CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LKKENESS OF GOD · Gospel of John. Francis saw the presence of God in everything—the plants, animals and especially people. He saw everyone and everything

CREATED IN THE IMAGE AND LKKENESS OF GOD

Nativity scenes abound in the Christmas season. They have become treasured posses-sions for many people. They take great interest in the handcrafted statues and point with pride to the age of treasured possessions. The custom of displaying nativity sets

has its origin with Francis of Assisi. For Francis, the birth of Jesus was the supreme celebration. It was on this day that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” as we read in the Gospel of John. Francis saw the presence of God in everything—the plants, animals and especially people. He saw everyone and everything as a reflection of God, This had enormous consequences for Fran-cis. If the presence of God is revealed in all things, then it was important that all people and all of life be respected. Beyond this, Francis knew that God wanted to be with us in the closest possi-ble way. When we want to be close with someone, we all know there’s no substi-tute for a personal visit. Having heard this story a hundred times, we might easily fail to be im-pressed at how wondrous, how amazing, how almost unbelievable this event was. God was “reduced” to living with us and sharing with us in a very direct way each and every aspect of our lives. God ex-perienced being human before birth, then as a newborn, a child, a teen, a young adult and all those phases of life all the way to his death on the cross. When Jesus entered our human world

t h r o u g h the incar-nation, he made our human journey a very holy thing. And God has been present in this journey from the very beginning of our lives. It is not a matter of us trying to become worthy of this, but realizing that right now each of us is a reflection of God. That’s pretty amazing. But God knows what God is doing. And so, he tells us, as he told count-less others, “Do not be afraid.”

INSIDE THIS ISSUE —Introducing our High School Seniors………..p. 2 —Parish Council News……. p. 3 —Remembering August Bender………p. 5 —Opportunities to Serve….p. 6 —For Our 50th Anniversary We went to Haiti……….p. 7 —St. Joe School News…….p. 12

NEWSLETTER OF ST. JOSEPH PARISH 62o2 W. St. Joseph road Evansville, in 47720

Celebrating our 178th year

January 2019

savio night

dinner - games - faith formation - prayer

NOV 18 - DEC 16 - JAN 20 - FEB 17 - MAR 17 - APR 28 - MAY 19 6:30 - 8:30

pm guys ages 12-17

dads are welcome to stay

email [email protected] for more information at the house of discernment

sacred heart - 2701 west franklin street, evansville

One of the goals that our Parish School Board is working on this year is establishing a data base containing the names of all the folks who have gradu-

ated from St. Joseph S c h o o l . That’s quite an undertaking and it will take a lot of work to accomplish it. So we’re putting out a plea for help. In our school records, we have a list of people who have graduated from our school. However this is just an alphabetical listing of stu-dents. We need to go through these permanent records and get a list of the students who graduated each year. We know that we have mem-bers of our parish who graduated from St. Joe from the early 1930’s. So here’s some of the tasks we have identified that will help us toward our goal of established a data base of alumni.

Go through the list of students in our permanent records to identify who graduated and the year they graduated.

Enter this information in a per-manent data base. We know this task is much bigger than any one person can do, so what we envisioned was giving a portion of the students records (e.g. names from A to D) for people to work

with. We divided the list of students in our permanent records into 31 groups. Our idea is for people to take care of one group (more if they would like to). Perhaps some might feel more comfortable just indentifying names of graduates while others might be willing to enter some of this data in our computers. This is the kind of work that can be done from your home and on your own time. So, if you might be interested in helping with this contact Amy Back (812-746-7900 or [email protected]), or Nathan Winstead at the school office (812-963-3335 or [email protected]) or Fr. Gene (812-499-9074) or gschroeder @evdio.org).

SAINT FRANCIS AND THE SOW The bud stands for all things,

even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary

to reteach a thing its loveliness, to put a hand on its brow of the flower and retell it

in words and in touch it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing; as Saint Francis

put his hand on the creased forehead of the sow, and told her in words and in touch

blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow began remembering all down her thick length,

from the earthen snout all the way through the fodder and slops

to the spiritual curl of the tail, from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine down through the great broken heart

to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and

blowing beneath them: the long,

perfect loveliness of sow. —Galway Kinnell

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 2

Alexa Elpers It’s been a quick four years of high school for Alexa Elpers, a senior at Mater Dei. She is the daughter of Craig and Laura Elpers and the older sister of Ayden, a sophomore at Mater Dei and Ava, an eighth grader at Hel-frich Park. During her four years in high school, Alexa has been a member of the Service Club and Pep Club, a mem-ber of the church choir and special

events choir, singing for Christmas Shows and Spring Musical Drama. She also served on the leadership team for Teen Power which promotes drug and alcohol prevention. She also serves on the Teen Advisory Council which is made up of representa-tives from all the high schools in Evansville. She has partici-pated in Young Life as well as serving on the retreat team for the Freshman and Sophomore Classes. All these activities are in addition to a full academic load of classes each year. Among the classes she has taken are AP Calculus and Anatomy. “Mr. Vogel taught Anatomy Class and he has a reputation for being a real challenging teacher. You have to work pretty hard in his class.” A big part of Alexa’s time during high school has been spent on playing tennis. “My mom played tennis in high school and she got me interested in playing tennis back when I was nine years old. I found that I really liked it and have developed a knack for playing.” She started taking tennis lessons during grade school and has honed her skills considerably through the years. Is she any good at playing tennis? Well, at one point way back in grade school, her mom could beat her. But soon she got good enough to win those matches. Now, even with her mom and dad playing against her at the same time, she still wins! She’s been on the varsity squad at Mater Dei since her freshman year. “I’m excited about this year’s team. We have a lot of good players coming up and they will help us be really competitive. I think we are going to be a really solid team.” Alexa attended grade school at St. Joe. “I loved all my teachers, they were great and I made a lot of great friends. We had some great experiences in grade school. I remember especially our eighth grade class trip to Marengo Cave and then canoeing in the Blue River. School was like a family and that’s the way the parish is too. I remember helping out at the social

