For Parish Membership, Baptisms, Weddings, Communion Calls or any other pastoral need, contact the respective parish office.Bulletin Announcements: Deadline is Monday at Noon to the St. Clement Parish Office or to st_clement@tds.net

Fr. William Vernon, Pastor 723-4990Fr. William Vernon, Pastor 723-4990Bill Manthe, Parish Associate 723-4990Bill Manthe, Parish Associate 723-4990Katie Crosby, Parish Secretary 723-4990Katie Crosby, Parish Secretary 723-4990

Website: www.saintclementparish.comWebsite: www.saintclementparish.com

Josh Jensen, Principal 723-7474Josh Jensen, Principal 723-7474Nick Crosby, CRE 7-12 723-4990Nick Crosby, CRE 7-12 723-4990Rebecca Dean & Melissa Martin, CREs K-6Rebecca Dean & Melissa Martin, CREs K-6

Email: st_clement@tds.net (Katie)Email: st_clement@tds.net (Katie)

Diocese of Madison, Bishop Donald J. HyingDiocese of Madison, Bishop Donald J. Hying

SAINT CLEMENT CATHOLIC PARISHSAINT CLEMENT CATHOLIC PARISH135 South Washington Street – Lancaster, Wisconsin 53813135 South Washington Street – Lancaster, Wisconsin 53813

Founded in 1859Founded in 1859

(1 Corinthians 13:8)(1 Corinthians 13:8)

723-7474723-7474

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME AUGUST 16, 2020

STEWARDSHIP OF TREASURE

August 8 & 9Church Support Envelopes � � � � � $5,647�00Offertory Cash� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �$340�00Weekly Electronic Giving � � � � � � $1,048�00Total � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � $7,035�00Budgeted Offertory for Aug� � � � $35,600�00Offertory Received in Aug� � � � � $16,006�00

Monthly Offertory Comparison July 2020 (4 weekends) � � � � � � � � � $32,397�00July 2019 (5 weekends) � � � � � � � � � $34,324�00

Weekly Mass Schedule

Tuesday, August 18� � � � � � � � � � 8:15 AM † Al & Jane Klaas

Wednesday, August 19 � � � � � � � 8:15 AM (Saint John Eudes, Priest)

† Benjamin CelebradoThursday, August 20 � � � � � � � � � 8:15 AM

(Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church) Deacon Mark Thuli

Friday, August 21 � � � � � � � � � � � 8:15 AM (Saint Pius X, Pope)

† Kathy DunlapSaturday, August 22 � � � � � � � � � 8:15 AM

(The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary) † Gerald Schildgen

5:00 PM † Andrew Bahl

Sunday, August 23 � � � � � � � � � � � 7:30 AM Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

† Leonard & Virginia Schmitz; Kenric & Rita Schmitz

9:30 AM People of Our Parish

From Our Pastor:From Our Pastor:This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 15:21-28) gives us a clear illustration of perseverance

in prayer, and how God always hears and answers our prayers – with answers that include: “yes” and “no” and “Not right now, I have a better idea.” Jesus teaches us in the Gospel, through the example of the Canaanite woman and her real-life story, that we need to persevere in prayer, to believe in God’s mercy and love, to realize that prayer is communion with God.

A Canaanite woman, a Gentile, begs Jesus to deliver her daughter from a demon. People frequently came to Jesus, asking Him for physical, emotional or spiritual healing. But, instead of answering her request immediately, Jesus does something surprising. He replies in what some people might consider a rude way. At first, He seems to ignore her. Then He tells her that His mission at this time was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and it did not include Gentiles. Then He refers to her and her people as “dogs” (a term used by Jews to describe people who did not believe in God). And to make matters more difficult, the Apostles ask Jesus to dismiss her! Yet, at each step, the mother remains undeterred. She perseveres. She persists until Jesus finally says, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” – and the woman’s daughter was healed (Matthew 15:28).

Why did Jesus respond to the woman in this delayed way? One explanation is that He was testing her faith, as well as testing the Apostles’ faith, and making sure that everyone knew how much He treasured persistent, trusting belief in Him. And that’s what the Canaanite mother showed. She was a Gentile, labeled as an outsider, yet she believed in Jesus Christ, calling Him Lord and Son of David, and she refused to be ignored, sidelined or denied. She comes to the Lord (Isaiah 56), weighed down by the trials of her ill daughter – and her faith, expressed in her loving trust in Jesus Christ, lifted her from the heaviness of hopelessness. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said that Faith makes us light, enabling us to escape our own gravity, which drags us down. In persevering prayer, the Canaanite mother seeks to escape the gravity of grief and despair as she seeks God’s healing mercy. She began with a request, and ended on her knees in worshipful prayer. She was persistent. She persevered – and so must we!

Like the Canaanite woman’s faith, our faith gets tested at times, in the physical, emotional and spiritual trials we face, and in the evil we see people doing in the world. When our faith is tested, let us remember that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is calling us to a stronger faith by challenging us to trust Him even when we think He is ignoring or rejecting our request, our prayer, or that He seems distant at times. He is present (“I am with you always…” Matthew 28:20), for He is with us in our prayers, in His Church, Word and Sacraments, especially and substantially in the Holy Eucharist. So, let us persevere in faith that makes us light, that enables us to escape our own gravity – because no matter how it appears, Our Lord will not give up on us! Jesus Christ calls us to believe in His mercy and love, to know, love and serve Him, to be in communion with Him, with the Only Savior of the world, as He gives us the grace each day to pray, “Jesus, I trust in You.”

