Notes from Fr. Pat

30 April 2023

1. Regarding my term renewal

My first 6-year term as pastor of St. Matthew and St. Mary by the Lake ends on September 1.  The following is verbatim from the Vicar for Clergy and is all I know about the potential for me to be given a second term:

Thanks for your patience on this matter.   Father Herda, Brenda Cline, and myself had the opportunity late last week to discuss your email and your situation.   We would like you to engage the process of review for the renewal of your existing placement at Saint Matthew and Saint Mary of the Lake.  You can begin this process at any time, but I would recommend doing it this summer after the volume of other more immediate placement work has dropped down in the offices here. 

At this point our likely recommendation to the Archbishop is going to be that you stay where you are if that is also your wish, and if the regular parish leadership consultation process also points in that direction. 

That said, because you have been there a long time now and also in our era of ever shifting cluster re-alignments, we just wanted to offer the caution that even if you are granted more time in your current situation, it does not necessarily mean we will not have to ask you to change assignments or work through some adjustment to your situation before any new term is up.  This is of course what all of us priests understand as we work our way through our terms. 

Though the Vicar’s response does not provide perfect clarity about the future, I hope it brings to an end any further unhelpful speculation.

2. Upcoming funerals

The increased frequency of cremation burials has led to funerals sometimes taking place weeks after the person has died. The following funerals are scheduled for May:

Jodi Knoll.  Funeral service on Thursday, May 11, at 11 am in the Little Brick Church. Visitation in the Little Brick Church begins at 10 am. Inurnment at St. Matthew Cemetery to follow the service.

Gregory Gaffny. Funeral mass on Friday, May 26, at 11 am in the Little Brick Church. Visitation details to be determined.

3. Rest in Peace

Please pray for the parishioners whose funerals we have celebrated so far this year.

Matthew Graff, Ellen Green, Arthur Kasten, Mary Lewandowski, Leonard Manikowski, Thomas Marciniak, Margaret Przybyla, Lester Scholz, Michael Studer, Viola Wickstrom.