Mardi Gras! Our annual Mardi

Gras celebration will be happening on

Tuesday, February 17 at 6:00 pm. This

is a great family celebration to prepare

for the Lenten season. Join us for food

and lots of FUN! Watch the website for

more details closer to the event.

Upcoming Events you don’t want to miss!

Soup and Study This year’s Soup and Study

will offer an opportunity to learn about Church history.

Soup and Study is offered Tuesdays of Lent- February 24,

March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31. A Condensed Soup and Study

will be offered March 7 and 21 at 6 pm.

Living Christ Retreat

Coming February 5, 6, and 7, 2015 Our next Living Christ Retreat: the evenings of February 5 and 6 and the

morning of February 7. A Living Christ Retreat is an opportunity for

members of St. Raphael to grow in relationship with Christ. Retreat includes

talks, reflection, Adoration, good home-cooked meals, Reconciliation, and

Mass. The registration form is available at the reception desk in the

Gathering Space, electronically from our website, or call Betty at 233-8044.

2015 Lenten Friday Fish Frys

February 20, 28, March 6, 13, 20, 27

4:30 pm — 7:30 pm

Ash Wednesday Masses: February 18, 2014 7:15 am, 12:00 pm, 4:15pm, 5:30 pm, 6:45 pm

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Oremus, "Let Us Pray" is a way to

learn the basics of prayer and different

ways to pray. This Lenten series is at

6:30 pm on Mondays, February 23,

March 9, 16, 23, 20, April 6, 13.

Catching Fire, Becoming Flame is a series of talks on

DVD inviting a person of prayer to go deeper in one's

prayer life. Includes time-tested wisdom from an

experienced spiritual director who shares the secrets of

the saints. Monday evenings @ 6:30, January 12, 19,

26, February 2, 9, and 16.

Save the Date 1st Time Ever at St. Raphael!

Parish Mission Coming! March 1, 2, and 3, 2015

A parish mission is a parish awakening and a major event in the life of a parish. Elements of the mission are talks, prayer, Reconciliation, music, Scripture, and fellowship. Parish Mission is 6:30 pm on March 1, 2, and 3, 2015.

On the Same Page...

On the Same Page is an evening

of presentations by 3 speakers

designed to provide practical

ideas for how parents and other

adults can pass the faith onto the

next generation. Mark your

calendar for Tuesday, January 27

at 6:30 pm

ST. RAPHAEL T H E A R C H A N G E L

830 S. Westhaven Drive · Oshkosh, WI 54904 · raphael.org

920-233-8044 parish.office@raphael.org

Mass Times: Sat~5:00pm, Sunday~7:30 am, 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 5:00 pm

Rev. Douglas LeCaptain - Pastor Rev. Michael Warden - Parochial Vicar

Dear parishioners and guests,

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" is from Isaiah 9:1, our first reading this Christmas. Long has the theme of light been associated with Christ coming into the darkness of the world.

This has a special meaning this Christmas for us as we place our tabernacle in the front, center of our worship space, and

the sanctuary lamp above it. The Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle, is the real presence of Jesus among us. Our Lord's presence will be marked with a sanctuary lamp, a candle just above the tabernacle. An easy way to remember this is that

when the sanctuary lamp is on, Jesus is in the tabernacle. Or as I explained it to some children, when the porch light is on Jesus is home. As we place a light by our tabernacle, I invite you be aware of where you see Christ in the world and might

place a light recognizing that presence. Maybe in your nativity scene, alongside someone on a table, or maybe by a

picture. As we mark Jesus with a sanctuary lamp in our tabernacle, note where the light of Christ shines in your world.

Our Christmas challenge is that we take the light of Christ into the world. That through baptism and the Eucharist, Christ

dwells in us. To many that may be the only Jesus they meet, and so our light of Christ must shine brightly through our

words and actions.

I pray you have a blessed Christmas and together we take the light of Christ to the darkness of the world.

Fr. Doug LeCaptain

Nativity Scene Blessing

As we begin the Christmas season we

pray that God will make our nativity

scene a source of blessing.

After a brief silent prayer, stretch out your hands and pray...

God of Mary and Joseph, of shepherds,

animals and kings,

bless us whenever we gaze on this

nativity scene.

Through all the days of Christmas may

these images tell us the story of

how humans, angels and animals

found Jesus the Christ in

this poor place.

Fill our hearts and our homes with

hospitality, joy, gentleness and

thanksgiving and guide our steps in

the way of peace.

