From the heart of our Pastoral Associate...Dr. Kathie Amidei
Prayer
Most of us would agree it is a good idea to pray. But if asked, "Do you pray regularly?" I think many of us would respond "Sort of."
This is an important question for a Christian. So why is it difficult to pray regularly?
If I am honest, I can list busyness, distractions, tiredness, boredom and laziness among some reasons my own prayer life suffers.
The spiritual writer, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, suggests, another reason is that we have the false perception that prayer will always be exciting, interesting and energizing. But nothing, including prayer, is meant to be exciting all the time. He suggests, "Monks have secrets worth knowing." If you pray regularly, boredom and lack of energy can wear you down. The answer is not so much variety, but rhythm, routine and ritual. The key to sustaining prayer in our lives is reliance on familiar, repeated rituals, that are clearly defined in our life.
Fr. Rolheiser said, "We think that good intention and energy will sustain our rituals of prayer, but they can't. Rather, our rituals of prayer can sustain our good will and our energy."
Many of us who experienced the Prayer Fair felt the power of families praying together. Prayer is powerful! I know that something is different about my life when I am faithful to my own rituals of prayer. Something is better because I know on a heart level that God is with me on the good days and even more so that God is with me on the bad days. Imagine who we would become if we learn and live the secret of the monks!
Feb. 27, 5:30-6:30pm SPARK.(Come for 15min or stay the hour!)
Feb. 28, 9:30-11am Moms Group.
Feb. 28, 5:30-7:15 Fat Tuesday Celebration (PLC).
Feb. 28, 6:30-8:30pm Alpha at Queen of Apostles.
March 1, 8am and 7pm Ash Wednesday Masses.
March 2, 2:30&/or 4:30pm Children's Choir rehearsal. Gr. 3-8 welcome to join at any time!
March 2, 5:30-7pm Junior Retreat Planning (PLC-A).
March 3, 12-2pm Alpha at St. Anthony.
March 4, 8am-12pm Forming the Catechetical Spirit.
March 5/6 Family Program.
March 5, 7-8:30pm Buckets & Beliefs.
March 6, 10-11:30am Molly Ministry Planning Meeting.
March 6, 6:30/7pm Vespers (Chapel)
March 8, 6:30 9th//10th Confirmation Prep
In our community...
Alpha sereis begins next week! Tuesday evenings at Queen of Apostles and Friday afternoons at St. Anthony on the Lake. Have questions about your faith or know someone who does? Sign up now! ...
ALPHA... Join the Adventure!!
Attention lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist:
The archdiocese, in conjunction with Liturgical Training Publications (LTP) is providing opportunities for training and formation.
Employment Opportunities:
Our school is seeking two people to work the after school care program effective immediately. One is with the 3K-5K students and the other position is with our 1st-8th grade program. Both are salaried positions with hours of 2:15-6pm. Contact the school office if interested (691-0460).
Do you have a passion for event organization and food preparation?
St. Anthony on the Lake is currently looking to fill the position of Hospitality/ Food Service Ministry Coordinator. This individual will be responsible for coordinating the purchase, preparation and serving of food for a variety of events at the parish while working with a group of dedicated volunteers. Hours will be approximately 25-30 hours per month and include some days, evenings and weekends. For more information, please contact Art Scheuber at 262-691-1173.
Eucharistic Adoration is open for anyone to stop in. Can you give an hour each week? The following hours need to be covered: Wed. noon-1 and 7-8pm, Thurs. 11-noon and noon-1pm, and Friday 10-11am. Contact Nancy Kelley at 549-0981 or Dave Lechtenberg at 424-6162.
Al McCauley will be here March 12 to present "Learning to See, Praying with Christian Art" following the 9:00 Mass.
Jr. Retreat Planning: Our meetings are Thursday nights, in PLC-A from 5:30-7pm, March 2,9,16,and 23. The retreat will be held the weekend of March 24-26. High School seniors, college students and interested adults are invited to help plan the retreat. Contact Cindi, if you are interested.
Cardinal Stritch University's Saint Clare Center for Catholic Life
Saturday, March 11: Morning of Reflection entitled "Simplify." Come slow down and reflect on ways you can simplify and unclutter your spirit this Lent.
