Page 21 - Catholic Extension Magazine Summer2020

Extension | Summer 2020 21

Lumen Christi Church, in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, raised funds to help St. Mary Church in northern Wisconsin maintain a Catholic
presence on a Native American reservation. BELOW Sister Phyllis is pastoral assistant at St. Mary in Odanah which serves the Bad River Band of Ojibwe.
Dan Sanders, FULFILLING A PROMISE
hen Father

pastor of
Lumen Even in dire straits, a Milwaukee parish keeps
Christi Parish its commitment to help a parish in need
W in Mequon,
Wisconsin, heard that churches Partnership program, maintaining a Cath-
would be shuttered during COVID- which connects olic presence on the
19, he was concerned for more than fundraising parishes reservation. They also
just his own parishioners. to parishes in need. learned that its typi-
His parish, just north of Milwau- They had planned cal weekly collection
kee, had just committed to a to help the minis- is just $100.
Lenten project to raise money for try of Sister Phyllis Lumen Christi had
a very poor, remote Catholic faith Wilhelm, OSF, the recently built a new
community in the far northern pastoral associate church in Mequon
reaches of Wisconsin. The parish of St. Mary Parish in and they were eagerly
was participating in Catholic Odanah, when the looking forward to a
Extension’s pandemic took hold. personal visit from
Parish The partnership Sister Phyllis in late
between Catholic March. Unfortunately,
Extension, Lumen the trip had to be
Christi Parish and Sister Phyl- canceled with the pandemic.
lis’s ministry has been a century But Father Dan was determined
in the making. Lumen Christi to maintain the fundraising for
began as a small mission church Sister Phyllis despite having to
itself, and received a Catholic also manage the disruptions in his
Extension grant to build its origi- own parish caused by the corona-
nal church in 1919. virus. He said the parish needed
Parishioners wanted to extend to remember those rural, isolated
the same kindness to a Wisconsin mission churches who are even
parish in need. Through Cath- more desperate than ever. And
olic Extension they his parishioners came through,
learned of Sister meeting their fundraising goal!
Phyllis’s work In gratitude, Sister Phyllis wrote
with the Ojibwe to them, “Your extremely generous
population of gift will enable us to continue our
the Bad River ministry and begin programs for
Tribe and how the elders and for the families of
St. Mary is our parish.”

Sister Phyllis Wilhelm has served Native Americans
in northern Wisconsin for more than 40 years.