Batesville, Indiana

Fall 2016

St. Louis Newsletter

A Publication for Parishioners

Parents and Alumni

The Boys Choir

have donned new vest-

ments for Mass! Pres-

ently, the boys sing with

the Men's Choir once

a month, adding their

angelic voices to the

masculine harmonies

for the Liturgy. Stu-

dents from Grades 3-8

are welcome to join,

with rehearsals on Tuesdays after School.

The Girls Choir exhibit a real joy for singing at one Mass

a month, for a Christmas concert for the Sisters of St. Francis,

and at the 5pm Family Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve. They

practice on Wednesdays after school for students from Grades

3-8.

Cantors lead the music during Masses when there is not a

chorus or guitar group. Single or group, man or woman, can-

tors are encouraged to contribute their talents for the glory of

God. We even have father and daughter, father and children

combos!

Speaking of guitar groups - Mike Fritsch continues to lead

the instrumental Guitar Group with professionalism and

expert vocals. His group plays several Masses per month, plus

Confirmation and Easter Vigil Service.

The St. Louis Chorus sings several Masses per month,

plus Christmas Midnight Mass and other major Litur-

gies. They are a dedicated core group of men and women with

vast experience singing SATB and intricate compositions.

Sunny will be leaving us at

the end of this year to spend

some time in retirement with

her husband, Mel. Sunny will

be greatly missed around the

parish. She works very hard

practicing with all the choirs

and singing groups each week

and she does a great job

playing for the Masses and

liturgical celebrations. In addition to her musical

talents, we will miss the quiet little things she does to

enhance the parish. She works tirelessly to keep the

church looking neat and tidy. She works hard to

extend the life of our missalettes. She educates us

with interesting facts about our faith in her "Did You

Know?" column in the bulletin each week. We will

miss her smiling face (and Mel's jokes)! May God

Bless Sunny and Mel in all their endeavors.

Thank You Sunny!

Music Ministry News

New Sound System

A much needed improved sound

system was installed in our church this

past summer. A new Digital Audio sys-

tem has replaced the old analog mixer

and new speakers were installed in

strategic locations for optimal sound

performance. Contributions received

from the Capital Improvement enve-

lopes will pay for the upgrade.

Parish News

From The Faith Formation Office

2

Here is a recap of some of the

Summer and Fall activities in Faith

Formation.

Vacation Bible Camp

Vacation Bible Camp was held the

week of June 20, 2016. This year’s

program was designed by one of our

parishioners, Josie Wesseler. Josie

is a senior at Oldenburg Academy

and wrote the program in order to

earn the Girl Scout Gold Award.

The program was titled, “Secret Service: Serving in Secret”. With a

secret agent theme, it taught the campers to live their faith by fol-

lowing God’s call to serve others. Representatives from the Sum-

mer Food Program, Safe Passage, the Waters, the Sisters of St.

Francis in Oldenburg and the Good Samaritans taught the children

about their organizations and how we can support them in our

community. Through Bible stories, service activities, crafts, fun

games and songs, the campers learned how God wants us to serve

others. It takes many volunteers to help make VBC a success. We

continue to be blessed with fantastic adults and enthusiastic teens

who volunteer their time, talent and treasure to help evangelize our

young campers.

If anyone is interested in serving on the VBC planning committee,

please contact Amy Tonges at atonges@st.louisschool.org or 812-

934-3204 X 249

True Strength-True Beauty

Thanks to a grant from the William and Martha Hillenbrand Foun-

dation, a large group of high schoolers joined a giving and deter-

mined chastity team of adults this summer to explore the question-

What is true strength? And what is true beauty? This program

explored masculinity and femininity and the virtue of chastity for

young men and women. It was a great time for fellowship, food,

and spiritual growth for all the teens and adults involved. Thanks

to all those that helped make the program a success: Jade Ritter,

Gino Canessa, Charlie Raab, Lissa Ritter, Haylee Seigel, Rory

Bauman, Audrey Wilson, Natalie Wanstrath and Jill Weber.

