Giving Praiseand Thanks

Learningand Growing

Serving

I was recently at a conference in Baltimore for those involved in the work of the church. One of the speakers talked about the impact Pope Francis is having on our world and our church. A survey in 2014 of lapsed Catholics in North America reported that 26% of those surveyed were considering or open to re-visiting or strengthening their relationship with the Church because of Pope Francis. That would mean 14 million lapsed Catholics may be looking for a parish or about 800 for each parish in North America. Are we ready to welcome them? Are will will-ing to make space or share our space with them? Will we help them experience the presence of Jesus with us when we gather for prayer, to hear the Word of God, and break the Bread? Will they want to return? Maybe someone you know is waiting for you to talk about your experience at church and your invita-tion to come and pray with us. Please consider making this a part of your daily prayer :

For the Catholics in New Berlin especially those who are no longer coming to church that their hearts may be opened to return to our church community

and that we provide a gracious welcome.

Lent is the invitation to make changes in your life so that you may become the best version of who God made you to be. It is an invitation for you to become a more intentional disciple of Jesus not just for 40 days

but for the rest of your life. Are you ready for change? Are you ready to return to the Lord with your whole heart? How good are you at forgiveness and mercy, with kindness, with gratitude? Do you begin each day with awe and enthusiasm for Gods gift of another day and more time? Have you learned the joy of generosity with whatever gifts you have been given by God? Lent also invites our parish community to change so that we can become more alive in our faith, more amazing in our service, and more vibrant in our praise and thanks.

Give some extra time each day or each week for prayer. Dont miss any of the Lenten Sundays. Join in the singing. Fast from negativity, from a lack of charity towards others in need, from bullying, from technology, from an unwillingness to forgive yourself or someone else, from being so busy that there is no time for your

spouse or your children or your neighbors. What kind of alms-giving is part of your life? With whom do you share your bounty and blessings? Is it planned and prioritized or is it an afterthought or if anything is left over? Jesus teaches that it is in giving that we receive. How good are you at giving to others?

Easter brings new joy and hope. It is the season in which we

welcome children to the Lords Table for the first time. We have been busy preparing parents and children for this special day and the constant invitation to come to the Table of the Lord every week. What do you remember about your First Communion? Has the joy and excitement grown? Has it continued or has it disappeared from your life?

Thanks for making Holy Apostles a part of your life.

Peace and Blessings,Fr. Don

MArcH, 2015

by Fr. Don Thimm

Words Of Faith

Pope Francis, Lent, and Easter!

Lent is the invitation to make changes in your life so that you may become the best version of who God made you to be.

Lenten Practice: Apostleship Of Prayer Morning Offeringby Mary Cumiskey

It has been said that it takes 21 days to form a new good habit. We all have a great opportunity to use over double that time the 46 days of Lent and Holy Week, to form a new God habit that can change our own personal and family life, and also connect us in daily prayer with over 50 million of our fellow Catholics for the good of the world, the Church and each other.

Maybe youve noticed something similar to the above intentions in our church bulletin at the beginning of each month and wondered what it was all about and connected to. The answer is the Apostleship of Prayer Morning (or Daily) Offering. I have been reciting this prayer since I learned it as a young person, and I definitely know the mornings I dont remember to say it (Im human!) because I feel like Im having to climb huge mountains during my day instead of little hills!

The Apostleship of Prayer has been called the Popes own prayer group. It was started by the Society of Jesus in France in 1844. It was a way for Jesuit seminarians to supernaturally begin their missionary work while still in school by becoming long distance apostles Apostles of Prayer through offering up their daily lives in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the spread of the kingdom for the salvation of souls. By the 1880s the A of P had become so popular that Pope Leo XIII announced prayer intentions to go with the daily offering, and in 1929 Pope Pius XI added a specific missionary inten-tion for the month. Pope Francis recently approved the re-creation documents of the worldwide Apostleship of Prayer. The document and recreation process, like the new evangelization, seek to speak a new language which will touch the hearts of people and help them unite with the heart of the Lord.

