This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips, we’re talking about evangelizing Protestants with One Good Reason. While we certainly have a lot in common with our separated brethren, there’s a lot that makes us different too. We need to strive for genuine Catholic ecumenism … promoting unity among the world's Christian Churches. Here’s a quote from a document of the Second Vatican Council that helps describe how we should practically approach this ecumenism: “Catholics, in their ecumenical work, must assuredly be concerned for their separated brethren, praying for them, keeping them informed about the Church, making the first approaches toward them … But their primary duty is to make a careful and honest appraisal of whatever needs to be done in order that its life may bear witness more clearly and faithfully to the teachings and institutions which have come to it from Christ through the Apostles.” (Unitatis Redintegratio, Ch. 1, Par. 4) You might still be wondering, what does this ecuminism look like in everyday life, applying the One Good Reason technique? Here are two examples: Maybe you’d like to focus on the beauty, truth, and mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. You could say something like, “One good reason I’m Catholic is that we have the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. During the words of consecration, we believe that He becomes present under the appearances of bread and wine. We then consume Him, which means His divine presence lives inside of us. Having Jesus in me keeps me on the path to heaven.” Or how about the sacrament of penance? Here, you might say something like the following: “One good reason I’m Catholic is that I can go to Confession. Jesus established this sacrament in John 20:23, saying to the apostles, ‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ He knew that we’d need to unload our transgressions to another human being, and hear the words of forgiveness … so he allowed the priest to stand in as a representative of Christ.” These are just a couple examples. However you approach it, just make sure to remain charitable without straying from the truth. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. Take our course One Good Reason for Protestants at evangelizationschool.com.

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips, we’re talking about using the One Good Reason method to evangelize atheists. For our purposes, atheists are people who either say there is no God, or say they don’t know whether or not there’s a God. Here’s a refresher on the One Good Reason method: Listen. Start with questions and not arguments. Befriend. Search for common ground and try to relate to them. Make it personal. Share your struggles and let them know they’re not alone. One Good Reason. When the time is right, share your one good reason for (in this case) believing in God. Invite. Offer them to take the next step, whatever that may be. If they are open to listening to your one good reason for believing in God, let them know that God is the best and simplest explanation for so many things. God is, 1. The best explanation for why anything exists instead of nothing 2. The best explanation for why the universe began to exist 3. The best explanation for the fine-tuning of physics for intelligent life 4. The best explanation for our perception of of objective moral values and duties 5. The best explanation for religious experience, mystical experience, near death experience and miracles 6. The best explanation for why consciousness is not reducible to mere physical processes alone 7. The best explanation for the order and intelligibility of the universe 8. The best explanation for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the rise of Christian belief This is just scratching the surface of the topic, for you will need to study one or more of these areas to get any traction in a conversation. But these should at least get you started. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. For more information, take our course One Good Reason for Atheists at evangelizationschool.com.

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips, we’re talking about how to evangelize Catholics that have fallen away from the faith. Many Catholics have fallen away completely from the practice of their faith, and a large number of them have done so primarily because of the recent clergy sex abuse scandals. How are we to handle such a difficult situation? We must remind them that from the days of the Apostles to present day, the church has faced scandals. While it is normal and reasonable to be outraged, what ultimately is the proper response to these scandals? The answer is to stay in the Church and fight. Why? Because the Church is the one true church established by God for our salvation. Also, because scandal doesn’t change the Church’s authority. The personal lives of the clergy and hierarchy might be scandalous, but that doesn’t affect the divine calling and authority of the Church herself. Think of democracy. Just because America has had some corrupt presidents and politicians doesn’t mean we should throw out the democratic process. We must gently remind the person we’re evangelizing that we’re not Catholic because of the current leadership, or lack thereof, but because Jesus established the Catholic Church. It may help to also add that when we love something, we don’t abandon it or desire to change it, but strive to help it. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. Take our course entitled One Good Reason for Catholics at evangelizationschool.com. © Copyright St. Paul Street Evangelization 2024

The upcoming Southwest Wisconsin CEW (Christian Experience Weekend) will be held at Immaculate Conception School in Kieler, WI. The women’s weekend will be February 14-16, 2025. The men’s weekend will be February 21-23, 2025. These weekends begin at 7:00 p.m. Friday and end on Sunday at approximately 4:30 pm. If you want to do something special for yourself, attend a CEW weekend. Application forms are available at www.swwicew.org or in some of the church entrances. For more information on the women’s weekend, call Patti Eggers at 608-574-6665. For the men’s weekend, call Jeff Schaefer at 608-778-9321. Weekends fill up fast. Applications will be taken on a first come first serve basis.

