Dear Parishioners,

I want to wish you all a sincere Happy Easter! I love serving you as your priest. It is a great privilege for me to serve in these communities. I have been greatly blessed by your faith and your witness of purposefully living the Christian life. Every year, these days of Holy Week are a great work, but so fulfilling to see how you come to participate and the real joy we experience together in taking part in the worship of God. 

I want to thank all the ministers and all those who helped with creating the environments for our celebrations. There are so many people that take part in the liturgies, the parties, the sacramental preparation for our candidates and catechumens. The music, the hospitality and the general participation of those who come all create a beautiful space to celebrate and encounter Jesus in these days. So thank you, and know it all plays into the experience that draws us closer to God. 

I want to give a formal welcome to our new Catholics who have come into the Church this Easter Vigil. Here’s a bit that I know of them, feel free to introduce yourselves and learn more: 

- Logan Crenna, married to Marissa (Ostrowski), Logan is an outdoorsmen fishing and hunting, he works for a company connected with Rice Lake construction and he does very jobs with large equipment much of it setting up and taking down very large cranes. He and Marissa have 2 children Katie Mae and Hunter. His grandma Mary Crenna is a Eucharistic Minister at OLF. 

- Elisyia Fearing, granddaughter of Nadine and Keith Schaefbauer, Elisyia is in high school, she doesn’t have her license yet, you can hear more about her story on the Catholic Connection podcast for 3-22-26. She found herself seeking something and her grandma’s witness helped her seek what she was looking for in the church. She is interested in nursing or helping people. 

- The Kannel family (Casey grew up Catholic, Jenni, and their children Braylon, Bennett, Miriam, Brooks). Jenni and Casey are very involved in the community, Jenni has worked at the school, she has deep roots to this area. Casey is one of the football coaches for Crosby-Ironton, and is on the fire department. They met in college. Jenni was a cheerleader, and Casey played football. They have three big golden retrievers who love to welcome guests into their home! 

-The Van Horn family (Kristen grew up Catholic, Mike, and their children Hunter, and Molly). Mike is the police chief for Crosby. He has served on the department prior to that. Kristen works as a dental hygienist. Hunter is in sports, and Molly is in dance. They travel a lot for these activities. 

A special welcome to these families and family members. We are so happy you felt comfortable to take this step of joining our community. Our community is growing, both from people moving to the area, and people coming back to the church or people like these families who have made the decision to join the catholic church. All and all, these are great signs of hope to me as a pastor. I am grateful for all who are seeking to follow Christ, and who are doing so as part of the Catholic community. We are all seeking to follow Christ together and this journey is one that should give us great joy and hope, especially in this Easter Season! 

As we celebrate Easter Week, know that we celebrate the octave for eight days. That means 8 days where we celebrate Easter every day as if it was Easter Sunday. Liturgically, we sing/say the Gloria at each daily Mass, we read accounts from the Easter resurrection and its 8 days of solemnity celebration. Solemnity is the highest level of church celebration (ferial day meaning ordinary day) and Feast day middle level, are the other two general levels of celebration). After the octave we still have the season of Easter which is celebrated for 50 days. I pray your octave will be filled with many graces! 

In Christ,

Fr. Eli