We are filled with joy and looking forward to having Bishop Hying celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with 50 of our students from the pastorate. Please pray for them and their sponsors.

FAMILY PROMISE at ST. CLEMENT Our Host Week Is Coming Up! Our week to host families experiencing homelessness is coming up the week of September 7. While that may seem far off, it really is not, especially with Labor Day the week before. Volunteer Sign-Up Forms for the various areas of service are on a table in the back of church. You can volunteer for more than one area, or more than once. Please sign up early in order for us to be ready on the 7th. If you have any questions, or are interested in helping out but have not done so in the past, please give me a call at 723-4990, or Peg Jonas at 723-2051. Thanks!! ~ Bill

St. Clement Chicken BBQ Dinner raffle & dinner ticket packets are on the tables in the church entrances. If you haven’t picked up yours already, please do so. According to state law, we are not allowed to send raffle tickets through the USPS, so we are asking for your help in picking up packets belonging to your neighbors, friends and other family members, which is GREATLY appreciated!

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].

St. Clement Parish will be hosting a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training workshop on Wednesday, August 13. Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in the US lives with some form of mental illness; and that 130 persons die by suicide every day? MHFA training teaches you how to recognize, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance abuse challenges among adults. In our rural area, we face so many mental health challenges and barriers. The more people who receive MHFA training, the more that we can reach out to others, and whose lives can be supported, changed and even saved. Be the Difference! Sign up for the Mental Health First Aid Training on August 13 from 9 AM to 5 PM. To register, email [email protected], or call 608-821-3050. Two hours of online pre-course work must be completed before the training. ​Register ASAP

Everyone from our pastorate is invited to join us for a fabulous SUNSET CRUISE on Friday, August 1. The cruise will be from 8-10 p.m. and will depart from the Cassville Ferry Landing with loading to begin at 7:45 p.m. The cost is $12/person. Pay and Sign Up for the Cruise at the St. Clement Parish office. Please make checks out to Knights of Columbus and sign up ASAP! Bring your own chairs, drinks and snacks. Please Note: No Glass of any kind is allowed on the Ferry! We’ll be having live music too, for an enjoyable evening on the Mighty Mississippi! Invite your friends (and sign them up) and meet new friends from our pastorate! While everyone is invited, space is limited, so sign up soon. For more information, contact Bill & Judy Seyer at 608-988-6543.

Women of the pastorate, give your week a Great Start on Monday mornings with coffee and donuts at 8:00 AM, prayer, Scripture readings of the day and discussion, 8:15 – 9:15, lower level of St. Clement Rectory, beginning Monday, Feb. 24. Sponsored by St. Clement Council of Catholic Women. Bring your copy of Word Among Us or Magnificat. Questions? Call or text Bernadette Schaefer at 608-732-7475.

Everyone is invited to attend St. Mary's Lasagna Supper at St. Mary School on Saturday, January 25 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. There will also be a Silent Auction and classroom displays.

THANK YOU to everyone who supported the Scrip Push! The goal was $30,000 and $69,700.00 in Scrip was purchased! The St. Mary's students will enjoy a pizza and movie party hosted by the Home & School Association.

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.

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.

St Mary’s School has teamed up with Hamann’s Helping Hands again this holiday season to help gathering gifts for children that are spending the holidays in the hospital. We will be collecting gifts until December 20.

St. Clement CCW invites women of St. Joseph The Worker Pastorate to an Advent Celebration at the historic L. J. Arthur House, 210 N. Jefferson St, Lancaster, on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:00-8:00 p.m. A light meal of appetizers, sweet treats and punch will be served. Fr. Mark Miller will give an Advent reflection. All women of our pastorate are members of CCW and welcome to attend. Please let us know by Dec. 9 that you plan to celebrate with us. Call or text Bernadette Schaefer at 608-732-7475, or Marcia Hampton at 608-732-8849.

Operation Santa Claus in the River Ridge area is sponsored by the West Grant Lions Club to help those families and individuals in need to have a Merry Christmas. The club serves the Bagley, Bloomington, Glen Haven, Mt. Hope and Patch Grove areas. The members of the West Grant Lions Club have already been checking the five communities and surrounding areas served by the club for people in need. This has been necessary to provide enough time for the proper ordering of food items and other needed items. If a new situation develops that the club should know about, please contact Lion Mike Farrell at 9143 Kussmaul Rd., Mt. Hope, WI 53816. His phone number is: 608-988-4527. Money donations which are needed for the purchase of food items may be mailed to the West Grant Lions Club Treasurer, Paul Wegmann at 10998 Holly Rd. Bloomington, WI 53804. Be sure to make checks out to the West Grant Lions Club. The deadline for making money donations is Monday, Dec. 2. If you have any nonperishable food items (especially canned goods) please bring them to one of the collection locations which will be announced at a later date. Also please mark the bags or boxes as being for the West Grant Lions Operation Santa Claus. Sometimes there are other organizations or classes who are gathering food items for a different project. The Lions Club cannot distribute home canned foods or home baked items or clothing.

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.