with all the children’s games. One of the nice things is that people take the time to ask how you are doing.” Next year, Alexa has accepted an offer to play tennis at Marian University in Indianapolis. There she hopes to pursue a degree in marketing and graphic design. When asked about the people who have had a lot of influ-ence on her, Alexa was quick to talk about her parents. “I’m the oldest in the family and they have been very supportive of me. My mom and I have the same sense of humor and we like a lot of the same things. And we share of love of playing tennis. My Dad has a strong work ethic and that has taught me a lot. He is a very determined person and I think a lot of that has passed on to me.” Among the other people who have had an influence on Al-exa is her tennis coach at Mater Dei, Chris Clements. “She works very hard with our team and has taught me a lot about how to be a leader. Mrs. Dassel, who helps with the Teen Power Retreats, has taught me how important it is to see things from all sides. And Mrs. Quinlin has shown me how important it is to have a sense of humor in everything you do. Extended family plays an important part in Alex’s life. “I’m the oldest of ten grandchildren and being the oldest has made me conscious about being a good role model. When you get into the cousins on the Elpers and Schenk sides of the fam-ily, there are even more people involved. Mom’s always telling about cousins I have and all the people that are related to me.” Family gatherings at Christmas and Easter are great oppor-tunities to get to spend time with cousins and uncles and aunts. And there is always a lot of good food to enjoy. “My Grandma Elpers is a really good cook and she makes all the food for our gatherings.” WORDS OF WISDOM: “One of the biggest challenges I have faced is going to high school and being exposed to new people. Coming from a small place, it meant being open to new oppor-tunities and forming new friendships. I think it is really impor-tant to surround yourself with people who share your values. I think it is important to be compassionate and learn how to see things from another’s point of view. Don't be afraid to get in-volved in different activities. That’s a good way to meet new people. And don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

Joe Harl Joe Harl is the son of Jim and Becky Harl and is a senior at Reitz High School. His older sister Anna recently graduated from college and is living and working in Bowling Green, Kentucky. His older brother Wil is going to school part time at USI and working with Campus Security at USI. He also is a volunteer with the German Township Fire Department. His younger sister Amelia, is a sophomore at Reitz. High school has gone by quickly for

Joe. In the four years he has been at Reitz he has been a mem-ber of the golf team and a member of the tennis team. “I never played tennis before but my brother Wil suggested I try it so I did and I liked the experience. This past year our team won the first sectional championship ever for Reitz. But golf is more my game. I’ve been playing golf since I was seven. Eve-ryone in our family, except Anna, likes playing golf. Playing golf has taught me a lot about the importance of hard work and practice. In a lot of ways, golf is much more a mental game than it is a physical game. It’s easy to make a bad shot or take

Calling all 6-8th graders to the Jr. High Ski Trip! The trip will take place on January 25th, 2019; we will depart from St. Joe at 2:30 and return around midnight. The cost is $56.00, and this includes your bus ride, drinks, snacks, and your ticket to ski. Students, if you are interested in coming along but not skiing, the cost is $28.00. We are in need of a few chaperones to ride the bus...if you would like to chaperone and ski, the

cost is $28.00. If you would just like to chaperone and not ski, you can come for free!! January 11th is the deadline to

register. Contact Jessica Reckel-hoff (812-598-1151) or [email protected] for questions ormore information. Thanks!

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 3

St. Joseph Newsletter 6202 W. Saint Joseph Road, Evansville, IN 47720 January 1, 2019 Vol. 28, No. 1 Published monthly by St. Joseph Catholic Parish Deadline: 15th of each month. TO SUBMIT ARTICLES Contact the parish office (812-963-3273) or email [email protected]

a bad swing but you have to learn to put that out of your mind before you continue, otherwise your whole game could be ru-ined. What I have found is that you can tell a whole lot about how things are going to go by the way your first shot goes.” When he has not been playing golf or tennis, Joe has par-ticipated in the intramural basketball program at Reitz. In his sophomore year, he joined with several other classmates at Reitz to start a Clabber Club. And this past year, he teamed up with his friend and grade school classmate, Gabe Gries, to play in the clabber tourney at Nesbit Inn. “We didn’t win but we didn’t come in last either.” And when he has some free time, you’ll find Joe working out at the YMCA. Joe attended grade school here at St. Joe. “I started in pre-school and continued there through eighth grade. I remem-ber that we had a very close class and I still am friends with many of them. The best part of the day was P.E. class. I liked our teacher, Mrs. Hoefling. There was a real sense of together-ness there. I pretty much played every sport I could. Lunch time was great since we had a lot of good food. I liked working with the cooks during lunch since you had the chance to get extra food.” Several times a week you’ll find Joe working at the family business at Nesbit Inn. He’s been working as a line cook and learning about running a business. “It’s given me the chance to learn some real life skills. Mom’s really the one in charge of all the cooking and barbecuing and baking. But I try to help out when I can.” Joe counts his Mom and Dad as some of the biggest influ-ences in his life. “Dad is a hard worker and has taught me how important that is if you are going to succeed. We share a com-mon interest in sports as well. My Mom has taught me how im-portant it is to try to do your best and keep pushing yourself to do things you didn't think you could do.” Next year Joe plans on attending USI where he hopes to pursue a degree in business. “I think I might like to get into some aspect of business, perhaps marketing or finance.” WORDS OF WISDOM: “I think it is important to work hard and do your best. What I have learned also is that it is impor-tant to stay out of other people’s business. You have to resist the temptation to try to fix things for other people. You have to allow people to be who they are and not make them into something else. High school goes by quickly so it is important to enjoy each moment as it comes. Take advantage of the oppor-tunities to join in different activities. Playing golf and tennis has also taught me how important teamwork is. You can’t get upset with people who are not as good as you think they should be. Sometimes you can get down on folks because they don’t live up to your expectations but that is not a good thing.

