the diocese in 2015 through a partnership with Regis High School, Eau Claire, but the effort only lasted one school year.

However, all the schools benefited from OLL’s undertaking, and St. Francis Solanus, Reserve, utilized the distance/virtual model with Regis for two of its students this school year.

“We learned a lot from that experience,” Carr said.

The principal plans to meet with parents to see whether there is immediate interest in high school-level Catholic education. The Duluth school could take longer to establish, he said.

SupCathHerald

I guesss the question is, why not just send the kids over to the new Duluth HS for school?

Martin Sheen "speaking" at Ecumenical Climate Change event at Superior Diocese parishes March 5-7

I say "speaking" because from the literature sent to me it says there's a pre-recorded message from Martin Sheen which will be played at the event, not that he was attending the events personally.

Tuesday, March 7, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Solon Springs Community Center, 11523 South US Hwy 53, Save the Earth, Save the Poor, an interfaith series of presentations featuring Catholic social justice advocate Martin Sheen, Catholic Charities and other regional faith based social service providers. Breakfast and lunch included.
...
The symposium is being sponsored by the Peace of Mind Project and Martin Sheen, principle spokesperson for the project.

The Peace of Mind Project was founded by Fr. James Kinney, pastor of the cluster, in 1999, and is dedicated to raising awareness for those with mental illness.

details at SupCathHerald

docs I have say this:

8:00-9:00 Check in with Continental Breakfast
9:00-9:10 Interfaith prayer- church pastors
9:10-9:25 Martin Sheen, video keynote presentation, pre-recorded
9:25-10:15 The Social Ministry of Catholic Charities- Catholic Charities Bureau of The Superior Diocese
10:15-10:35 CCB Q & A
10:35-10:50 Coffee Break
10:50-11:40 Lutheran Social Ministry- Lutheran Social Services
11:40-12:00 LSS Q & A
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:15 Caring for Creation- Dr. Kent Shifferd
1:15-2:45 Healing of Indigenous People and the Environment- All Nations Indigenous Center
2:45-3:30 Q and A with Dr. Shifferd and the All Nations presenters on the environment and Native American justice initiatives

Hudson Catholic parish considers taking in 21 Syrian refugees

Church leaders and members of St. Patrick Parish in Hudson have been praying overtime in the past couple of weeks as they decide whether to welcome five Syrian refugee families into their community next summer.

The Rev. John Gerritts promised to learn more about the refugee crisis and reach out to parish leadership after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called earlier this fall to ask if his congregation would host the refugees, who are living in a camp in Turkey.

“This is something we’ve never done before,” said Gerritts, who is the church’s pastor. “It’s nothing we were looking to do. It’s not a part of our immediate mission.”

Parish trustee Claire Zajac said some churchgoers perceive the refugees as possibly dangerous to the community.

continue at TwinCities.com

This is a commendable undertaking to take in these displaced Christian families.... oh wait:

Church members are overwhelmingly supportive of the refugee work the Council of Churches does, Walen said. He receives a few letters a year from individuals who say they’re worried about new Muslim settlers in their communities, but most welcome the newcomers.

Ok... well if anyone is interested in also helping Syrian Christians as well, there are organizations out there to enable your charity. I'm not necessarily against humanitarian efforts, but I hope Wisconsin Catholics can also support Christians in the process as well.

Stream readers know that Christians in the Middle East are the victims of the worst religious persecution on earth. As Jonathan Witt documented here, the UN’s failure to make refugee camps safe is allowing intolerant Sunni Muslims — who share a creed with ISIS — to violently “cleanse” such camps of Christians. These helpless, unarmed survivors of ISIS’s murder squads cannot even reach the “first safe” countries that could welcome them, and instead live in windblown tents and unheated metal storage containers in places like Mt. Sinjar, just miles away from ISIS-controlled territory. More than a million Christians were driven at gunpoint from Iraq during the U.S. occupation of that country, and now the Obama administration is banning Iraqi Christians from even visiting America, and explicitly excluding Christians as victims of ISIS’s genocide.

Cumberland man enters Capuchin novitiate

Br. Nathan Linton, son of Deacon Steve and Mary Linton, Cumberland, received the traditional habit of St. Francis as a Capuchin friar this summer in Santa Ynez, California.

The July ceremony was the start of one year of novitiate. In less than one year, Br. Nathan will make his first simple profession of vows with the Midwest Capuchin Province of St. Joseph.

A 2013 graduate of Cumberland High School, Br. Nathan was in Capuchin formation at Loyola University, Chicago, then was briefly a seminarian for the Diocese of Superior before returning as a postulant to the Capuchin order.

SupCathHerald

SupCH: FOCUS missionaries heading to college campuses

Dan Tracy takes a lot of selfies. It’s a virtue for a campus missionary who spends much of his time hanging out with students.

Tracy works with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), a nationwide campus ministry that has attracted two Superior residents to its mission.

Both parishioners of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Tracy and Arne Nyeck are embarking on a year of missionary work on Minnesota campuses starting this fall.

Tracy returns to Saint John’s University in Collegeville for his second year with FOCUS, while Nyeck begins his inaugural missionary year at Minnesota State University, Mankato.