For more information on the program visit: http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2014/05/dynamic-youth-chastity-series-launched-from-ydisciple.html

Anyone interested in working on the chastity for youth endeavor

can contact Lissa Ritter @ 812-934-6678.

Christmas Book

This Christmas, we will be giving out copies of the book,

“Resisting Happiness” by Matthew Kelly. Please plan to pick up

your copy at one of the Christmas masses. There will be book

studies in January. Please check the bulletin for more details.

Faith Formation is busy planning a parish mission for Lent this

year. If you would enjoy being involved in the book selection

process for the Christmas giveaway, the speaker selection proc-

ess for the parish missions and in helping to identify needs of the

parish where faith is concerned, please consider joining Faith

Formation.

As described on their website, That Man is You!, “…Seeks to form

men who will be capable of transforming homes and society.”

This program is now active in the St. Louis Parish. Although

administered by the parish, the program is open to men in sur-

rounding parishes and in the community.

September 9 was the first meeting of a 13 week series occur-

ring before Christmas; there will be 13 weeks after Christmas to

complete the semester. Although the materials do build on the

previous week, it is not necessary to attend each meeting. There

is value to each individual session. This semester addresses fam-

ily life, and at its completion another semester will start with a

new main topic. Bill Meer, a weekly attendee, notes, “It’s good to

get together with other men of faith, and discuss ways to improve

our male leadership roles in our family and community.

The group meets every Friday morning at The Big Four Café

beginning at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast followed by a presentation

of that week’s topics. After the presentation, attendees breakout

into discussion groups. The meeting ends at 7:30. Currently

there are approximately 40 participants each week. Mike Brel-

age, the program coordinator, stated, “That man is you has

helped me to refocus on my faith and leadership role in my fam-

ily, it is one morning I look forward to each week.”

Anyone wanting more information regarding That Man Is

You! (TMIY) can call Michael Brelage at 317-225-8006. You can

also check the website, thatmanisyou.org.

“That Man is You”

Parish News

Altar Server Outing

On Wednesday, June 29th, Fr. Stan took the St. Louis Altar

Servers to Victory Field for an Indianapolis Indians Baseball

Game. It was a beautiful summer day with plenty of food, fun

and fellowship. A great time was had by all!

TriForce Mission Team Helps Others

On July 16th, the TriForce Mission Team returned from a

one-week mission trip to Canonsburg, PA where we teamed with 12

other youth groups from around the country to spend a week of our

summer helping refurbish homes for

the needy. The 372 teen and adult

participants were divided into 62

crews and worked on 48 homes. The

work projects included interior and

exterior painting, building wheelchair

ramps, repairing decks and porches,

and a variety of other home repairs.

Together, we completed over 11,600

hours of community service and do-

nated 4,803 food and paper good items to the local food pantry. In

addition, $1,515 was raised for the local food pantry in just 4 days,

primarily by dropping our spare change into a large water bottle

each day.

The theme for this year’s

work camp was “Extraordinary”.

Through a series of scriptures, we

looked at how God uses ordinary

people to accomplish extraordi-

nary things. The morning pro-

grams and work site devotions

invited us to consider how the or-

dinary looks in our own lives while

the evening programs and youth

group devotions helped us examine the distinctions between the

ordinary life and an extraordinary life with Jesus. On Monday, the

story of Salome asking Jesus for places of honor for her sons James

and John (Matthew 20-20-28) reminded us that the path to great-

ness is through serving others. On Tuesday, the Council’s percep-

tion of Peter and John (Acts 4:13) helped us realize that we too can

become bold when we’re with Jesus. On Wednesday, the poor

woman giving hew two coins (Mark 12-41:44) served as a reminder

that amazing things can happen when we give out of our weakness

instead of our surplus. On Thursday, the woman who washed

Jesus’ feet with her tears and perfume (Luke 7-36:50) showed us

Jesus’s extraordinary love and willingness to forgive us. We ended

the week with the story of Jesus sending out his disciples (Luke 10-

1:3) and a challenge to GO and reflect His amazing love by boldly

serving others.