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PARISH GROUPS: The Men’s Club, Altar Society, Knights of St. John, PTO, Athletic Committee, and Senior Citizens Group continue to meet to engage in their particular work. The Men’s Club made about 600 gallons of burgoo and con-ducted their yearly Sausage Sale. They contributed $5,000 toward the construction of the new concrete steps at the front of the church. The Altar Society sold kuchens at the Rummage Sale and will be having their annual dressing sale this Novem-ber. They continue to provide money for altar bread, mis-salettes, candles and other church related needs. They are interested in the prospect of new carpet in the church when the time comes to replace this carpet. The Knights of St. John worked at their booth at the Nut Club Fall Festival. The PTO has set up a number of volunteer groups to work in the school office and with individual classes. They worked at their booth at the Fall Festival and had a very successful year. Several members of the Men’s Club made sausage burgers for their booth which were a big hit. The PTO provided money for ad-ditional security cameras in school and a new key system. They are also working with Nathan Winstead, school principal, in providing funds for chrome books and new lap top com-puters for teachers. The Athletic Committee has been solicit-ing coaches for the various sports teams for students in the school. The will again work to have coaches for the Archery Team at school. Basketball Leagues for several grades are now being held on Saturday and Sunday. The Senior Citizens continue to meet for food and fellowship on the first Friday of the month. SCHOOL: There has been a very smooth transition with our new school principal, Nathan Winstead. Teachers and staff continue to deal with a myriad of programs to fulfill an ever increasing number of new guidelines and policies that come from the State Department of Education and our Dioce-san School Office. Asbestos reports, Fire Alarm and Emer-gency Light tests and reports, School Safety Drills, providing healthy lunches that meet Federal School Lunch Program Guidelines are just a few of the things they deal with on a day to day basis. In addition there is a continued movement to-ward use of computers and chrome books and away from text books as we move more and more into the digital age. There

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It’s time to make plans for “the best fish fry in the Evansville are.” The dates for our fish fry are March 8th and March 15. We’ll be serving fish dinners from 5-7 and we will also offer our drive thru carry out dinners as well. Call Mike or Jenny Collins (812-760-9709) or the Par-ish Office (812-963-3273) to offer your help or for more information.

LAWN MOWING CREW THANK YOU Last month, when we thanked all the members of our mowing

crews, we failed to include the following peo-ple: Randy Kuester, Josh Elfreich, Cale Schnaus, Barry Polk, Steve Jung, Becky Hie-dorn, Austin Frey, Conner Frey, Morgan Jones, Tracy Adler.. Thanks for all your help in keeping our parish campus looking so great!

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 4

Applications for tuition assistance are now available for par-ents wishing to apply for Mater Dei High School tuition assis-tance for the 2019-2020 school year. Hard copies of applica-tions are available at Mater Dei and at our school and parish office. To download and complete the application online go to www.materdeiwildcats.com; select “Enrollment”, then “Tuition and Financial Assistance”. The priority deadline for applying this year is March 1, 2019. Questions? Please contact Jill Seiler at Mater Dei (812-426-2258, ext. 322) or email [email protected]. This year there is one common application

available for the following: Tax Credit Scholarships (SGO’s)

School Choice Vouchers Catholic Education Foundation (CEF) tuition assistance

are also more guidelines on ISTEP and IREAD testing to deal with, plus a movement toward individual learning plans for each student. In the midst of this, faculty members continue to try to ground all these efforts in our overall effort of helping parents train their children in the ways of our faith. Included in this are many efforts to help students reach out to people in need in our community and throughout the world, especially through our Haiti Mission efforts. Prayer time at Mass and other prayer services, extracurricular activities like speech teams as well as participation in various sports programs are all part of the daily life of the school. The School Board con-tinues to work closely with Mr. Winstead in providing the direc-tion for the school. Among the things they are particularly focusing on this year are upgrading our computer technology, establishing an alumni association, and working on a plan to provide new cabinets for several of the school classrooms. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: We continue to provide our Fam-ily Religious Education Classes each Sunday for parents and students who are attending public schools. In addition to classroom time, students and families have participated in several outreach efforts including providing a meal for the folks who are staying at the Ronald McDonald House at St. Vin-cent Hospital and visiting residents at Holiday Retirement Vil-lage. Confirmation sessions for those preparing to be con-firmed have been underway. Bible Study classes are being held on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. The RCIA sessions have begun with five people participating in these sessions. A Women’s Book Study Group is being held once a month. College care packages have been filled and will be distributed to our college students before semester exams. PARISH OUTREACH: We are continuing to have our weekly collection for the Food Pantry. The confirmation class has also collected food for the Food Pantry. We collected money through our sausage for the homeless campaign and were able to deliver 400 pounds of sausage to the St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry and local homeless shelters. Our outreach efforts with St. James Parish in Haiti continue. Twelve people trav-eled to Haiti in November on a mission trip. Parishioners were also invited to participate in a worldwide Mission Sunday col-lection and the Campaign for Human Development Collection, as well as a special collection to assist the victims of the hurri-canes that affected Florida and the east coast. PARISH EVENTS: Parish Rummage Sale was held in Septem-ber. Profit was $8,710. Excess items were shared with the Potter’s Wheel, Goodwill Industries, Birthright and Habitat. A very successful Harvest Fest dinner was held on October 21. STEWARDS OF GOD’S GRACE CAMPAIGN: Our campaign goal was $625,000, with the diocese and the parish receiving $312,500. The total amount pledged in this campaign was $591,574.63. The total amount received to date is

