Fr. Todd 9/21/25

Dear Saint Mary on the Lake and Sacred Heart,

            My family is very excited about the recent announcement of the 18^th grandbaby on the way, due this coming spring!  It is so much fun being an uncle for all of these nieces and nephews and I can’t wait to meet this new little one.

            Fr. Paul is due back this week.  Thank you, Lord!  I appreciate your patience over the last four months while he was assisting at St. Anthony’s and off on vacation.  I look forward to having time after Masses to talk and to be able to visit our Sunday morning Faith Formation classes.  With Fr. Paul’s return we will resume our Monday and Thursday morning Masses.  (It is a little confusing in that we have our annual priest convocation Sept 29^th-Oct 2^nd.  Fr. Paul will celebrate 8am Mass on Monday, the 29^th but we will not have Masses Tuesday-Thursday that week while we are gone.  We will have Mass on Friday, October the 3^rd.)

            It has been so much fun having our kids back in school.  A couple of weeks ago at our School Mass we talked about all the friends of Heaven, the saints, who walk with us on our earthly pilgrimage to Heaven.  The saints are alive, as are all those in Heaven.  They, like any good friend, enjoy being with us, pray for us, and are there to encourage us.  Reading the life of a saint can lead to a friendship that you enjoy this whole life through.

            But I want to particularly highlight another great way to come to know the Saints that I have recently heard about from several families.  It is a podcast called Saints Alive and they make dramatized versions of the lives of the saints.  It is a great way to come to know these saints.  I have listened to one so far and it was very well done.  We are blessed with such great resources to help us engage with our faith.

Here is a description from their website: https://www.saintsalivepodcast.com/

“STORIES OF THE SAINTS for Saints in the Making

Catholic in Content, Professional in Quality

Frustrated with boring, cheesy and low-budget Catholic entertainment, or destructive secular entertainment?  So are we.  As parents, our founders, Alex and Melissa Dee, wanted better for Catholic families than Hollywood shows that break down the Faith or Catholic shows that make it unattractive.

That’s why we started Saints Alive.

Parents say that all of their kids, even teenagers, love the shows; moreover, they often show immediate improvement in their behavior and love of the Faith.  It all adds up to a great experience for every member of the family.

We produce monthly audio dramas to bring the greatest heroes of our Faith to life.  And with professional voice actors and Hollywood-trained directors, the shows are compelling, professional and, most importantly, entertaining!”

God Bless!

Fr. Todd