40 Days for Life Kenosha to Host Steve Karlen and Chris Davis

With New York’s passage of the Reproductive Health Act, which permits abortion to the moment of birth, many more individuals are asking what can be done in response. 40 Days for Life is a life-saving prayer campaign that will take place throughout the archdiocese, beginning on Ash Wednesday, March 6, and concluding on Palm Sunday, April 14. 40 Days for Life is comprised of 40 days of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil at abortion facilities and educational outreach with the goal of protecting mothers and their unborn children from abortion. According to 40 Days for Life, more than 15,000 children have been saved from abortion during these twice-a-year campaigns.

At 10 a.m. March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, Campaign Director Steve Karlen and Campaign Strategist Chris Davis from 40 Days for Life will join participants in prayer at Planned Parenthood, 3601 Roosevelt Road, Kenosha.

According to Karen Mathis, Kenosha 40 Days for Life Coordinator, 350 babies in Racine and Kenosha lose their lives to abortion each year. She is looking forward to Karlen and Davis offering prayerful encouragement at the abortion referral center.

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Three is also the number of times Steve has paid full price for Brewers tickets. 

Kenosha's All Saints a possible model for Racine Catholic schools

In 2011, Catholic schools in Kenosha began a “regional” school model that had an effect on every parish school in the city.

“At that point, there were four parish schools still operating in Kenosha and those schools closed, and the regional school opened,” said Jackie Lichter, principal at All Saints Catholic Schools. “It was a difficult time for families in Kenosha when their parish schools closed, there was a lot of sadness … Initially when I was hired in April (2011) we didn’t have one student enrolled because no one knew what was happening. When we opened our doors in August we had 450 students enrolled.”

It took years and multiple tries, Lichter said, before the All Saints regional school model was implemented in Kenosha.

It’s possible a similar model may come to Racine as the Archdiocese of Milwaukee continues to work on a Racine Catholic Schools Collaboration system.

Amy Grau, communication director for the Archdiocese, said officials continue to have discussions with area schools and parishes and anticipate a final plan to be proposed to Archbishop Jerome Listecki in May.

“That plan will detail governance, academic and financial details for the new system as well as recommend an overarching name for the system with each school retaining its own identity,” Grau said. “In the meantime, while that plan is being finalized, a national recruitment search has begun for the position of president of the new school system for Catholic schools in Racine.”

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CreamCity: Restoring St. Elizabeth's in Kenosha

BC: The "Benedictine" altar arrangement is a sure sign of a solid parish

Kenosha, with a population of about 100,000, is located about one hour south of Milwaukee along the shore of Lake Michigan. You might be surprised (as I was) that this city boats an impressive number of Catholic churches. It was a hub for German and Italian immigrants in the last century. I was recently given a tour of Saint Elizabeth and Saint James parishes by the pastor, Father Sean Granger and the parish’s Director of Administrative Services, Dave Tomasiewicz. After the tour, they took some time to answer questions about the ongoing restoration work that is underway at both parishes. This interview will focus on Saint Elizabeth Parish.

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Great interview!  

Prayers needed for Kenosha priest suffering from ALS

PRAYERS NEEDED: With all the excitement surrounding the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge please say some prayers for Fr Benjamin Reese , a priest at Our Lady of Mt Carmel parish in Kenosha. He suffers from ALS and tonight he is in ICU as a result of complications with this horrible disease.

JS: Kenosha priest keeps the faith in fight against ALS

Kenosha — Father Benjamin Reese stands at the altar and lifts the Eucharist with his outstretched arms, for the smattering of faithful in the pews. There is no sound, but the clanging of its gold-plated vessel.

Six women, on their knees, begin to pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...

But Reese is silent.

His own prayers these days are internal.

Robbed of his voice by a degenerative — and ultimately fatal — disease, Reese continues to serve alongside Father Dwight Campbell at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Therese of Lisieux parishes in Kenosha.

After 23 years as a Catholic priest, nearly half his life, exposing the Eucharist for this ancient devotion is one of the few priestly duties he can still perform.

"It is frustrating now. But I attend Mass daily," Reese said in the robotic voice emanating from the iPad he now uses to communicate.

"I am still praying for a healing," he said. "If God could make a donkey speak, I think he could make me speak."

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HT TB

Traditional Latin Midnight Mass in Kenosha

 

Also, folks please remember Fr. Reece in your prayers

Fr Reese has been diagnosed with ALS and it has affected his speech.  There is a letter to the Parish from him at olmckenosha.org about it.   Please pray for him and perhaps ask for prayers from your readers.   He is a candidate for an experimental treatment in February and we are all praying for his acceptance in the trial (or simply a miraculous healing! )

History Mystery: St. George School opened in 1858

Last week’s question: In what year was St. George Catholic School founded?

Answer: It’s been about 14 years since the parishes of St. George and St. Casimir in Kenosha were merged by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee into one parish: St. Elizabeth.

But St. George made its mark in Catholic education in 1858 when the Sisters of Notre Dame came to teach here. That was seven years after the founding of the parish. The motherhouse of the order was located in Milwaukee. The school was located in the 4800 block of Seventh Avenue.

Sisters Mary Petra and Mary Edmundsa and a candidate, Mary Anna Meyer, comprised the first teaching staff, and the enrollment on Jan. 7, 1858, was 27 boys and 33 girls. Two months later the number had increased to 51 girls and 33 boys.

The newly organized school had one room, later divided by a partition to eliminate some of the distractions.

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