Every parent has the serious responsibility of raising their children to love the Lord, and of making sure they do everything in their power to get them to heaven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the 'first heralds' for their children" (CCC 2225). A simple, but profound daily practice that parents can utilize is the daily blessing. You have spiritual authority over your children, and can call down God's blessing on them as often as you wish. This will leave them feeling safe, protected and loved. A parent can say one of the following brief blessings at basically any time, such as when a child is going to play or to school, or when the child is going to bed each night. The parent makes the sign of the cross on the child's forehead or heart and can say one of the following blessing options offered by the USCCB: May God bless you. May God keep you safe. God be with you. God be in your heart. May God bless and protect you. Or you can offer your own personally worded blessing. One of our staff members likes to say "May God bless you and keep you today and every day of your life." Either way, this practice will likely help your child live in peace, and may help ensure their practice of the faith down the road. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. To learn more or to enroll in our online classes, make sure to visit St. Paul School of Evangelization at evangelizationschool.com.

We invite you to find help through Retrouvaille, (ret-tro-vi), where husbands and wives are helped to re-discover each other. In Retrouvaille, couples discover they are not alone. There is hope and grace. Madison’s upcoming Retrouvaille program is January 31 – February 2, 2025 at the Green Lake Conference Center. Follow up sessions will be in Madison. Call (920) 369-8836 or check our website at www.helpourmarriage.org Your confidentiality is always respected.

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips, we’ll be talking about how to evangelize your family. They say that the hardest people to share the Gospel with are members of your own family. For those of you who have tried, you likely know it’s all too true. Remember how Jesus’ own townsfolk treated him when He told them He was the son of God? They were the people that knew Him best, and they tried to throw Him off of a cliff! How do we approach this seemingly monumental task? Well-known Catholic apologist and pilgrimage guide Steve Ray has lots of experience with this topic. Over the years, he’s formulated seven rules to follow: 1. Don’t argue. Family members can get defensive very easily, and will only wind up putting up a wall. (If you do get into an argument or come across too strongly, make sure to apologize.) 2. Love them more than ever. As he puts it, “Love is an argument you can’t argue with.” When you love people, it disarms them. People will listen and engage with you because you love them. 3. Show the joy of the Lord. People are attracted to joyfulness. They often wonder “what do they have that I don’t have?” And that opens the door to sharing the faith. 4. Pray and make sacrifices. Nothing is more powerful than when we pray and fast. It will get God’s attention. When we pray with expectant faith, wonderful things will happen. 5. Study. Do your homework and be prepared for any objections that people may have to the Catholic faith. As scripture says, “Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have” (1 Pet. 3:15). 6. Patience. This can be a hard one for most of us. We must be patient and let God work. He is outside of time and works in the absolute best way possible, so we need to trust Him. 7. Ask God to Bring Someone Else into Their Life. This helps us admit that our family member(s) probably won’t listen to us. Use these common sense rules and God will help you, in one way or another, to bring your family back into the fold. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. Take our course on 7 Ways for Relating to Non-Catholic Family & Friends on evangelizationschool.com. © Copyright St. Paul Street Evangelization 2024

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips, we’re talking about how to share the Gospel message. To do so, you need to know and be able to verbalize the kerygma, which simply means “proclamation” in Greek. The kerygma can be divided into four-parts: God’s loving plan for our lives, the problem of sin, the saving work of Jesus, and the invitation to repent and embrace Jesus by faith. It can sound something like this: God created everything, but made humanity special. That’s because he gave us free will to choose whether or not we want to live in relationship with Him. Unfortunately, man fell because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, and now we try to live without God. Everything that separates us from God is what we call “sin.” The consequences of sin are death and ultimately eternal separation from God. But thankfully His love for us is so great that God sent His only Son Jesus. Jesus became a man, died as payment for our sins, and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. God invites us to repent of our sins, to believe in salvation through Jesus, and to reform our lives by obeying His commandments and living according to Jesus’s loving example instead of following our own selfish desires. We are invited to live in a loving and joyful relationship with God now and forever in heaven. The choice is ours. Which path will you choose? This is just one example. Make sure to put it in your own words, and be authentic. But the kerygma has power not because of our words, but because God puts His grace behind it and makes us His instruments for salvation. We share the kerygma to help save people from eternal death, for eternal life with God. Many who hear it will be “cut to the heart” because the kerygma speaks to the desires of the human heart, uncovers hidden guilt for sin, and gives hope for forgiveness and salvation. This message is brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. Take our course on Intro to the Kerygma at evangelizationschool.com.