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$227,666.42 with half ($113,833.21) going to the parish and half going to the diocese.. PROJECTS ENVISIONED TO BE UN-DERTAKEN THROUGH THIS CAMPAIGN: installing two twenty ton AC units in the multi purpose/gym—$50,000; installing new grease trap in school kitchen—$20,000; purchasing a new lawn mower with 6’ cut—$20,000; repairing Efis installation exterior of school $20,000; replacing sewer drainage lines east of park-ing lot —$5,000; replacing AC units in the cafeteria —$20,000; replacing pea gravel in the two school playground areas with artificial turf—$40,000; set aside money for eventually install-ing new carpet in church—$35,000; replacing AC units in school—$30,000; providing money for school technology—$25,000; supporting our brothers and sisters in Haiti—$45,000 Here’s what we have spent to date: AC units in multi-purpose building—$27,655.05; grease trap—$15,000.00; Kubota riding lawn mower—$15,110.60; sewer drainage lines—$4,524.58; astro truf on playground areas—$40,000.00; AC units in Meeting Room, school office and 8th grade classroom—$21,909.35; Haiti Higher Education Endowment Fund—$ 4,500.00; LED sign—$15,317.30; new flooring & painting for art room—$ 2,866.25; new cabinets in pre-school day care, music room, cafeteria and art room—$37,600.86. TOTAL SPENT—$184,483.99 As you can see, the total spent has exceeded the amount we have received so far in pledges to the Stewards of God’s Grace Campaign. Part of this amount was made up from money that was still in the reserve account set up for our previous Raising the Ceiling Campaign. As we go forward, I anticipate that we will be using the money from this campaign to take care of the maintenance needs which are outlined above. When we put this list together, our thinking is that many of the issues we talked about would eventually need to be replaced. Right now they are working fine and as long as they do so, we don’t in-tend to spend any money on these projects. There is also the possibility that other items which are not listed on our pro-posed list may have to be dealt with. We have been told, for example, that our boiler in church is very old and we are not sure how long it will last. As long as it works, we aren’t doing anything about it. When the time comes for it to be replaced, we will act on it. That same thinking process applies to other issues especially air conditioning units in the school. CATHOLIC PARISHES CAMPAIGN: We are in the midst of our CPC campaign for this year. Our goal is $116,000. Right now we have received pledges of $101,547, which is slightly ahead of where we were at this point last year. I am not sure if we will meet our goal. Two years ago we had the same CPC goal as we do this year and we met that goal. Last year, we were in the midst of the Stewards of God’s Grace Campaign, and since

MARRIED SINGLES LIFESTYLE –The Married Singles

Lifestyle describes couples that may have lost a sense of closeness they once had as marriage partners and are now living more like roommates. Retrouvaille (pronounced retro-vi with a long i) teaches couples how to survive times like these in their marriages. This program has helped thousands of cou-ples experiencing any level of difficulty in their marriage from disillusionment to deep misery. For confidential information or to register for the January program beginning on Jan 11, 2019, call Felicia at 270 929-1524, the Family Life office at 270-683-1545 or visit the web site at www.retrouvaille.org.

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 5

PEACE IN THE MOURNING is a Christ focused heal-

ing retreat for WIDOWS of any age, circum-stance, and faith. Please consider a weekend made for mending hearts. The dates are March 23-24, 2019 at beautiful St. Meinrad Archabbey. Feel free to contact Kathy Burton:

[email protected] 812-630-0603 or Donna Oeding: [email protected] 812-309-0773 OR you can go to https://www.ccevansville.org/peace-in-the-mourning.html for more information AND registration (begins January 5, 2019). Hurry, space will be limited.

half of that was designated for the diocese, we believe that peo-ple chose to give to that campaign and not to the CPC. In addi-tion, the CPC campaign was moved from March until September. I’m not sure if that had an effect on the campaign or not. This year, several people have expressed a reluctance to support the CPC because of the news and issues related to the way Bishops in the United States have dealt with the sex abuse scandal in the church. Again, how much of that will affect the total amount people pledge to the CPC is yet to be seen. FINANCIAL REPORT JULY 1, 2018—OCTOBER 30, 2018 Income for the year through our Sunday collections and school tuition is slightly ahead of where we were last year at this point, but, as it was last year, we are running behind our budgeted needs. There was a mistake in the report that we gave on our summer social. The initial report was that our income from the social was $80,600 but, as it turned out, the folks who gave the report failed to take out the starting cash from the total depos-ited. Bottom line is that the social did about as well as we did last year. Our total income was $73,994.09 as compared to $73,869.85 for last year. The net profit for this year was $58,907.84 as compared to $58,400.32 for last year. Overall parish expenses for the year are pretty much in line with budget with no unforeseen expenses to date. MAINTENANCE: We will be inviting folks to help clean up leaves on the parish campus again this year. We’re going to wait until all the leaves are pretty much down before we go about this work. We have made contact with Steve Schenk and Sons to remove the two trees to the right and left of the sidewalk in the front of church. These trees have berries on them that fall off the same time that the leaves do in the fall. We are concerned about the potential hazard this causes for the people who are entering and leaving church. That why we have chosen to re-move these trees.