Pope Pius XII called the Apostleship of Prayer the sum total of Christian perfection because it gives the Chris-

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of the Bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month, March, 2015 Intentions Universal: scientists that those involved in scientific research may serve the well-being of the whole human person. Evangelization: contribution of women that the unique contribution of women to the life of the church may be recognized always.

tian a practical way of living life in union with Christ and evangelizing His presence to the world with mo-tive our love for Him, and technique the Morn-ing/Daily Offering. It is simple, but profound. How many times have we come to the end of our day and said to ourselves well that was an unproductive (or boring, or monotonous, or useless) day I just went through? In the secular world that thought might have a grain of truth in it, but in the Catholic Chris-tians world when we totally surrender our dawning day to the Lord through the recitation of the Morn-ing Offering, nothing in it will ever be a waste of time again. It feels redemptive to know our lives can have a meaning and purpose much higher and more signifi-cant then what we can see on the surface of them.

Anyone can become a member of the Apostleship of Prayer simply by committing to say the Morning/Daily Offering prayer every day. The national A of P office is located right here in the Milwaukee area. It is not nec-essary to contact them to join, but if you do, they will support your efforts with their prayers and materials. They use any gifts to them to introduce and promote this devotion to a whole new generation of Catholics. It is so important that children especially know how precious they are to Jesus and how powerful their prayers are to Him to positively affect the world, as well as themselves. Those of you with children, please consider saying the Morning Offering, as a family, before breakfast, or in the car on your way to school and work, as my family of 15 did when I was growing up. Remember: The family that prays together stays together.Apostleship of Prayer1501 S. Layton Blvd.Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53215-1924414-486-1152www.apostleshipofprayer.org

by Terri Engsberg

Fat Tuesday at Holy Apostles was a day to celebrate all the wonderful volunteers who give their time, talent, and energy to Holy Apostles in so many ways!

Lofy Hall had tables full of delicious food, from nachos, to shrimp, to fruit, to desserts. Ministry members gathered to share fellowship and joy. There was even music to help set the festive mood! Almost every ministry was represented, so there were many stories to share.

Thank you to everyone that attended and ALL who minister here at Holy Apostles. We are truly blessed.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about the ministries available at Holy Apostles, please contact Jennifer Flanagan, jflanagan@hanb.org or call 262-786-4086.

Building Relationships Helps Us DO JUSTICEby Rob Doucette

For the past year the Charity and Justice Com-mission has worked towards two central goals: Building relationships with those that we serve and growing Justice. At first glance, building relation-ships seems eminently easier than growing justice. In reality relationship building is a somewhat radical idea, one that sealed the fate of Jesus. It implies that when you stand with the least, the last, the lost and the lonely you are transformed in a way that calls you to do justice for them and with them. Jesus Himself elevated the love of others to stand alongside the love of God.

Holy Apostles has a long and rich tradition serving oth-ers and organizing impressive efforts which model the Charity that we are called to as Disciples of Christ. I think most people would agree that doing works of charity is easier than the work of justice. In fact, from my vantage point, most parishes spend 95% of their time and energy on Charity and less than 5% on Jus-tice. The reasons for that could fill up another article in the future. For now it is enough to say, that for our parish, building relationships is justice work.

When we intentionally seek out relationships with people who come from other cultures, other lived ex-periences and other histories, we are

opening ourselves up to the world where Jesus lived. When we do this, we allow the miracle of Love to transform everything. We may originally think we are helping others but in the end we realize we are being saved instead. In these experiences we are humbled by what we see, what we hear and most importantly, what we feel.

Intellectual understanding is nice, but Jesus was after our hearts not our minds. Jesus stood with the poor out of great compassion and this higher form of love can motivate us to not only serve others, but change conditions that create great injustices around us.

It is an intentional act for Holy Apostles to build new relationships with La Sagrada Familia, Lapham Park and now All Saints Parish. Our prayer is that these relationships change and transform us. Now that we know real people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti; does that make us think differently about the issue of immigration? Perhaps. When we hear the sto-ries of our African American friends who are a part of Lapham Park and All Saints, does that motivate us to get involved in Milwaukee in new ways? Hopefully. When the Gospels call us to move outside of our comfort zone and embrace those in need because of

our love for God, should we take heed? Absolutely. Will we be saved by those we meant to serve? Most certainly!!

A powerful line in one of my favorite songs states that to love another person is too see the face of God. It is only when we look into the eyes of those who truly need us that we recognize them as our brother and sister. It is then we feel the transfor-mational love of God in the midst of it all. It is then that justice does not seem such an unreachable goal.

La Sagrada Familia

Lapham Park Fish Fry

Christmas Gifts

Beginning April 12th, Childrens Ministry and Youth Ministry will be launching their registration for the 2015-2016 school year!

