Parish/Church
St. Thomas More Parish, Appleton, WI
Date and Mass time
October 5, 2014 – 9:30AM Mass
Celebrant
Fr. Jim Lucas
Weather
Well, fall is here and the temperature certainly reflected it as we left for Mass. 43 degrees! No frost, but it was cool! But, once again, it was another beautiful day to travel to another parish for Mass! After quite a bit of rain this week, it was clear and sunny and wonderful!
The trip there and back
We left a little early and also found we made really good time, so we drove around a bit before Mass. We drove up Meade St. and found Plamann Park where “MANY” years ago we went to swim when Charlotte and Larry still lived in Appleton. We saw the little man-made swimming lake and drove around the park. Beautiful and brought back memories.
It was cool walking around the grounds so we didn’t spend much time outside after arrival.
After Mass we stopped for a bite at MacDonald’s and then in the grocery store in Wrightstown. The store in Wrightstown has AWESOME sugar cookies if you ever get a chance to stop there.
After that we stopped at Holy Trinity to light a couple candles and say a couple special prayers and then we headed home. GREAT trip!
Parish History
There was no parish history to be found on the website and not much via Google. But they did just recently renovate.
Reflections
What we are finding is that going into these trips a lot of our daily life and how we are feeling goes in the trip. This week was a bit frantic and I worked all day yesterday and had a late work call, so perhaps we were a little tired too. Regardless, we were probably a little than enthusiastic, but it is amazing what these trips are doing to us. It’s great stuff!
We took a little walk around the outside and there is a really nice park like area out front that is gorgeous, but it was a little cold out, so we didn’t spend much time out there. Otherwise the outside isn’t the old style spectacular church, but it is very nice and the grounds are obviously kept in great shape.
The first highlight? They have a bell tower that plays church hymns. As we walked around the grounds, we were blessed with the bells playing gorgeous music. Awesome!
Inside they have a nice gathering area and shortly after entering the actual church we were greeted by Sister Mary Rose. She introduced herself and told us a little about the church and that she had been there 36 years! How wonderful. We walked around a bit and as people started to arrive we sat down for Mass.
The church itself is the more modern “surround” layout with the Altar in the center and the pews fanning out in a semi-circle from it. The tabernacle is behind the Altar and there is a spectacular Crucifix overhead. The sanctuary is awesome.
Fr. Jim presided and he comes across as a deeply devoted priest but somewhat quiet and perhaps more reflective than outgoing. But it was a lovely Mass and the Gospel message of the vineyard was tied in nicely to the homily and “OUR” stewardship.
At the end of Mass, Fr. Jim announced a couple wedding anniversaries of 55 and 66 years. THEN he had an older couple come up to have their 68 YEAR anniversary blessed! WOW! (Kay and I will need to hit 87 and 88 years old, in 2053 to match that mark!) What a blessing to be there for that!
One item to note were the lack of missels and song books. Everyone got a one page, two sided sheet, with the songs and order of Mass on it. A little different, and Kay and I weren’t sure if we liked that or not. Probably means it didn’t matter, but we had never seen that before…
Kay felt the church was more modern and “urban” in feel. Not unfriendly, but you could tell you were in the city. She loved the fountain going into church and the stained glass picture of Mary in the parent/child area.
Again, we were unable to get a chance to talk to the priest Fr. Jim after Mass, and I think that will become a bit of a trend. Sunday mornings are pretty busy times for the clergy and to afford even a few minutes to talk to everyone is probably too much to ask. Plus we spend time touring the churches, so it is easy to miss those few opportunities there are to chat.
So again, like last week, our pilgrimage was a bit different today, but not in a bad way at all. Pretty much like all days that God gives us! I pray that keeps happening to us! Today was a GREAT day!
Pictures