REMEMBERING

August Bender MAR. 30, 1924—DEC. 11. 2018

Gus Bender, a kind and gentle man, came into the world on March 30, 1924, one of nine children born to August and Alma Bender, with broth-ers Philip, Gilbert, Julius, and Bill and sisters Emma, Ann and Elizabeth there to welcome him. Later, his youngest sister Alma would arrive.

He lived with his family on a farm on Bender Road. There he would learn to appreciate the simple things in life and the value of family, and where he would witness the cycle of life and death playing out before him everyday. Gus started grade school at the original Armstrong School. When he was in third grade he started going to the new school on the corner of Highway 65 and Baseline Road. It was a treach-erous walk to school because it meant walking past the field where, as he told his kids, “there was a mean old bull.” After graduating from 8th grade, Gus went to work full time on the family farm. Like a lot of young men and women at the time, Gus enjoyed going to wedding dances since they provided the chance to meet young women. And it was at one such dance at Hornville that Gus first met a young eighteen year old woman named Verena Voelker. Verena’s Dad thought she was too young to date at 18 and it would be seven more years before Gus and Verena started dating and three years after that before they were married on July 8, 1954 at St. Joseph with Fr. John Finis witnessing the marriage. For the first six months of their marriage, Gus and Verena lived on the Bender family farm with Gus’s dad and his two sis-ters. They became aware of the fact that the Kraft home right up the road from the Bender family farm was coming up for sale and they moved quickly to buy it. This simple little house be-came their home for the next 64 years and it was they place they raised their children Don, Kenny, Kurt and Debbie, the girl Gus always wanted! “We had a wonderful life together,” Verena recalled. In 1956 Gus began working at Whirlpool Corporation and continued working there for the next thirty years, before retir-ing in 1986. After retirement he began to work at Kraft Nurs-ery. Evenings and weekends would be spent working on the Bender farm as well as raising a large garden which supplied the family with lots of vegetables, jams and jellies. Over the years, Gus also raised a few pigs which would be butchered to supply lots of meat for the family. He and the kids would go through corn fields to gather up leftover corn which he would then feed his pigs. Gus was a soft-hearted man and for him, the pigs became his pets and he could never bring himself to kill them when it was time for butchering, so he passed the job on to someone else. Gus loved to fish and hunt squirrels and quail. He loved to go dancing with his sweetheart, Verena. And he loved to play cards, especially with friends Clint and Mary Catherine Koester, Joe and Aileen Hirsh, Clarence and Dorothy Seib and Mag and Joe Eickhoff. In his retirement years he and Verena enjoyed going on bus trips that Ken and Marcia Hipp arranged, and they got the chance to go on several cruises with their friends Virgil and Mildred Elpers. And he enjoyed traveling to Celestine with his friends for the spot shoot on the night before Thanksgiving. It gave them the chance to reconnect with their friend Fr. Finis who became the Pastor of Celestine Parish after he left St. Joe. Gus enjoyed the simple things in life...sitting in the back yard smoking his pipe, or sitting in his favorite chair in the living

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Congratulations to Maggie Couch for being selected as the Kiwanis Award Winner for Girls Golf at Mater Dei

Congratulations to Taylor Vogt who was a member of the team from Helfrich Park who participated in the state “We the Peo-ple” contest on the United States Constitution. The area of focus for Taylor was “What are the ways that a person can participate in government.”

Congratulations to our recent college graduates: Spencer Craney, Taylor Mayer, Katie Duncan and Emily Keil. Good luck in your future!

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 6

For nearly a half century, the Catholic Church in the United States has celebrated National Migration Week, which is an op-portunity for the Church to reflect on the circumstances con-fronting migrants, including immigrants, refugees, children, and victims and survivors of human trafficking. The theme for Na-tional Migration Week 2019 – Building Communities of Welcome – emphasizes our responsibility as Catholics to engage and wel-come newcomers on their arrival, and help to ease their transi-tion into a new life here in the United States. Welcoming com-munities do not emerge by chance but are established through the hard work and conviction of people on the ground through direct service, shared experience and faith, advocacy, and insti-

tution building. During the last decade, more than 7.4 million immigrants

have been welcomed into the United States as natu-ralized citi-zens. Undocu-mented immi-grants also pay a wide range of taxes, in-cluding sales

taxes where applicable and property taxes – directly if they own and indirectly if they rent. Estimates are that undocumented migrants pay $11.74 billion every year in state and local taxes, and the 1.3 million young undocumented immigrants eligible for DACA alone contribute an estimated $1.7 billion per year. Our current immigration system is broken and creates long periods of forced family separation. For example, it can take over a decade for legal permanent residents to reunify with im-mediate family members from Mexico, the Philippines, and other countries . As a church we support protection, humanitarian support, and durable solu-tions for refugees and other forcibly displaced people. USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services in collaboration with local Catholic Charities across the United State form the largest private U.S. refu-gee resettlement network, one that has helped to

Be an island of mercy in a sea of indifference.

