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And Now for Something Completely Different:
A Frequently-Updated Catholic Blog

August 21, 2007

As you've noticed, this home page for "A Walk on the Catholic Side" doesn't get updated all that often. Eventually, I'm going to have to either decide to spend more time here, re-work it, or both.

Meanwhile, I'd like to introduce you to an unrelated Catholic blog, written by a lay member of the church, who seems to have her head on straight. The blog is called "CatholicInside," and is updated much more frequently than this page. Which wouldn't take much.

No More Swastikas on St. Mary's

May 5, 2006

St. Mary's Cathedral in St, Cloud will be swastika-free soon. According to KSTP, Catholics, Jews and others in the St. Cloud area have raised roughly $14,000 to take swastika-and-leaf-decorated disks off the cathedral's roofline.

The disks, like the cathedral, were there long before WWII and the Nazis. The swastika had been used since at least the 3rd century as a Christian symbol. Then Nazi Germany came along and gave the swastika its present abysmal reputation.

The disks were coming down this week. They'll be replaced with depictions of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, a new set of mysteries introduced by the previous Pope, John Paul II.

Lent, 2006

Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2006. Along with quite a few other folks in town, I started Lent by going to church and getting a smudge of ash on my forehead (Brian Gill).

Palms from last year becoming this year's ashOur Lady of the Angels Church burned last year's Easter palms after mass on Sunday, February 26,2006, starting a sort of countdown to Ash Wednesday and Lent. Meanwhile, about a thousand miles south of here, the New Orleans Mardi Gras is doing a sort of Lenten countdown in a much better publicized way.


Our Lady of the Angels. Priest - Update

January 15, 2005.

Father Statz celebrated Mass today (January 15). As a follow-up to his seizure last week, he's scheduled to have an EKG. Please keep him in your prayers.


January 9, 2005.

Father Statz, of Our Lady of the Angels in Sauk Centre, had a seizure Saturday, January 7.  He was taken to the hospital and then released.

Monday, January 9, he was feeling dizzy.

Please pray for the health of Father Statz.


Our Lady of the Angels. Priest is Back


Our Lady of the Angels. priest, Fr. Statz, is back. August 14, 2005.

Father Statz has been away on sabatical for most of the summer, and is now back at OLA in Sauk Centre. He concelebrated Mass with Father Kleinschmidt August 14, 2005.

Someone had put up a few signs and balloons, welcoming him back, in the alley on the way to the parish garage. He celebrated the Mass with Fr. Kleinschmidt this morning. Another big deal at church this morning was the 50th anniversary renewal of wedding vows by Bob & Marge Schmeising.


Quite a few Catholics live in this part of Minnesota, with customs and institutions that go far beyond the occasional "bathtub Madonna." Take a walk on the Catholic side, and see some of the ways people's faith expresses itself.

   

In this section

The Devotion to The Divine Mercy in Sauk Centre: In a community dedicated to the Mercy of God, a carving of the Merciful Jesus as shown to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.

You'll also find the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy and the Novena to The Divine Mercy, both from St. Faustina's diary, a homily on The Divine Mercy, and a growing collection of reflections on The Divine Mercy.

St. Faustina Adoration Chapel in Sauk Centre: Spending time with Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament, is a traditional Catholic devotion called Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. Catholic Christians have been sitting up with Jesus here since Divine Mercy Sunday of 2002. The article on the St. Faustina Adoration Chapel includes Why Eucharistic Adoration? - why spending time in the Saint Faustina Adoration Chapel is a good idea.

Catholic Events in Sauk Centre, Minnesota: Catholics draw on two millennia of traditions and a global selection of cultures. Sometimes this heritage gets expressed in a special event.

On this page

Mass Schedules for parishes in the Sauk Centre, Minnesota, area: Day-to-day worship.

A few words about bathtub Madonnas," a budget-friendly expression of faith.

The Evil Cling-Ons: A homily delivered on Ash Wednesday.

Experiences in Homa Bay, Kenya: The Our Lady of the Angels parish in Sauk Centre and the Migori parish in the Homa Bay diocese have started a special relationship within the St. Cloud / Homa Bay partnership. A young member of the Our Lady of the Angels parish shares her experiences in Kenya.


Knights of Columbus in Sauk Centre

The local Knights of Columbus council launched their website April 4, 2004.

   

Mass Schedules in the Sauk Centre area parishes:

St. Paul's Church
304 Sinclair Lewis Ave.
Sauk Centre, Minnesota

Our Lady of The Angels Church
211 7th Street South
Sauk Centre, Minnesota

St. Alexius Church
11 Oak Street
West Union, Minnesota

  • Weekday Masses
    Monday-Thursday
    8:15 am
  • Weekend Masses
    Saturday
    4:00 pm
    Sunday
    8:30 am & 10:00 am
  • Confessions
    Saturday 4:00 pm
    to 5:00 pm
  • Weekday Masses
    Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday (no Mass Thursday)
    7:00 am
  • Weekend Masses
    Saturday
    5:00 pm
    Sunday
    10:30 am
  • Confessions
    Saturday 4:00 pm
  • During Lent: Stations of the Cross Fridays 7:30 p.m.
  • Weekday Masses
    Thursday only
    8:00 am
  • Weekend Masses
    Sunday
    8:00 am

"Bathtub Madonnas"

Sauk Centre Marian statue

Marian statues aren't at all uncommon around here. This is a nicely-done Marian display in a south-side Sauk Centre yard. You can see that the traditional setting for the statue is shaped quite a bit like an old-fashioned bathtub. Not everyone can afford good brickwork and plastering, though.