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips we're talking about the importance of praying out loud with others. While it may seem daunting at first, this practice can yield abundant fruit. Here's a basic "How To" on interceding for someone out loud: As Catholics we are used to saying "I will pray for you" or "I will offer this up for you." But it is usually better to offer to pray out loud for people instead. We can say, "Would it be okay if I said a prayer for you now?" Or "Do you need prayer for anything? ... Can I pray for you now?" That way, the person knows that you are going to pray out loud and they can simply receive the prayer in their heart. People are often more open to receiving prayer in the moment when they know they aren't expected to say anything. Before praying, guide them through the process, step by step. If you haven't already learned their first name, now would be a good time to ask. As Dale Carnegie said, "a person's name is the sweetest sound in any language," so using someone's name in prayer is powerful. If you feel led to put your hand on their arm or shoulder, ask for permission first. Human touch can be therapeutic. Then lead them in a basic prayer, mentioning their intentions. You can use something like "A.C.T.S." A.C.T.S. stands for Adora tion (giving God praise and glory), Contrition (asking for forgiveness for the things they -and we- have done wrong), Thanksgiving (giving God thanks for the good things in the person's life), and §.upplication (praying for their specific needs). For example, "Almighty God and Father, we praise you and glorify your holy name. We are sorry for the things we have done wrong and the ways we have failed you. Thank you for my new friend, Joe, for his family, for his friendship, and for the gifts he brings to his community. Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, please help Joe find a new job so he can provide for his family and fulfill his duties in this life. Amen." Whether praying for a physical, emotional, or spiritual healing, at the end remind them that God loves them and has a good plan for their life! Encourage them to pray about the problem too, and emphasize that God wants all of His children to be healed. This evangelization tip was brought to you by St. Paul Street Evangelization. Take our course on Healing in Evangelization and prayer ministry at evangelizationschool.com.

This week in our continuing series on evangelization tips we’re talking about the method of Listen, Befriend, Proclaim, and Invite. Evangelization is an important responsibility of all Catholics. However, many of us Catholics can be a little intimidated by the idea that we might openly share the saving story of Jesus Christ with others. It’s not that we don’t find it important or desire the salvation of our brothers and sisters who don’t know Him. On the contrary. We simply get nervous when we have to share something as personal and demanding as the Gospel. We don’t know how people will react. But what if we had a template that we could use for sharing the Gospel? What if we had a predetermined method that removes a lot of our own stumbling and guesswork, so that there’s a defined beginning, middle, and end? SPSE has created a model called Listen, Befriend, Proclaim, and Invite. And it’s as easy as it sounds. First, you simply listen to a person to show them that you care about what they have to say. As they say, “nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care.” And that’s what listening accomplishes. Next, befriend by making conversation and finding a shared interest or common ground on a topic. After that, it’s your turn to talk. This is where you proclaim the Gospel. Briefly tell them about Jesus, what He’s done out of love for us (the kerygma), and what our response should be. (Don’t focus too much on the negative/sin aspect, as this may be their first encounter with Jesus in a long time or ever.) Finally, invite them to take a step towards Jesus, either by encouraging them to pray, or perhaps to do some reading based on recommendations you’ve given them about Jesus. Or who knows … maybe they’re ready for confession! As long as they are taking a step, no matter how small, in the direction of Our Lord, then it’s a successful mission. One final thing to remember—what they do with the information you’ve given is up to them. All we do is plant seeds — it is God’s job to make them grow. So your next step is to practice. Run through this method with a few friends or family members, and then ask God to put someone in your path who needs to hear it. Don’t be surprised when He does!