Much work and planning is taking place to provide and present great and solid formation and preparation for the families of our parishioners.

The following is information regarding the different areas offered for our children and youth:

3K-5K Given Sundays at 9:15am in School

Grades 1-6 Given Sundays at 10:30am in School

Grade 7-8 Given Sundays at 6:30pm in School (Subject to change)

Confirmation (High School) Process begins Freshman year, with Confirmation celebrated in the Fall of Junior year.

There will be more program details to come. Please

watch the bulletin to get the most current information!

All registration will take place online at myhanb.org. Paper registration will not be available.

For help or if you have questions about registration, please contact Rachel Madden at 262-786-2035 or rmadden@hanb.org.

For program questions about Childrens Ministry, contact Teresa Tobin at 262-754-0157 or ttobin@hanb.org, for Youth Ministry; contact Ben Rogalla at 262-754-0158 or brogalla@hanb.org.

*Registration will begin April 12th and be available through July 31st. Following July 31st, a late fee of $50 will be applied to your program costs.*

We look forward to serving our children, youth, and families of our parish!God bless!

Children and Youth Ministry Program Registrationby Ben Rogalla

by Rich Stopczynski

Over the past few months, the Usher Ministry has lost the service of some long term members. Three have left us to be with our Lord; Jim Mareno, Ed Cunningham and Ed Wisner. Bill Casper decided to retire after usher-ing since 1954. In addition, through the years there have been many other dedicated parishioners who served Holy Apostles as ushers for many years. Those serving over 30 years include Joe McKean, Chuck Conway, Dewey Fraunenfelder, George Beres, Gerry Shanahan, Jim Thrune, Paul Oleinik, Bob Jenson, James Keane, Jim Giyan, Bob Szyba, Rich Stopczynski and Bob Nolan and those with over 20 years include Dave Heerey, Mike Maney, Greg Schoepke, and Mike Vukovic. To all of them and to their families, our parish thanks them for their time and talents given to serve the needs of our parishioners.

It might make one think; what has drawn them to serve and why did they serve for such a lengthy time? The answer probably can be found in the underlying reasons people volunteer.. Is it the idea of giving back to our church, desire of helping others, or enjoyment of working with friends in serving others? As with all the ministries at HA, there are a great number of people doing many good deeds for a variety of reasons.

The Usher Ministry has recently taken the time to reflect on its past history and look to the future as to how it can best contribute to the goals and mission of Holy Apostles Parish. Over the recent few years, it is great to see the increased diversity of the ministry with more women and young folks becoming ushers.

It was also important to realize that ushers do more than usher. The very word, usher, implies showing someone to their seat. As HA ushers, they are doing more than that. The ushers collect the offerings, assist the congregation for com-munion, and with our HA greeters, greet parishioners and visitors to our church and distribute the Orders of Wor-ship and bulletins. But equally important, the ushers are also working with our priests and the other Prayer & Worship ministries to create a welcoming and prayerful experience for our parishioners and visitors to Holy Apostles.

All parishioners are invited to assess their own talents and treasures and see how they can contribute to the growth and development of our parish and further the work of our Lord. Consider joining the many and varied ministries at Holy Apostles. Youll find that many hands make work light and provide many unexpected rewards.

USHERS PRIDE IN SERVICE

by Jay Sugar

What would you do with $300? Maybe take a long weekend vacation or buy a smart phone? For many parishioners of La Sagrada Familia (LSF) $300 could mean the difference between living life day to day, performing manual labor jobs or gaining indepen-dence and starting their own small business. Money distributed in $200 to $500 increments through a micro loan program funded in part by Holy Apostles and administered by Father Juan of LSF has helped many disenfranchised members of the LSF community start a small business. Consider the following examples:

An enterprising woman purchases a sewing machine and converts her one room cinder block home into a tailor shop

A second woman purchases cooking utensils and ingredients and starts a road side lunch caf

A family purchases a glass display case to showcase cakes and pastries which helps establish their bakery in the local community

My favorite example of a loan that exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of LSF involves a husband and wife team that tends a field of plantains for a wealthy Dominican Republic (DR) farmer. Us-ing a micro loan to purchase tools and green pepper seeds, they planted pepper plants between the rows of plantains. The couple is then able to harvest the

Gaining Independence

quick growing peppers before the plantain plants grow to a height which blocks all sunlight. The wealthy farmer does not charge the couple rent for use of the space in exchange for watering and tending the entire field.