Information
Monday, March 13: Breakfast presentation by Fr. Dan Horan called "The Foolishness of Christianity." Fr. Horan will explore the foolishness of Christianity as a positive force for change and conversion in the face of division, discrimination, and violence.
Information
Basketball: We're Going to the Padre! Our boys and girls 8th grade basketball teams have been invited to the prestigious Padre Basketball Tournament.
Please come cheer on our Mustangs at Mount Mary University!
Boys play Saturday, March 4 @ 8 p.m.
Girls play Saturday, March 11 @ 11 a.m.
Want to help welcome our little ones and their families? We could use some more with Baptism hospitality ministers and volunteer helpers in our childcare room? Contact Kathy Paro.
Planning for summer?
Bible Camp will again be offered this summer! Our theme is "Camp Covenant". We will begin with a Pentecost Party the evening of Tuesday, June 13, 6:30-7:45. Then our 9:00-12:00 program with kids will be June 14-16! We would love your help!
Volleyball Camp with Coach Casey is returning.
Boys and Girls Currently in 3rd-8th Grade
Cost:
$85, Location: St. Anthony Gym
JULY 17-20 9:00-11:30 a.m.
The registration form and more details will be available soon on our athletic page
.
Bible Camp planning meeting is set for Wednesday, March 9, from 6:00-7:30pm in MR-G (the meeting room behind the Fellowship Hall kitchen). Email Debbie if you are able to make it, or if you can't but would like to help.
PRAYER: Loving God, We pray today, for all the intentions of everyone reading this. We are confident you know the prayers in each heart. Comfort, strengthen, renew and encourage us in Your love for us. Guide our decisions, words and actions as we try to be your heart and hands in this world and serve in Your name throughout our day. Amen.
Make a Difference
Repairers of the Breach; Help donate, make or deliver lunches for the homeless. Much food is still needed for the meal on March 4, sign up here to help.
Recently, our St. Anthony on the Lake family had the joy of welcoming Rony Meyers and Jenn Walters into the journey to full initiation and communion with the Catholic Church! Have you been thinking God might be nudging you toward becoming a full member of the Catholic Church? Maybe you were raised in another Christian tradition, or another faith tradition. Perhaps you were baptized Catholic, but never completed your sacramental initiation. Or, you may have been raised with no religious tradition at all. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) takes one, no matter their starting point, on a journey of self-discovery and God-discovery in the embrace of a supportive faith community. Here at St. Anthony, we're eager to hear from you if you are at all curious. If you'd like to begin a conversation, Ben Brzeski would enjoy talking to you, "no strings attached." Email
Additional information can be found on our website
.
Prayer Resources
Prayer is powerful!
Our labyrinth is set-up in Fellowship-Hall through Ash Wednesday. It is open for you to stop in and experience this prayer-walk when it's convenient for you, whenever the front doors are open. We plan to put it up again during Lent. We'll let you know in the next newsletter when that will be.
If you enjoyed the guided meditation we did at the prayer fair on the Baptism of Jesus, you can find more like it
here.
We offered the experience of a Vespers service. Vespers is part of the Divine Office, or
Liturgy of the Hours. Vespers will be offered at St. Anthony during Lent on Monday evenings at 6:30pm.
Did you try Eucharistic Adoration for the first time at our Prayer Fair? Perhaps you did, and you enjoyed it, but you want to know a little more about it. Click here for a short video
video in
which Fr. John Bartunek and Dan Burke talk about adoration, what it is, and why it is important.
For these and many other resources and handouts on prayer, click
Help Us Celebrate 100 Years - By Sharing YOUR Story!
Did you know that our parish will celebrate 100 years on June 30th, 2018? As we prepare to mark this exciting moment, we are embarking on a living history project. Do you have a memorable story from St. Anthony's history? Is your family tied to the origins of our parish? Do you have photos, documents or other artifacts that represent important moments in our history and development over the years?
Families are invited to join in the fun at the Fat Tuesday celebration on Feb. 28. 5:30-7:15pm. The kids have begun to look forward to this event of carnival games run by older children, dinner and prayer. Sign-up here. Please RSVP, we don't want to run out of food on Fat Tuesday. Email Angie if you have any questions.