Folks will often use an out-of-service bathtub, set it in the ground, paint the inside blue, and use the result as a setting for a statue. Quite a few years ago, someone started calling budget-friendly displays of that sort "bathtub Madonnas."


Our Lady of the Angels church in Sauk Centre started Lent with this homily, delivered Ash Wednesday, February 09, 2005.

The Evil Cling-Ons

"Let us lay aside every encumbrance on sin which clings to us." (Heb. 12:1)

Many people spend much time and money trying to shed the extra pounds that cling to them. They go on weight loss programs where they will stop eating fatty foods, give up snacks, get up early and work out, or jog several miles at a time. They'll do whatever it takes, even to the point of undergoing surgery, because they understand that without the extra weight they will prolong their life and feel free, vitally strong and healthy again.

It is far more critical to lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to you. (Heb. 12:1; Bar. 1:20) If you are spiritually obese, the Church offers these proven sin-loss programs:

  • Sin-loss surgery, called "Confession." No charge; cost of surgery covered totally by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 9:14 ff).
  • Read the Church's sin-loss manual, the Bible.
  • Get up early and pray (see Mk. 1:35) to shed those clinging demons (Mt. 17:21, NAB, Gospel of Life Pope John Paul II, 100).
  • Another proven shedding program is called fasting. It is also great for shedding those clinging demons (Mt. 17:21m NAB). (It works wonders for weight loss as well.)
  • Finally the Head of the Church, Jesus, offers the ultimate sin and weight loss prize, a resurrected, glorified body (1 Cor. 15:53) for those who "Go the distance" in running the race (see Heb. 12: 1-12).

(I'm not sure what Deacon Kaas's source for this homily was. Brian H. Gill, webmaster.)


Experiences in Homa Bay

presented by Rachel Lauer on the 78th World Mission Sunday, October 24, 2004

I would like to start with the prayer that Jesus gave us:

Baba Yetu uliye mbinguni,
Jina lako litukuzwe,
Ufalme wako ufike,
Utakalo lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni
Utupe leo mkate wetu wa kila siku,
Utusamehe makosa yetu,
Kama tunavyowasamehe na sisi waliotukosea.
Usitutie katika kishawishi,
Lakini utuopoe maovuni.
Amina.

Just in case you haven't figured it out, that was the "Our Father" in Kiswahili.

Today is World Mission Sunday and I am thankful for the opportunity to share with you some of my experiences in Kenya. I would like to especially focus on St. Joseph's Catholic Parish in Migori, with whom our two parishes have started a special relationship within the St. Cloud / Homa Bay partnership. I was in Kenya for two weeks and spent five days with the people of Migori.

I found all the people in Migori very welcoming. As I would arrive, the women would surround me and dance and sing and clap. It is impossible for all the parishioners to travel into St. Joseph's parish, so they have something called out-stations. This is a smaller community that worships in a church together but does not have a priest on a regular basis. I was able to travel to many of them and was always honored as a special guest. At one out-station, they taught me how to make bricks for a new church they were building. At another, I experienced how they plowed their fields using oxen. Yet another group showed me how to weave baskets, prepare food, and make clay cooking pots.

Having experienced their daily life, one major difference was how they dealt with time. Where we are constantly rushing from place to place and keeping a tight schedule, they gather for an event and it starts when everyone gets there and ends when it's all over. Time has a different meaning. They live at a slower pace and spend a lot of time visiting. While this was quite frustrating to some members of the delegation, we soon learned to use it to our own advantage: mainly to catch up on sleep!

Another experience that really stands out in my mind happened at one of the out-stations. During my visit in general, many young people did poetry and songs about the AIDS problem But it really came alive for me when I was taking photos of the children at the out-station. The first group consisted of about 80 children. Then they put together another group of about 60 children. Later they told me that the second group was all the AIDS orphans from that out-station. This really drove home how serious the AIDS problem is.

The most powerful impression of the people in Kenya was their incredibly deep faith. Here in the United States, we have so much stuff that we can fool ourselves into thinking that we can get along without God, but they need God to survive day to day and it is so apparent in the way they live and worship. When I see their faith, I do not see poor people, but people who live life richly with God.

These few glimpses of experiences and impressions that I have shared are only a small part of all that I encountered in Africa. I plan to do another presentation with pictures, videos, and hands on items from my trip at a later date. I want to thank all of you for allowing me to represent you in Migori and for all your prayers and financial support. As they would say in Kenya, Erokamano.

Thank you.

Rachel Lauer

     

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This page last updated: April 01, 2012