Once again, everyone on the Team would like to thank our

parish families for their support of this ministry. This experience

would never be possible without your spiritual and financial sup-

port. Because of your generosity, 41 teens and adults from St.

Louis, St Anthony, and Holy Family were able to touch the lives of

many needy families in Pennsylvania and bring home memories

that will last a lifetime. Words can’t begin to express our gratitude.

We’ve already selected Newark Valley, NY as the destina-

tion for the 2017 mission trip. We’ll leave on July 8th and return

on July 15th. Once again, we’ll finance the trip thru a variety of

fund-raisers and the continued support of the parish.

Parish News

4

St. Louis Cemetery Update

A few major changes have

been realized in St. Louis Cemetery.

One of the most attractive and

meaningful is the new monument in

the children’s area depicting Christ

and children in His care. The

monument is dedicated to babies

lost in the first trimester. It is sur-

rounded by a concrete walkway

that includes benches and landscap-

ing. A small parking area is also

available.

The improvements to the

baby cemetery were accomplished

by: Dan Wallpe, the Louis and Nor-

man Wanstrath families, Jade Ritter, Bill Giltz, Todd Gigrich,

Wade Ryle, Carolyn Dieckmann, Rich Riehle, and a bequest from

the Bob Brokamp estate.

Another new addi-

tion is a new and ex-

panded storage build-

ing. It will provide

much needed housing

for equipment and

other items

A future project for the

cemetery is an adult

columbarium for cremated remains. It will provide a more effi-

cient use of remaining cemetery space, offering space for above

ground niche burials as well as ground burials. It will include

landscaping and benches.

These improvements are funded by monies designated

for cemetery use, with donations and bequests for this fund be-

ing used only at St. Louis. There is an envelope in your monthly

packet that can be used for cemetery fund donations.

Saturday, October 8, went to the dogs, and cats, and

whatever other family pet was brought to receive the bless-

ing of St. Francis. Under the watchful eye of faithful friend,

Oliver, Father Stan blessed all in attendance.

Pet Blessing

Parish Picnic - 2016

The 2nd annual St. Louis Parish Picnic was held on

Sunday, July 24, at Liberty Park. It was a beautiful day en-

joyed by approximately 260 parishioners and guests.

The day began with 11:00 Mass being celebrated in

the large pavilion. Immediately following, all the side dishes

and desserts provided by parishioners were set up on large

tables and people were encouraged to fill their plates. Hot

dogs and hamburgers were grilled onsite and added to the

buffet. Many fun activities were available for the kids through-

out the afternoon.

This event is a great opportunity for fellowship and

fun with fellow parishioners. It could not have been such a

blessed day without the help of many people, too many to

mention as we wouldn't want to leave anyone out. So a big

THANKS to those who made it possible.

We Could Use Your Help! If you have suggestions, or would like to assist with

this newsletter, please contact Margie Walke at

812-934-3418 or e-mail marwalke@etczone.com.

We welcome your input, and would love to have

additional staff members!

Parish News

5

Parish Financial Update

The Batesville Deanery Resource Center

is now open at 18 West St. Louis Place, in

the Prickle House. Eva Roll and Kara

Tsuleff are responsible for managing the

center. In addition to determining what

informative materials are included in the

Center, Roll and Tsuleff also coordinate

educational programs. Study groups,

teachers, DRE’s and youth groups can take

advantage of this service.

An impressive collection of

books, magazines, videos, and

movies are available for check-

out. The materials, which

span ages from children, to

teens, to adults, address all

aspects of faith, religion, the

Church, prayer and more.

Whether wanting to learn

more about faith, lives of saints, seeking support for life’s

challenges, or helping a child grow in faith, the Resource

Center has much to offer.

Hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 – 6:00pm.

There is also a website at batesvilledeanery.com, and they can

also be reached at 812-932-0789.

For fiscal year ending June 30, 2016 St. Louis Parish re-

ported a net loss of $103,008 ($17,500 better than budget).

