St. Patrick Catholic Parish - Stephensville, WI

Updated September 25, 2020

Reminder: New Mass Times

Sunday Mass is 8 AM. Currently, the St Patrick Mass is being held inside the St Denis Church to allow for additional spacing between families. The St Denis Mass is at 10 AM.

Starting Sunday, October 4, 8:00 AM Sunday Mass returns to St. Patrick.

Ushers will seat each family with proper spacing. Face coverings are expected. There will be live video available in the parish hall to accommodate overflow.

Sunday Mass Obligation

Following much careful consideration, the dispensation for Sunday Mass obligation has been lifted and beginning Sunday September 20, all Catholics are invited to gather as a community of faith on Sundays. The lifting of the dispensation was announced in a decree issued by Bishop David Ricken on Monday, September 7. www.gbdioc.org/sundayobligationdecree The obligation to attend Mass for Catholics reflects our faith in Jesus Christ, the blessing of the Holy Eucharist and an acknowledgment of His great love for us. (See the quote from Cardinal Robert Sarah as the bottom of this note.)

With this news, please note there are still occasions when the obligation to attend Sunday Mass does not apply: Bishop Ricken specifically stated, “If individuals are frail due to illness or age or, in their well-formed consciences believe that going into public places - including Sunday worship at Mass - would place their health or the health of their loved ones in serious jeopardy, they too are not bound by this obligation.” I look at it like this: If you are back in the habit of regularly going to work, school, restaurants, stores, and events, it is good to be the habit of going to Sunday Mass as well. For those unable to attend, local TV channel 5 WFRV has reusable a Sunday morning broadcast of Mass with Bishop Ricken at 10 AM.

The guidelines for all Catholic Churches in the Green Bay Diocese makes it clear that face masks are still expected, and that the standards of social distancing will still be upheld. A section of seats is reserved for those who are not able to wear a face covering.  

- Fr Michael 

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation of Divine faith recently wrote on the: Subject of returning to Mass “As soon as is possible, we must return to the Eucharist with an increased desire to meet the Lord, to be with Him, to receive Him and to bring Him to our brothers and sisters with the witness of a life full of faith, love and hope. As much as digital and live streamed masses perform a valued service to the sick and those who are unable to go to church, and have performed a great service at a time when there was no possibility of community celebrations, no broadcast is comparable to personal participation or can replace it. On the contrary, liturgies in which the faithful participate only virtually risk distancing us from a personal and intimate encounter with the incarnate God, whose presence among His people was not virtual but Real, as He said: ”He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him” (John 6:56).  This physical contact with the Lord is vital, indispensable, irreplaceable. So once the concrete measures that can be taken to reduce the spread of the virus to a minimum have been identified and adopted, it is necessary that all resume their place in the assembly of brothers and sisters and to invite and encourage again those brothers and sisters who have been discouraged, frightened, absent or uninvolved for too long.”