ST. MARY'S GOLF OUTING ON JULY 26 Planning is underway for St. Mary's Annual Golf Outing on Sunday, July 26. We are very grateful to Mrs. Kelly Copsey, St. Mary's School Principal, for organizing this event. She is seeking volunteers to help with the Golf Outing, especially on July 26. Please contact her at (608-732-2572) or [email protected] for more information.

We are looking to offer inner healing sessions to parishioners. Please contact Leigh Boorn at 309-370-6036 or [email protected].

St. Charles is conducting their annual May Cemetery Drive Month. If you would like to donate to either the St. Charles Cemetery or the St. Mary's Settlement Cemetery, you may put a donation in the weekend collection basket. Please label your envelope: St. Charles Cemetery donation and which cemetery it should be applied to. Thank You!

Children entering 5K-5th grade are invited to attend the Summer Bible School at St. Mary's on June 17-19.

The St. Mary Settlement Cemetery in Cassville is in need of new caretakers: after 35 years Rod and Bev need to retire due to health and family issues. Please call 608-725-5876 to get more information.

Ss. Andrew-Thomas needs volunteers to mow the school lawn this summer. If you would like to help out, we are hoping to get enough helpers so each person only needs to mow 3-4 times this mowing season. Please contact Amy at the school if interested: 608-763-2120.

Thank you to all the ladies who baked the delicious treats for the Family Faith Formation sessions in our pastorate!

We have been informed that some parishioners are receiving messages claiming to be from Fr. Steve Brunner requesting help or parish information. These messages are fraudulent. Please do not respond, do not send any parish information, and do not click any links in these messages. Fr. Steve will never contact parishioners in this manner for personal requests. If you have received one of these messages, please delete it.

If you are on the chain and wish to remain on the chain, if you are already on the chain and wish to be removed, or if you are not on the chain and wish to join - Please contact Aleise Oyen either by phone, text or email to let her know your wishes. She will need your name and your current phone number. You may contact her by phone or text at 608-331-7305 or by email at [email protected]. We hope to get a new list out by the end of April. Thank you!!

Fr. Dick Leffler is currently at Edenbrook Nursing Home, 1300 N Water St, Platteville, WI 53818. He is undergoing therapy to regain strength. Fr. Dick was the pastor of Ss. Andrew-Thomas Parish for 27 years and is part of all of our families. Please take a moment to say a prayer for him to regain his strength. It would be wonderful to do a Christmas card shower for him to show our love and support.

"Everyone wants eternal youth. God created us with this desire because he wants to fulfill it. How? Through the Sacrament of Confession." Everyone is encouraged to take home a The Fountain of Youth book, and one for family and friends. We received the books as a gift from an anonymous person. There was no cost to our pastorate. The book was written by Dave Durand (a cofounder of Lighthouse Catholic Media) and endorsed by Bishop Hying and Fr. Mike Schmitz.

If you work or volunteer in any of our parish churches and serve in ministries involving children, please ensure your Diocesan Safe Environment Training is current.

Musicians and singers are needed for a praise and worship team for Saint Joseph the Worker Pastorate. A workshop will be held on August 23. Time to be determined. If you are interested or want more info, please contact Leigh at: [email protected].

On January 23, 2014, I retired from my job at FSA in Dodgeville. The next day I was asked to help with counting money for the church. This quickly led to being the bookkeeper for the parish. Then in 2023, I was asked to become the Administrator for the Parish. Now after 11 years of serving the parish, I have decided that it is time for me to allow someone else to have the privilege of helping. Therefore, on June 27, 2025, I will be stepping down as bookkeeper and Administrator of St. Andrew-Thomas Parish. It has been a great privilege for me to be able to help for the past 11 years, and my enjoyment came with helping all of you in the parish in any way that you required. Thank you to our priests, Leigh, Julie, Katherine, Cheryl and the congregation for making it memorable. You are ever in my prayers. - Aleise Oyen

Fr. Herbert is celebrating his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood of Jesus Christ this coming Saturday, May 17. What a marvelous milestone for such a wonderful priest who has celebrated Mass at St. Clement on so many occasions. We thank and congratulate him, and wish him much joy and many blessings. "Well done my good and faithful servant!" Cards and well-wishes can be sent to: 669 S. Washington St., Apt. C2, Lancaster, WI 53813.

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

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.