Pope Francis

Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great

love. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

SPECIAL COLLECTION THIS MONTH FOR THE CHURCH IN LATIN AMERICA

Your gift helps fellow Catholics in Latin America and the Caribbean who are rich in spirit but lacking in material re-sources to participate more fully in the life of the Church. Several recent grants to the Collection were used to train seminarians; provide pastoral care with those infected

with HIV/AIDS; provide forma-tion training to pastoral minis-ters in rural parishes; provide formation to high school stu-dents to serve as pastoral agents; and develop and exe-cute diocesan pastoral plans. Over the past five years, the Collection for the Church in Latin America has faithfully distributed 87 percent of its annual income as pastoral grants. Please contribute gen-

erously. For more information, visit their website at www.usccb.org/latinamerica.

On Monday, January 22, as we recall the Supreme Court’s ruling of Roe vs. Wade regarding abortion, you are invited to join Catholics throughout the United States in a national day of prayer and fasting for a growing appreciation and respect for life.

WE PRAY ESPECIALLY FOR….. —-For those deprived of their human needs and their human rights, —For young mothers everywhere, and especially those who have tempted to despair, —For those who are forgotten or thrown away, and especially for the poor, the sick and the aged, —For every person who suffers from violence, —For mothers, especially those wracked with fear, depression or despair —For all parents who struggle to raise their children, —For those condemned to die, and especially for men and women on death row.

Thanks you so much for the very generous donation of 400lbs of fresh pork sausage. This is always a popular meat choice. Thank you for “going hog wild” to assist the many low-income families who come to the pantry. During October we gave a 3-day supply of groceries and other essential items to 2,830 persons in 1,257 different households. We co

-ordinate the ministry of feeding the poor here at the food pantry, but you, by your donations are really the ones who “feed the poor.” May you be richly blessed for your generous

care for others! Sr. Donna Marie Herr O.S.B.

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 7

They had both been thinking about it for some time, so when Joan asked Alan about going on a Haiti Mission trip for their 50th wedding anniver-sary, he was quick to agree. That was a pretty big step for Alan. “I wanted him to fly to Hawaii on our 25th anniversary, but he’s not keen on flying so I went with my sisters,” said Joan. But Alan was willing to set aside his apprehensions about flying to go to Haiti. Actually going

to Haiti was not a surprise for Joan and Alan. Their fifty years of marriage are filled with many examples of helping others in need. So, this past fall, Alan and Joan joined ten other people on a mission trip to Plaine du Nord, Haiti. For Alan, the trip did not start off well. “Our flight to Miami was de-layed because of me-chanical problems and we were told that we would miss our connect-ing flight to Cap Haitian. But Dr. Elliot told them we had doctors with us who needed to get to Haiti. So in the end, they held the plane for us in Miami and when we fi-nally arrived, we had to

(Continued on page 8)

welcome and resettle over one million refugees since 1975. According to the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees, in June 2018, 68.5 million people were forcibly dis-placed worldwide. (UNHCR) Only the most vulnerable refugees are considered for third country resettlement beyond those neighboring host countries. Refugee resettlement is a rarely used protection tool: on an annual basis, less than 1% of refugees worldwide actually receive r e s e t t l e -ment. T h e U.S. has historically led the world in terms of r e f u g e e r e s e t t l e -ment. Since 1975, the Unites States has accepted more than 3.3 million refugees for permanent resettlement. However, in 2018, the President set the lowest refugee admissions goal since the resettlement pro-gram began in 1980, admitting only about 20,000 refugees. For comparison, the average number of refugees admitted to the U.S. from 2010-2017 was approximately 67,000/year. We believe the United States should provide child and refugee protection, and safe, humane durable solutions for unaccompa-nied children arriving at our borders without their parent or le-gal guardian. In recent years, many of these children have been from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Most are fleeing grave, life-threatening violence and gang recruitment and are seeking to reunify with family in the United States. The number of asylum seekers worldwide originating from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador (often called the North-ern Triangle) reached 110,000 in 2015, a five-fold increase from 2012. Unaccompanied minors accounted for much of this in-crease, with 41,435 children apprehended in 2017, down from a high of nearly 70,000 in 2014. As violence and gang issues continue to affect the Northern Triangle, more children are targeted and look to flee. We must look to address root causes in home countries. Immigrant Deten-tion Position: The United States needs to build an immigration system that affords due process protections, honors human dig-nity, and minimizes the use of immigrant detention - particularly for vulnerable populations such as families, children and torture survivors. Immigrant detention is a growing industry in this country, with Congress allocating over $2 billion a year to maintain and expand the existing system. While immigrant detention is neces-sary in certain instances to ensure community safety and en-forcement of our immigration laws, there are many vulnerable individuals who should not be detained. For vulnerable popula-

tions such as f a m i l i e s , c h i l d r e n , torture sur-vivors, there are alterna-tives to de-tention that are more h u m a n e , more cost-e f f e c t i v e , and more

consistent with American values. Immigrant detention in the United States has reached record levels. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2001, the now defunct Immi-gration and Naturalization Service (INS) detained 204,459 peo-ple. In 2017, 323,591 people were detained in an ICE facility (Department of Homeland Security). Currently, for-profit con-tractors operate 73% of the entire immigrant detention sys-tem, including nine of the ten largest detention centers. Community-based alternatives to detention programs cost taxpayers on average $4.50 per person per day, as compared to $133.99 per person per day for detention. We believe that the United States must not only hold hu-man traffickers accountable for their crimes, but also work to prevent trafficking and provide protection and healing to hu-man trafficking survivors. Human trafficking is the recruit-ment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of per-sons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of pay-ments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. The Catholic Church has long condemned this practice as an affront to human dignity. Estimates vary, but as many as 17,500 persons are traf-ficked into the United States annually. Although sex traffick-ing remains a serious problem, the two largest trafficking cases in the United States involved labor trafficking, in Guam and in New York (Long Island). • The number of victims identi-fied has grown from 151 in 2003 to 1,424 in 2016 -- a 843% increase.