Share the gift of life by donating blood. The Red Cross will be holding a blood drive at St. Mary School in Bloomington on November 25 from 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

October is traditionally devoted to the Holy Rosary! Legend has it that St. Dominic received the Rosary from Our Lady after he had been praying and doing penance for his lack of success in combatting the Albigensian heresy; in his vision, Mary gave Dominic the Rosary as a spiritual weapon and encouraged him to preach its use to others. The Mysteries of the Rosary are rooted in Scripture and offer us a summary of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we pray the Rosary, we join Mary in the contemplation of these Mysteries and ask her to unite and conform us to her Son as we ponder His Paschal Mystery. This month, consider adding a Rosary to your daily prayer routine! The Joyful Mysteries are typically prayed on Monday and Saturday, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday, and the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday, but the faithful are welcome to pray any Mysteries at any time. If you have a longer morning and evening commute, that can be a good time to get in a Rosary! And if a full Rosary each day feels like too much, try praying one Decade a day, perhaps accompanying it with a meditation on the corresponding Scripture passage to help you pray the Mystery more deeply. A guide to the Rosary can be found here: https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary "May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these Mysteries, so that through us we can 'water' society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the center of each 'Hail Mary'." -Pope Benedict XVI

The Council gave $100 to each of the Fall Festivals. It was discussed whether to merge the council or to have the paying members process the Form 100 and mark on the form if they want to transfer to Council 2820 Lancaster. The transfer process is the most efficient way to combine Council 4416 with Council 2820. The members from Council 2820 feel strongly that the transfer process is the best way to move forward. The next Council 4416 meeting will be Tuesday, September 17th at 7:30 P.M. in St. Mary’s Church basement in Bloomington.

Happy Birthday Fr. Steve! We wish Fr. Steve Brunner a very Happy & Blessed Birthday on September 10.

A Moment with the Bishop: Go Make Disciples, our diocesan-wide evangelization initiative, is who we are and what we do as baptized followers of Jesus Christ. It is our participation in the perennial mission of the Church. Into the Deep is our strategic planning effort to realign our resources so that we can better accomplish and live out this mission, both now and for generations to come. As we continue on the path of coming together into new combined parishes, it is vital that we keep our eyes and hearts on our Go Make Disciples initiative and the six fundamental objectives guiding all our efforts as missionary disciples: Grow Everyone’s Relationship with Jesus through prayer, sacrament, and study of Scripture. Reclaim Sunday as Sabbath by making the Sunday Eucharist front and center and by rediscovering holy leisure with family and friends. Evangelize by engaging others in the Faith and speaking about the reason for our hope in Jesus Christ. Focus on Youth by connecting with young people and helping them become fully committed to Christ. Call Forth New Leadership by inviting new people to step up and share their talents and gifts. Reach Out to the Community by serving the needs of all and witnessing to the Love of Christ by deed and charity. Jesus is our Master and Teacher, our Redeemer and Savior who has conquered the power of sin and death forever. Together, let us renew our commitment as both disciples and evangelizers by falling more deeply in love with Jesus and by going forth with confidence and joy to build the kingdom of God and to strengthen the Church here in our local diocese of Madison. Let's bring everyone we know home to Jesus Christ and His Church!

I wanted to thank everyone for the prayers, Masses, and for all those who have reached out through phone calls, texts or emails. Also thank you for the cards, gifts of money, and for all the hugs after Mass. I am so blessed to have this new family in Saint Joseph the Worker Pastorate to support me as I grieve the death of my daughter Cassie. The love and support of so many is helping me to get through this difficult time. A special thank you to all those who covered events that I planned on helping with the weekend of her death and while I was home handling other details. The love and concern is overwhelming since my time here has been so short. Thank You All!!! Leigh Boorn

Family Faith Formation & High School Program For the last two years our west county parishes have carried out a Family Faith Formation program, where whole families come together once a month to learn about our Catholic Faith and prepare to carry out lessons at home. This year SS Andrew-Thomas will begin as well. We will have identical programs for families from the River Ridge School District to meet on the first Wednesdays at St. Mary's School in Bloomington, and for families from St. Charles and SS Andrew-Thomas to meet at SS Andrew-Thomas School or St. Charles School on alternating second Wednesdays of the month, from 6:00 to 7:30pm. Families are welcome to enroll in either program at their preference as well as to attend sessions at either site based on their convenience. We will also begin a High School Youth program for 9th-12th grades to meet on the 4th Wednesdays at St. Clement in Lancaster from 7:00 to 8:30pm starting September 25, a requirement for 9th graders preparing for Confirmation - though for families who may have difficulties arranging transportation, 9th graders may attend their local Family Faith Formation meeting on 1st or 2nd Wednesday. Our first Family Faith Formations meetings in September will be Orientation where we describe the program in detail. Schedules can be found on our Website. For further questions please contact Fr. Mark Miller.

Nathan Taylor & Lexi Richardson will be married at St. Mary Church, Bloomington on September 14.

St. Clement Parish Directories The long-awaited Parish Directories should be arriving any day! It is our understanding that they will be mailed directly to those who had their photos taken. So watch for them in your mailbox.