With peace and prayers in Christ,Fr. William Vernon

RECONCILIATIONBefore Daily & Sunday Masses

Saturday at 4:00 PMFace-to-face reconciliation by appointment only�

OFFICE HOURS:Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays:

9 am to 5 pmThursdays & Fridays:

9 am to 2 pm

GRANT COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE MATCHING GIFTAn anonymous donor has offered Grant County Right to Life a matching gift for

donations received between Aug 17 and 31. Donations will be matched up to a total of $1000 and will be used to keep a pro-life billboard moving every 4 weeks to a new location. We are in need of approximately $4000. Please send your donation to our treasurer, Mary Fishnick, 225 North Adams St., Apt 106, Lancaster, WI 53813. If we do not receive the amount needed, your gift will be used for pro-life training for students, pro-life ads and other needs. Thank you!

LITURGICAL SCHEDULE: AUGUST 22 & 23

5:00 PM Lectors: Bill Manthe5:00 PM Servers: Cameron & Caleigh Krantz7:30 AM Lectors: Bill Manthe7:30 AM Server: Oliviah Webster9:30 AM Lectors: Bill Manthe9:30 Servers: Kelsey & Kaitlyn NeCollins

OPEN HOUSE & FIRST DAY OF SCHOOLJust a reminder:

Saint Clement School families should return their completed registration packets to school as soon as possible if it has not been done already. Please call the school office if you have any questions or need assistance. As we mentioned before, we are planning on safely and prudently re-opening Saint Clement School on Wednesday, August 26th with face-to-face and virtual options. We are also planning on a revised Open House from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Monday, August 24th. School families will be receiving more details about their recommended times for safely visiting school to drop off supplies, meet their teachers and help prepare for the first day of school. As always, we thank you for your continued prayers and support for our wonderful parish school!!!

SAINT CLEMENT SCHOOL

***LECTORS: Your new schedules are in the sacristy�

ANNUAL CATHOLIC HERALD SUBSCRIPTION St. Clement Parish office is now accepting the annual subscription

payment for the official Diocesan newspaper Catholic Herald. If you receive the newspaper, please submit the annual payment in the amount of $23.00, payable to ‘St. Clement Parish’. Envelope-holders will find an envelope in their packet or you may put your payment in a plain envelope marked “Catholic Herald” with your name for proper credit. Our parish has to absorb the cost of all subscriptions that are not paid. If you would like to begin receiving the newspaper, please contact the parish office at 723-4990 and we will be happy to assist you. Thank you.

GO MAKE DISCIPLES“Imagine if every baptized Catholic in our diocese went to Mass

every Sunday, prayed every day, went to confession once a month, embraced some form of sacrifice, loved and served the poor and needy, and got involved in their parish! Look at the great good accomplished by a minority of our Catholic people! Imagine if we had everyone on board the Barque of Peter! Through us the Lord continues to draw people to Him. He wants us – both through our words and the way we live our lives – to speak the good news of His life, death, and resurrection. With our help, He will continue to ‘cut to the heart’ of those around us, so that they might ask the same question, ‘What must we do to be saved?’ Through our witness, those around us will meet Him and hear the call to follow, to repent and be saved.

As a Church and as a world we face a challenge that is both unique and yet much the same as the challenge always faced by the Church, even from its very first days. The challenge is unique in that we are, in many ways, in an age which can be labeled ‘post-Christian.’ In our day the impact of the coming of God to dwell with us in the person of Jesus Christ is often ignored, overlooked, and forgotten because it has become at one and the same both comfortable and inconvenient. For nearly two thousand years, most of the Western world has taken the reality of the Incarnation as a given. And in that time, the once earth-shattering teachings of the God-man have become watered down. The portions which are still palatable have been incorporated into the general niceties of our society and the more challenging pieces have been marginalized. The pivotal notion of God becoming man and dying for us, however, is often overlooked and unknown. Does the Christ event actually stand as a radical grounding of most human lives?

What can and will make a difference is our witness to that reality – our values, words, and actions, how we spend our time and money, how we forgive and love one another. The witness of a Christian disciple, fervent in his or her belief, and living out the greatest of commandments – to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbor as yourself – is the most compelling force in the universe.”

~ Bishop Donald Hying, “Go Make Disciples” Pentecost Pastoral Letter

PRAYERS FOR OUR PARISH FAMILY CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES

AND THEIR SPONSORS Please keep in your prayers the following students who will be

receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this Thursday, August 20 at 7 pm at Immaculate Conception Church in Boscobel:

Ailania Bainbridge, MaKenna Breuer, Sydney Busch, Kinsey Clark, Joseph Esser, Ella Jackering, Kesandra Klaas, Paige Lolwing, Lydia Mack, Kaitlyn NeCollins, Kelsey NeCollins, Larry Pluemer, Carolyn Recker, Madeline Reukauf, Alaina Stader, Ari Winter and Jenna Wolf. May they be strengthened and enlightened with the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to live out their faith with the virtues of faith, hope and love and bear witness to the truth in their lives. Please also pray for their sponsors, that they receive the necessary graces from God to help and guide the newly confirmed throughout their faith journey in this life.

WELCOME TO OUR PARISHTyler and Jessie (Vosberg) Jenamann

and their daughter Addison

Lucas and Chelsea (Bennett) Cooley and their sons; Ryker and Wynston

Nick and Megan (Molle) Cooley and their children; Brady, Brooke and Briar

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INSURANCE

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