While a net loss is never satisfactory, 2016 results did come in

$45,000 better than the prior fiscal year. Through cost cutting

initiatives already put in place, the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget is

slated for a $33,000 loss. Multiple Committees have been work-

ing feverishly to evaluate everything from family involvement in

the school and parish, school enrollment, marketing, fundraising

and expense reduction.

Major successes this past year include an upgraded sound sys-

tem in the church, new LED lighting, an updated cafeteria and a

total remodel of the office in the School.

The previous sound system was not properly distributing

sound, especially to the east transcept. The upgraded sound sys-

tem distributes sound evenly throughout the church. Twelve

wireless receivers with earphones were also purchased for the

hearing impaired.

LED lighting was installed in the school this past spring. LED

lighting is 40% more efficient than fluorescent and has a much

longer life than a fluorescent bulb while giving off a cleaner,

brighter light. Due to the efficiency of the LED lighting, we expect

to recover the cost of the project in less than five (5) years due to

the energy savings.

The school cafeteria was remodeled and updated with new

kitchen equipment, a more efficient dishwashing area, new floor-

ing and ceiling tiles and new paint. The results are amazing and

I’d like to give my personal thanks to our Property Manager,

Wade Ryle for keeping that project on schedule and on budget.

Last, but not least, the school office received a much needed

upgrade. Through the generosity of our PTO, staff, parents, pa-

rishioners, local businesses, financial donors, and a lot of sweat

equity by the our school office staff (Kathy Forbeck, Joan Riede-

man and Lydia Gardner) that project was completed with minimal

financial assistance from the parish coffers.

While there is a lot of work yet to be done to get the parish “in

the black”, we are moving in a positive direction and I look for-

ward to reporting more good news in the near future.

Deanery Resource Center Here

Christmas

Mass Schedule

Saturday, December 24

5:00pm

Sunday, December 25

Midnight,

9:30am & 11:00am

Announcements Parish News

6

BAPTISMS

Liliann Alona, daughter of Travis & Jolene (Crouch) Volk

Noah Daniel, son of Nicholaus & Kaitlyn (Giordano) Rosswurm

Felix Thomas, son of Jose Espinosa & Chelsea Hughes

Ender James, son of Ian Pettit & Elise Meyer

August William, son of William & Julie (Meyer) Huffmeyer

Charles James, son of Charles & Sarah (Senechal) McGovern

Eleanor Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Aaron & Jennifer (Weigel) Garrett

Annie Cecilia, daughter of Matthew & Jennifer (Faust) Harmeyer

Kendall Rose and Whitney Blair, children of Jacob Hoff & Jessica Roell

Calvin Jack, Isla Claire, and Brooks Joshua, children of Korey & Laura (Greiwe) Padgett