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 8

CONFIRMATION SESSION 6 Sunday, January 13 from 12 – 2 p.m.

Candidates and their sponsors will gather in the meeting room.

CONFIRMATION PRACTICE Thursday, January 31 at 7 pm

CONFIRMATION—SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019 Bishop Joseph Siegel will be with us at our

5:00 p.m. Mass to confirm our young men and women

run to meet our connection. And, of course, when we got to Cap Haitian, I got detained because the metal in the leg from my knee replacement set off the metal detectors and I had to go through a separate check-in area.” Arriving in Haiti for the first time was an eye-opening experi-ence for both Joan and Alan. “It’s the first time either of us

have been out of our country. When we got there, the first thing we no-ticed was how hot it was. Driving through Cap Haitian was quite an experience as well. People seem to drive just anywhere and there does-n’t seem to be any sort of traffic control. And everywhere you look, there are piles of trash. Of course, as we later learned, it is understand-able, since there is no such thing as garbage collection. Seeing all the houses and all the signs of poverty was a real eye opener for us.” With all of that, when we finally got to the parish of St. James and the place we were to stay, it was a lot nicer place than I thought it would be.”

During the week they were there, Joan spent a great deal of time working with Karla Deweese painting rooms in the medical clinic. Alan used his considerable skills in fixing some plumbing issues with the new latrines that were recently installed in the school. “We had some challenges because you just can’t go down to the local hardware store and get the things you need to fix a problem.” Alan also helped with the distribution of chick-ens to school families. But probably his most memorable ex-perience was driving at night to visit some of the people in the parish. While Joan and Alan were busy with their tasks, the medical members of the group spent their days doing surgeries and physical therapy at New Hope Hospital. They were able to work with Dr. Eugene Marklin, a remarkable Haitian doctor, who, almost single handedly has built the New Hope Hospital, Sev-eral members of our mission group have been working to secure medical equipment for the hospital as well as seeking medicines for the hospital. Through the efforts of Dr. Steve Elliott, we have also persuaded sev-eral doctors to come to Haiti to perform surger-ies in the hospi-tal. During the course of this mission trip, they were able to perform over one hundred fifty different surgical procedures. Other members of the group were working with the student sponsorship program and working with several people in devel-oping their small businesses. Still other members of the group worked with the students that we are sponsoring in the grade school, high school and college. We are sponsoring over 150 students in grade school and high school and 39 students who are attending university classes in five different cities in Haiti. They are pursing degrees in such areas as agriculture, nursing, priesthood and ministry, enginerring, pre-med, medical technol-ogy, administration and computer science Several members of the group were consulting with local officials about building a new computer lab for the school.

(Continued from page 7) During the week, the members of the parish held a special celebra-tion in honor of Alan and Joan’s 50th wedding anniversary. “That was a real surprise. The people were so gracious and generous. We were even serenaded by the daugh-ter of the one of the cooks. It was the best wedding anniversary gift we could have received.” At the end of the week, the

community gathered together for a big street dancing party in honor of the mission group. “That was quite an experience!” Reflecting on their experience, Alan and Joan were so im-pressed with the joy and happiness they saw in the people. They were so generous in sharing what they have. It was amaz-ing to see what they could do, given the resources they have. We saw people on a small scooter carrying a small freezer, and others carrying five 80lb bags of concrete, balancing it all as they weaved in and out of traffic. That was really amazing. And the other thing that was so amazing was seeing all the kids in the school in their school uniforms, which are so clean. How they are able to keep clothes so clean in the world they live in is truly remarkable.” “I’m glad we went,” Joan said. “I was so impressed with the way Alan seemed to fit right in. All the kids looked up to him and he seemed to be such a natural leader with all the people he was working with. It was a side of Alan I hadn’t really seen before.” Joan has been a member of our Just Faith Group. “We’ve talked a lot about the situations that so many people in the world live with every day. Going to Haiti has been a kind of hands on experience of this.” Alan reflected, “there are so many needs in Haiti, it’s hard to imagine how to even begin to try to solve the issues they face on a daily basis. We can’t do everything, but we did our little part. One of the things Joan and I want to do is to try to help our grandchildren understand all the things they have in life that they can so easily take for granted.” Would they go back again? “I would,” replied Joan. Alan was a little hesitant. “I sure enjoyed the time there and maybe if they could drug me so I wouldn’t feel anything on the plane ride there, I might go,” he joked. In the meantime he’s begun to do some research on how to make building blocks using recycled plastic. “I’ve read several articles on the internet about how they have done that before. This could be a real help to the folks in Haiti.” One thing is for sure, Joan and Alan’s life has been forever impacted by their trip to be with the people of Haiti!