Grant this through Jesus the

Lord...AMEN

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2014/2015 Parish Wish List

Wish List Items

Lourdes Academy Tuition $5,775.00 (each student)

New Computer for sound room - $4,800.00

(3) Camera's for church (live streaming) $9,000 each

New industrial Refrigerator for Kitchen

$5,000

Renewed in Space ... Enhancing the Ministry

Oh the smell of new carpeting! Take a moment to notice the updates to our space. The nice wood trim that highlights our sanctuary and clearly delineates the steps. The altar is up one step and back a few feet, allowing for better visibility, and we’ve added another row of pews. Our hope is that this design will raise our eyes and hearts to the altar, tabernacle, cross, and up to God.

Phase 1 was our new Crucifix which we unveiled on Easter. Since then we updated to LED lights, carpeted the office area and the church, switched to digital sound, built permanent risers for the choirs, and installed a permanent hearing loop both in church and in the chapel. We installed new pads on our pews, reconfigured out pew layout, and replaced all folding chairs with pews. Our seating capacity went from 690 to 790.

We changed the brick outline of the cross in the reredos wall to a special place for the tabernacle. We received a tabernacle from Sacred Heart Church which was used in their worship space when it was on the 2

nd floor of their

school. We had the tabernacle restored and encased in wood.

We plan to continue renewing our 20 year old space, next year, with new flooring, hearing loop and A/C in Good Samaritan Hall. We are working on updating our multi- media system with a new computer, cameras, and high definition video feeds. Next summer we hope to install an electronic sign out front and update the landscaping. Thank you to those that have donated time, materials, and monetarily. Our goal is $650,000 of which we have $550,000. Please consider a gift so that we can continue to renew our space and enhance our Ministry. We are accepting donations on-line at raphael.org.

Ministry is about more than just our physical building. We have enhanced our ministry this Advent through some special youth offerings, making Advents wreaths and a having a St. Nick party. We focused on Adult Faith Formation in Advent by offering a CD titled

“Raising Amazing Children”, a blue book for meditation, and a special advent talk on the three presences of Jesus. For outreach we provided gifts for the Angel Tree, Fr. Carr’s Pace 2B, and raised money through the basket raffle for Bella Clinic and Day By Homeless Shelter.

I encourage you to continue to grow spiritually, perhaps using

some of our upcoming parish offerings laid out in this bulletin.

Together may we encounter Christ in our worship, study and

prayer and take Him out into our world.

On January 10, 2015, members of our parish will be traveling to the Dominican Republic for St. Raphael’s 2015 mission. We will be serving the Santa Teresa de Jesus Catholic community in Elias Pena. Santa Teresa is a mission parish of the Green Bay Diocese.

Dr. Matt Kraemer and other medical and dental personnel and interpreters will be on this week-long trip. The mission will be focused on both medical and dental needs. Most of the people we will serve live in extremely poor conditions without proper sanitation, electricity or running water.

The team members use their own vacation time and pay all of their own expenses. Thanks to the financial support of parishioners, we can purchase the medicines and supplies we will need. One hundred percent of the money donated will be used for the meds and supplies.

Thank you and please offer a prayer for our safe and successful mission.

A Sharing Opportunity

Angel Tree and Giving Tree

A heartfelt “thank you” to all who

contributed gifts through our Angel

Tree in the Gathering Space. These

gifts went to children whose parents

are in prison and to Fr. Carr’s Place

2B. In total, over 200 gifts were

collected for families in need to

assist in buying gifts for their

children. A special “thank you”

goes out to Jean Sosinski, the

Human Concerns Commission and

Peggy Wilms for helping to

facilitate the collection of the gifts.

St. Raphael Gives Back to our Community

Parish Council Raffle Baskets

A tradition at its finest!

Proceeds of the Basket Raffle

Sales went to Day by Day

Warming Shelter and Bella

Medical Clinic.

Thank you for your support!

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High School Youth Ministry Being part of youth ministry is an amazing way to strengthen and live out

my faith. I am so very proud of the youth (all youth). We all struggle with

difficulties in life and that is just one great reason why a teen would

benefit from a youth group. There is support here, you can be yourself, you

are prayed for, and you can live out your faith in the community through

meaningful service. We meet for Mass, you can join the Rosary Team one night a month at

Fr. Carr’s, and you can be part of the planning team. Think of this as an opportunity to spend

more time with Jesus building your faith. Follow us on Facebook AFTERSHOCK and check

out the events and activities on the parish website at raphael.org.