We joyfully welcome to God's Holy Family: Elijah David Allen, son of Colton and Sarah (Breuer) Allen at St. Philomena Church, Belmont

Ss. Andrew-Thomas School Spaghetti Supper on May 13 from 5-6:30 p.m.

The St. Anne’s Sodality in Fennimore (St. Mary’s Church/Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Parish will be hosting the Spring Vicariate Meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Registration will begin at 3:00 PM followed by a short meeting and Mass will be celebrated at 4:00 PM. Supper will be served at 5:00 PM. The theme for the meeting is “Disciples Wear Many Hats”. We will be having Marge Karsten from the Grant County Right to Life group and Judy Vesperman from the Grant County Historical Society in Lancaster speak to us. Please wear your finest Derby Hat, Easter Bonnet, or historical hat from days of old. Every hat tells a story. Registrations are due by May 1. All ladies are welcome. The cost for the event is $15/person. Please send your registrations to Rita Moore at 14791 Homer Rd, Fennimore, WI, 53809. If you have any questions, please contact Kathy Loy at 608-822-6412 or [email protected].

As we journey through Lent, it’s that time of year again where we anticipate the opportunity to remember our deceased loved ones through Easter memorial donations. The money collected will go toward Easter Flowers and decorating the churches for the Easter Season. Please turn in your donations by Saturday, April 12.

St. Mary School is looking to hire two middle school teachers (grades 5-8) for the 2025-2026 school year. Please contact Kelly Copsey if you are interested in being a part of our St. Mary's family. [email protected] / (608)994-2435.

What is Totus Tuus? Totus Tuus is a summer Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship. Our week-long Parish Summer Catechetical Program and Summer Camps assist parents and parishes in the evangelizing and catechizing of their youth by supplementing the work they are already doing. The methodology, structure, content, and enthusiasm of Totus Tuus is concerned not only with teaching the faith but also igniting the hearts of the team members and young people. The result has been the formation of young adults who continue to dedicate themselves to the Church’s mission of evangelization. The success and popularity of Totus Tuus is demonstrated by its broad expansion and utilization throughout the country over more than 20 years. We are excited to offer Totus Tuus in addition to the many other excellent youth outreach offerings in the Diocese of Madison for the summer of 2025.

St. Mary's 3K Program is enrolling children for the 2025-26 school year.

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.

High School kids: June 8-13 at St. John Vianney, Janesville. Middle School kids: July 7-10 at St. Joseph, Dodgeville. Registration is now open at www.madisondiocese.org/lbhregistration Click on the NEW or RETURNING family for instructions. This year we will not sign in as “lost sheep”, but as St. Joseph The Worker Pastorate. 10 spots are saved for our pastorate children in each location. Email [email protected] to receive more information.

Still considering a New Year’s resolution? Decide now to take part in one of Grant Co. Right to Life’s upcoming 2025 activities! 1. Pray for GCRTL’s efforts to bring a Safe Haven Baby Box to Grant County. 2. Help plan a movie night! Join a team to bring the full-length documentary, Unthinkable, by former PP clinic director, Abby Johnson, to a Grant Co. theater. (Or donate to offset costs.) 3. 2/4/25: Participate - from anywhere – in a 6 p.m. GCRTL Zoom meeting. Call for log-in info. 4. 3/1/25: Volunteer at a GCRTL table at a late a.m. Platteville Public Library Involvement Fair. 5. 4/5/25: Attend a free WI RTL Pregnancy Help Center conference in Wausau. By 3/21/25, register at https://www.classy.org/event/2025-pregnancy-help-center-spring-conference/e626057 . 6. Participate in a group to distribute small gifts to nursing home residents. Consider making a walker bag or lap blanket for residents. (GCRTL will provide materials.) For more info., text or call Marge at 608.732.0850 or email [email protected] (NEW address!)

Thank you to everyone who generously gave donations for the flowers and decorations and to everyone who worked to make our church look beautiful during the Christmas season. We are deeply grateful for your support of our parish! God bless.

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.

The start date is December 27 (start noon on Friday)- 29 (ends 3:30 on Sunday). TEC (Together Encountering Christ) is centered on the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Our Shepherd Bishop Donald Hying has also centered his 'Go Make Disciples' initiative on that same theme. TEC is especially designed to help us grow in our love for Christ and our Holy Catholic Church. It is an amazing experience for any age who are young at heart and at least 15 years of age. Regardless of your present walk in our Catholic Faith, you will be rejuvenated. This is also a 'shout out' to those of you who have already experienced a TEC retreat and would like to help out. Fr. Greg Ihm will be our Spiritual Director. Jeff Jackson is the lay Director and can be reached at 608.778.6027 Or [email protected] More information about TEC can be found at www.MadisonDiocese.org/TEC

The council now has 180 Form 100s in our hands. The Form 100s were needed for the council to be able to start the Member Transfer Process. The member transfer will start immediately in hopes to be completed by January 1, 2025. The council gave out $300 Charity Checks to two brother knights with health conditions. Council 4416 does not hold meetings during the holidays. The next council meeting will be on Jan. 21, 2025 in St. Charles’ School Computer Lab in Cassville at 7:30 p.m.

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.

We will remember loved ones who have died this past year at the Mass on Saturday, November 2 at St. Mary's Church, Glen Haven. If you would like to have your loved one remembered, please contact the St. Charles Parish office (608-725-5595).

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