From Fr. Michael: Many wonderful things are happening at our parish. The emphasis in my ministry here at St. Patrick’s has been, and will always be, the nurturing of the faith of our children.

St. Patrick is welcoming Stephanie Beaver to our Catechetical Staff. Originally from Indiana, Stephanie graduated from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. She has taught students in many grades including 4K, Kindergarten, third, fourth, and fifth grades in Catholic schools in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. For the past 12 years, she has been a Director of Religious Education, Adult Education and a Teen Mission Trip Coordinator. Stephanie and her husband, Ben live in Columbus with their three children - Michael (11), Ella (8), and Jake (4). She is looking forward to meeting and working with all of the wonderful families at St. Patrick!

St. Patrick's will be entering our first float in the Cottage Grove Fireman's Festival Parade this Saturday, June 17. We are looking for lots of kids to be a part of it. This isn't just for RE students- younger sibs are welcome! Smaller children will ride on the float (trailer with bails of hay to sit on) and older ones will walk along side handing out freeze pops and stickers. It would be great to have some adults/teens walk along to help watch over the children. Our group probably has it the easiest! The parade line up is in the Cottage Grove School parking lot. You can park in the church parking lot- easy peasy! We will have our group gather in the St. Patrick's parking lot at 10:45 and then walk over to the float just before 11:00. (Attached is the information form the parade committee) There are a few things we need to pull this off: Kids :) Parents/teens to help supervise Driver- need someone to drive the truck. Please let me know if you/someone can drive- kind of a necessary detail :) Speakers- would love to have music, does anyone have speakers we can use with an iPod??? Details in a nutshell: 10:45 Meet in church parking lot 10:55 Walk to Cottage Grove School to the float 11:00 Wait....for parade to begin at 11:30 11:30 Parade Start End of parade.....we will discuss and come up with a plan as a group before we head over to CGS. RSVP- not required, but it would be helpful to have some idea of how many kids to expect (an email response would be great) One more thing... St. Patrick's will also be running a brat stand in the parking lot that morning. They are in need of a few more hands to help out. You can let me know if you'd like to help out- I can get more info for you. Thank you!! Hope to see lots of you on Saturday morning!!

Totus Tuus Summer Catechetical Program is returning to St. Patrick's/ Immaculate Heart of Mary for the third year in a row! The team will be coming July 23-29. Grade School Program (students entering grades 1-6): Monday to Friday 9:00-2:30 at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monona $30/child, $80/3 or more gradeschool children Middle/High School Program (students entering grades 7-12): Sunday to Thursday evenings at St. Patrick's. $10 - Snacks included.

Learn about Our Lady of Fatima and why we have a special devotional area that will be setup through October.

The HOLY HELPERS ALTAR SERVER GUILD is having a practice scheduled for Wednesday May 24th at 6:00 pm.

Fr. Michael gave a heart warming thank you on his 50th Birthday celebration.