Liam Parker Lyle, son of Stuart Hamer & Kalyn Walsman

Lukas Alexander, son of Joshua & Ashley (Scott) Roell

Broxton Ambrose, son of Brent & Shannon (Allgeier) Young

Alexandra Marie, daughter of Chad & Vanessa (Prickel) Beetz

Grayson Allen, son of Joshua Hughes & Brianna Hixson

Elena Jane, daughter of Robert & Lisa (Giesting) King

Norah Cecilia, daughter of Joshua & Lindsay (Bolton) Tunny

Alexa Belle, daughter of Michael & Sarah (Werner) Miller

Gannon Mark, son of Casey & Betsy (Gutzwiller) Schomber

Adalynn Courtney, daughter of Robert & Kayla (Mobley) Wuestefeld

Victoria Skye, daughter of Scott & Dawn (Kunz) Krekeler

In Memoriam

Eleanor Young 10/8/15

Marie E. Wessling 3/30/16

Donald “Buck” E. Meyer 4/4/16

Janet M. Schantz 4/20/16

Robert E. Flodder 5/2/16

Martha “Marty” R. Wilhelm 5/21/16

Donald F. Dickey, Sr. 5/22/16

Victoria C. Kellerman 5/26/16

Julius “Jay” Thornsberry 6/1/16

Cathryn M. Dickey 6/2/16

Richard A. Enneking 6/8/16

Thomas B. Fields 6/21/16

Paul H. Suttmann 6/26/16

Marcia L. Werner 7/3/16

Kayla Fitzgerald 7/8/16

Teresa V. Schwab 7/13/16

Harold D. Flodder 7/26/16

William A. Hertel 8/2/16

Joseph H. Hoff 8/9/16

Andrew J. Decker 10/16/16

St. Louis Parish &

School Calendar

Dec. 15—Advent Penance Service

Dec. 21—SLS Christmas Break

Jan. 4—School Resumes

Jan. 16—No School - Martin Luther King Day

Jan. 29 - Feb. 4—Catholic Schools Week

Jan. 31—SLS Italian Night, Science Fair, Book Fair

Mar. 1—Ash Wednesday

Mar. 12—Super Sunday Bingo

Mar. 20 - Mar. 31—Spring Break

Apr. 8—SLS Cardinal Crawl

Apr. 16—Easter

May 26—8th Grade Graduation

May 31—Last Day of School

Check Websites for more information.

Congratulations First Communicants Valentina Aguila

Miaya Batchelor

Aaron Bauer

Felicity Brelage

Oliver Camarena

Ricardo Camarena

Leo Canessa

Mathias Davalos

Thomas Deal

Kaiden Eckstein

Jack Freeland

Haley Frey

Amaia Fullenkamp

Alvaro Garcia

Lincoln Garrett

Zach Gerdowsky

Benjamin Greiwe

Terry Greiwe

Blayden Gunter

Sophia Hohenstein

Ashley Hunter

Isabel Imel

Jaiden Kuria

Robert Lesneski

Katherine Lipps

Noah Livers

Bridget Lohmueller

Brayden Maple

Olivia Meer

Vincent Meneses

Brycen Miller

Caleb Mohr

Aya Nishikawa

Kimberly Nunez

Kalli Obermeyer

Cheyenne Puente

Katelyn Rahe

Tyler Reder

Catherine Reidy

Meg Ritter

Austin Ronnebaum

Corissa Roth

Anna Schneider

Ethan Schneider

Matthew Schrand

Rachel Suttmann

Corrine Volk

Ava Walsman

Karsyn Watson

Paige Watters

Noah Weigel

Donovan Wesseler

Luke Wilhelm

Gabrielle Williams

Vincent Wilson

Braden Wonnell

School News From the Desk of the Principal

Want Your Child To Get

A Catholic Education?

Concerned You Can’t Afford It?

Over the years, I have heard many

parents say they don’t send their

children to private schools due to

financial constraints. In the past,

many parents were unable to send

their children to St. Louis School

because of the cost. We at St. Louis

believe strongly that every child

should be afforded the opportunity for a high quality, faith based

education. There are three (3) separate programs available at St.

Louis to assist parents with tuition cost. Below is a brief de-

scription of each program. That issue has been addressed in

numerous ways:

Vouchers: The State of Indiana Choice Scholarship voucher

program has a program that allows parents to pay for private

schools using a voucher. Voucher amounts are determined based

upon household size and depending on the family income. It is a

simple process that our parish business manager can assist with.

SGO: A second opportunity is the Scholarship Granting Organi-

zation, SGO for short. Private individuals donate money for stu-

dents to attend Catholic schools. Due to the generosity of many

of our parishioners, this year SLS was able to grant $1000 to

every family that applied and met the income threshold for the

2016-2017 school year. This process is also simple and our par-

ish business manager can assist with the application.

Tuition Assistance: St. Louis Parish sets aside money to help

families that may not qualify for the Voucher or SGO. We never

want finances to stop a family from enrolling at SLS. How is

assistance determined? Families fill out a form that is sent to an

independent company that makes recommendations. Our busi-

ness manager then finalizes the process.