Moms Group: Tuesday, February 28, 9:30-11am. New moms welcome. We have many little ones becoming friends as we share with one another. Topic for this next session: It's Fat Tuesday, so we will begin with Paczki, and then discuss opportunities for Lent and how to develop rituals of prayer in the midst of mothering.
Important Molly Ministry Planning Meeting: Monday, March 6, 10-11:30am. Children are welcome. We meet in the childcare room. Come share your thoughts as we begin the process of strategic planning for our families with young children.
Open Gym: Wednesday, March 15, 10-11:30.
Guardians and Angels: Wednesday, March 8, 1
0-11:30
.
Kindergarten and pre-school families in family program last weekend focused on LENT. Their activities included Ash Wednesday, Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving and Burying the Alleluia!
Grades 1-5
Please pray for the children who have started preparing for their First Communion.
The Bread Baking Retreat for First Communicants is April 1, 9-1:30.
Planning for summer? Save the dates June 13-16 for
Bible Camp at St. Anthony. Details and registration coming soon.
Registration is open_ Click Photo_
Middle School Ministry
Currently in 7th or 8th grade? Want to make a difference this summer? Registration now for our middle school mission experience: Summer Outreach Camp! Camp begins the evening of July 25 with fun and orientation, We'll stay overnight at St. Anthony and spend the days of July 26 and 27, serving in Waukesha County. We close with a family celebration the night of the 27th. This is a half week Christ-centered mission, offering 7th & 8th graders an opportunity to serve our neighbors and community through hands-on assistance and work.
Youth at Middle in the Middle last week participated in scavenger hunt fun! See photos of our fun
here. The next date is March 15, 6:16-8pm. Mark your calendars to join us.
High School Ministry
SPARK: Eucharistic Adoration, similar to the experience offered at the prayer fair, is offered here on Monday evenings, twice a month. This is teen-friendly; all are welcome!
Next date: Monday, Feb. 27, 5:30-6:30pm in the Daily Mass Chapel
Attention 11th grade Confirmation: If you missed the Parent/Teen/Sponsor Night, stop by the office to pick up the forms you need for
Junior Retreat and Confirmation.
Jr. Retreat Planning: Our meetings are Thursday nights, in PLC-A from 5:30-7pm, March 2,9,16,and 23.
The retreat will be held the weekend of March 24-26. High School seniors, college students and interested adults are invited to help plan the retreat.
Summer Mission Trips: Preparations are underway for the high school mission trips! Final payments are due now. Thank to everyone who has volunteered to chaperone! Please contact Ann Fons if you have any questions. The next meeting is.......
Ben Wagner lead the music for our prayer fair closing and often joins us for Spark. For those that enjoyed listening to him, here is a
link to hear more. He also has a Facebook music page.
Family Program
Powerful! Wow! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for your participation in our first ever prayer fair. We hope you enjoyed your experiences. One parent, after walking the labyrinth, said "you should have taken before and after pictures, this was wonderful.".
Here you can find the handouts available last weekend as well as additional resources for each of the types of prayer we experienced.
Please help us to follow-up and process this experience! Click
here to answer these three questions. We appreciate you taking the time to help us.
What did you find most meaningful?
What did you learn that you didn't know before?
Is there something about your experience you'd like to share? Please tell us.
We are filled with gratitude at the number of people who stepped forward to help us execute the prayer fair. We could not have done it without the generous help from so many prayer leaders, musicians, tech help, set-up and take-down helpers, and general "what do you need?" offerings. Thank you, thank you!
Two weeks ago, the speaker for the adult session was Al McCauley. We heard from several people that they would like their spouse who was unable to be there, catechists, or their middle or high school children to hear his presentation. We listened, and he is returning on March 12, after the 9:00 Mass. His powerpoint of artwork is available here.Spread the word and invite your friends to hear him.
See prayer fair photos and hear more about each family program, as well as links to handouts, on the Family Program Blog.
LaPetite Family Program
This week, during LaPetite Centers, families played charades acting out and guessing Corporal Works of Mercy. During this Learning Center, families learned the importance of what we hear at the end of Mass- "Go forth to love and serve the Lord".