Through the generous donations of two Holy Apostles parishioners our church has provided $5,000 to the

micro loan program over the last two years. In that time Father Juan has awarded 22 loans. 64% of the loans have been partially or completely repaid. All loan payments are put right back into the micro loan program.

There is one more important purpose of the micro loan program I need to share. All loans are targeted to two groups of the LSF community which include:

Haitian Citizens that have sought refuge in the DR

DR Citizens that lack an official birth certificate.

Both groups are not recognized by the DR government and

therefore lack access to the local banking and credit systems. One of their only hopes for creating a better life is the micro loan program.

If you are interested in learning more about LSFs micro loan program please contact Jay Sugar at ssugar@wi.rr.com.

by Don Evans

With a snow storm looming, around 25 new members to Holy Apostles were recently delighted to dine on a variety of soups and breads as part of our welcoming them to our congregation. Although all new members were invited, a few new families, seniors and young couples came to the buffet that offered a savory selection, from vegetarian to hearty. Not that anyone kept count, but there were more than a few who came back for second helpings or to try a couple more. And, to round out the simple meal, there were almost as many choices of cookies and sweets for dessert just enough for everyone! Even though the bulletin extended the invita-tion to everyone, Father Don invited everyone again at the end of the 4:30 pm Mass that Saturday, January 31st. So, overall, there were about 50 people who enjoyed fellowship and soup that evening before the snow fell.

After most had their fill, and during a small lull in the festivities, a short program described different options to participate more fully in the church. A few representatives from several ministries explained the basic missions of their particular groups praise & thanks, learning & growing and service. Everyone was provided a way to connect to those ministries for those who would be

interested. In addition, during the evening, those who took up Father Dons offer at Mass also provided a more informal, personal explana-tion to the new members about how participating in the ministries was so satisfy-ing. Needless to say, there was a lot of socializing, too.

The next New Member Event comes on May 31st, 2015 after 9:15 Mass. So, whether youre an old member or brand new, save the date! Breakfast will be served, ranging from scrambled eggs to bagels. Look for more information in the bulletins leading up to the event.

If you need more detailed information on the New Member Breakfast or how to join the New Member Welcoming Ministry, contact Anne Kinzer at 262-814-1955 or amkinzer@att.net.

New Members Welcoming DinnerTHE WInTER EvEnT

NEW MEMBERSRay AllenMs Zheng ZhuRandy and Teresa Tobin and familyRobert and Collette SmithMitch and Amy Reichert and familyMike and Tina Wengren and familyMs Claire HagerMs Holly ShabelMs Lorna TammsRob TallingerJohn BartkoskiKevin and Eva Hollfelder and familyNeil and Krystal PeschJoyce StonerJonathan Tassone

by Melissa Trepte

Catholic Schools Week/Catholic Memorial High School STEM ChallengeTo celebrate Catholic Schools Week, seven Holy Apostles middle school students spent the day at CMHs first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Challenge competition. Students from eight different Archdiocese grade schools were placed randomly into groups. Each group was challenged to build a car of recyclable materials that could drive towards and stop on a target. With the help of CMH mentors, each group went through CMHs Propel process which is similar to Holy Apostles & PLTWs Design Process (Project Lead The Way), in order to plan, build, test, and redesign their product. This was a great experience for our middle school students to be able to complete the entire Design Process all in one day and to work with other Catholic grade school students to accomplish

a task. Congratulations to Matt Klements team whose car won second place for reaching the target. Students who participated were: Theo Buchholz, Carson Christianson, Mitch Godec, Annika Hubecek, Matt Klement, Megan Kosidowski, and Izzy Mohorich.

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[Dates To Remember]March 13, 27 Fish Fry

4-7pm (Gym)

March 20-21 Haiti Food Pack (School Gym)

March 21 Communal Reconciliation at 10am in Church

March 21-22 Anointing of the Sick during all Masses

Holy Week

April 2 Holy Thursday Mass of the Lords Supper

7pm (Church)

April 3 Good Friday Passion of the Lord

3pm (Church)

April 4 Holy Saturday Blessing of Easter Food

11am (Church) Easter Vigil 8pm (Church)

April 5 easter Sunday Masses of The Resurrection

of the Lord 7:30, 9:15, and 11:15am (Church)

June 26, 27, 28 Festival