Your Privacy is important to us. The school office staff or princi-

pal can answer questions about any of these pro-

grams. However, all applications are processed only through the

parish business manager. He is the only one who sees any finan-

cial information (he inputs the information into each sys-

tem). All information remains totally confidential.

***Before deciding you can’t send your child to St. Louis School

because of finances, please call me at school. I would be happy

to discuss options. We will find a way to make it work for your

family.

Interesting Facts about Children Who

Attend Catholic Schools

Mass Attendance - Adults who attended a Catholic school are

7 times more likely to attend Mass weekly compared to those

who never attended Catholic schools. Source: Catholic New

Media Use in the United States, 2012

Vocations - Among never-married male Catholics (ages 14 and

older) who have attended a Catholic school, more than one in

four indicate that they have considered becoming a priest or

brother. Only about one in ten of those who did not attend a

Catholic school indicate this.

Among never-married female Catholics (ages 14 and older) who

have attended a Catholic school, 13 percent or more indicate

that they have considered becoming a sister or nun. Only about

6 percent of those who did not attend a Catholic school indicate

this. Source: Consideration of Priesthood and Religious Life

Among Never-Married Catholics

School Climate - Catholic schools tend to operate as commu-

nities rather than bureaucracies, which links to higher levels of

teacher commitment, student engagement, and student

achievement. Source: Marks, G. (2009). Accounting for school-

sector differences in university entrance performance. Austra-

lian Journal of Education, 53, 19-38.

The Catholic school climate, mission, and purpose positively

impact student achievement and attendance. Source: Bryk,

A.S., Lee, V.E., & Holland, P.B. (1993). Catholic Schools and the

Common Good. Boston: Harvard University Press.

A faith-based orientation builds coherence and integration of

schools and school community. Source: Bryk, A.S., Lee, V.E., &

Holland, P.B. (1993). Catholic Schools and the Common Good.

Boston: Harvard University Press.

Chad Moeller

The PTO had a very successful second semester! Just to

name a few of the things we did: Valentines Day party, En-

richment programs, Field trips, End of Year Carnival, 8th

grade Scholarships and much more! Our annual rummage

sale was a success in June and we were able to use the pro-

ceeds towards the renovation of our school office. Please stop

by and check it out! Don't forget to save your Boxtops...there

is a collection bin in the Parish lobby. Finally, we would like

to say "Thank you" to all the volunteers who have made our

fundraisers and events a huge success - we couldn't do it with-

out them!

7

PTO Update

8

St. Louis Catholic Church 13 St. Louis Place

Batesville, IN 47006 812-934-3204

Address Service Requested

Mass Schedule Weekend: Saturday 5:00 pm;

Sunday 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 am

Weekday: Tuesday 6:00pm; Wednesday-Friday 8:10 am

Prayer & Devotion Rosary & Holy Hour: First Sunday at 7:00 pm.

St. Louis Church and School Websites

Check the St. Louis Church website at www.stlouis-

batesville.org for weekly bulletins, mass schedules, parish

calendar and school links. At the School website,

www.st.louisschool.org, there is information on the PTO,

school calendar, staff and staff web pages for homework and

other school related information.

Rachel Amberger Erin Batta Lauren Bischoff Dominic Butz Adam Cox Johnathon Deal Jacob Deutsch Charlie Dice GiGi Dreyer Mindy Eckstein Mason Enneking Lily Esser

Luke Esser Joey Gutzwiller Zach Harmeyer Jack Karbowski Max Kirschner Stacy Kramer Alyssa Krekeler Phoebe Kroen Grace Mack Harlee Masavage Chloe Meadows Caroline Meer

Nicholas Meer Kayla Meyer Alexa Miles Anna Moeller Adam Moster Abe Peetz Sarah Price Abbey Prickel Kyle Prickel Jayden Rose Sydney Schutte Adam Scott

Allison Storms Zeb Streator Samantha Tonges Eli Tuveson Evan Vogelsang Molly Wachsmann Aaron Weber Keegan Weberding Sophie Wesseler Kaden White Kathryn Wilder