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 9

Saturday January 19, 2019

5 PM

Natalie Schneider Ron and Margaret Angermeier

Lee and Toni Askins Sis Jarboe

Piper and Finley Fehrenbacher

Fred and Judy Gries

Sunday January 20, 2019

8 AM

Sarah Duncan Jalene Weber Randy and Kathy Fehrenbacher

Chick Duncan Dave Schmitt

Grant Voelker Joshua Baehl

Alan and Donna Blankenberger

Sunday January 20. 2019

10:30 AM

Jill Happe Amy Tenbarge Angie Will

Dan and Kathy Schenk Jane Scheller

Troy and Chase

Gertiesen

Randy and Darlene Appler

Saturday January 26, 2019

5 PM

Bob and Mary Kay Fehrenbacher Donna Niemeier

Eric and Karen McDonald Bernette Locklar Chloe Stock Don and Alice Weis

Sunday January 27, 2019

8 AM

Tom and Dolores Folz Imogene Baehl

Brian and Ann Craney Marcia Frey

Mihret Whitehouse Nicole Mayer

Dan and Esther Kelley

Sunday January 27, 2019

10:30 AM

Diane Bassemier Darlene Appler Danielle Schmitt

Tricia Gerteisen Doris Taylor

Joyce Lewis

Katelyn and Zach Bishop

Mike Forcum Family

Saturday February 2, 2019

5 PM

Sunday February 3, 2019

8 AM

Michael Elpers Marcia Frey Terry Drone

Rodney and Paula Baehl Jalane Weber

Conner Frey Kylie Frey

Larry and Henrietta Happe

Sunday February 3, 2019

10:30 AM

Addison Elpers June Beverly Sally Kempf Cecelia Koch

Joe Crowdus Dolores Schroeder

Kurt Forcum Parker Warren

Kevin Hartz Family

Saturday February 9, 2019

5 PM

Butch and Linda Feulner Diane Woods Jan Hermann

Cheryl Schapker Mike Reffett Braydon Jones John and Jane Luigs

Sunday February 10, 2019

8 AM

Sr. Marie Therese Dave and Betty Fehrenbacher

Debra Baumgart Joan Inkenbrandt Chick Duncan

Landon Smith Parker Baumeyer

Tom and Donna Blythe

Sunday February 10, 2019

10:30 AM

Kitty Deig Paul Hillenbrand Amy Cody

Jena Wessel June Beverly Mandy Elpers

Michael and Gabe Jung

John and Diane Bassemier

Saturday February 16, 2019

5 PM

Eric Reffett Mary Loehrlein Peter and Jodi Fehrenbacher

Carolyn Hutchinson Toni Striker Isaac Schneider Lee and Toni Askins

Sunday February 17, 2019

8 AM

Lisa Cook Al Debes Natalie Schneider

Lee and Toni Askins Tom Folz

Ben Gries Ian Simmons

Dan and Mary Ruth Lasher

Sunday February 17, 2019

10:30 AM

Rachel Schanus Jason Gerteisen Becky Dosher Shane Wessel

Steve Jung Shane Wessel

Troy and Chase Gertiesen

Homer and Doris Taylor

DATE EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS LECTOR SERVER GIFT BEARERS

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 10

JANUARY 2019 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 8 am MASS

2 11 am Mass

at Parkview Care Center

SCHOOL RESUMES

Parish Staff Meeting 12-2

Just Faith 6:30 pm

3 NO MASS 4 7:30 am Mass

Communion to

the Homebound

Senior Citizens Gathering 12

Noon St. Joe Inn 1 pm Cafeteria

5 Confessions

4-4:40 pm 5 pm Mass

St. Vincent

dePaul Food Drive

Haiti Collection

6 8 and 10:30

am Masses Children’s Liturgy

8 & 10:30 Coffee & Donuts 9 am

Family Religion Class 9:00 am BLOOD DRIVE 8 AM—NOON

7 7 am-6:30pm Eucharistic Adoration

NO MASS

8 NO MASS

8:30 am

Prayer service

7 pm Choir

9 7:30 am Mass

Parish Staff

Meeting 12-2 REPORT CARDS

GO HOME Just Faith 6:30 pm

10 NO MASS

11 7:30 am Mass

Communion to

the Homebound

12

Confessions 4-4:40 pm

5 pm Mass

St. Vincent

dePaul Food Drive

13 8 & 10:30

am Masses

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

Family Class 9:00

Confirmation Session #6 12-2 pm

14 7 am-7 pm

Eucharistic Adoration

6:30 PM Mass

NO SCHOOL 7 pm Knights of St. John Meeting

15 7:30 am Mass

8:30 Prayer

Service

Choir 7 pm

16 7:30 am Mass

Parish Staff

Meeting 12-2

Just Faith 6:30 pm

17 NO MASS

PTO Meeting 6:00

7 pm Haiti

Ministry Meeting

18 7:30 am Mass

Communion to

the Homebound

19Confessions

4-4:40 pm

St. Vincent dePaul

Food Collection

5 pm Mass

208 & 10:30

am Masses

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

8 & 10:30 Masses

Family Class 9:00

21 7 am-7 pm

Eucharistic Adoration

6:30 pm Mass

7 pm Men’s Club Meeting

22 7:30 am Mass

6 PM School

Board Meeting

Choir 7 pm

23 7:30 am Mass

Parish Staff

Meeting 12-2

Just Faith 6:30 pm

24 NO MASS

25 7:30 Mass

Communion to the

Homebound

Jr. High Ski Trip to Paoli Peeks

2:30 pm—Midnight

26Confessions

4-4:40 pm

St. Vincent dePaul

Food Drive

5 pm Mass

278 & 10:30

Masses

Children’s Liturgy

of the Word Family Class 9:00

Message Sunday

287 am-7 pm

Eucharistic Adoration

6:30 pm Mass

29 7:30 am Mass

Choir 7 pm

30 7:30 am Mass

Parish Staff

Meeting 12-2

Just Faith 6:30 pm

31 NO MASS

SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE 5-7 PM

Confirmation

Practice 7-8 pm

18:15 Mass

With Prayer Partners

Communion to the

Homebound Senior Citizens Gathering 12

Noon St. Joe Inn 1 pm Cafeteria

2 Confessions

4-4:40 pm Sacrament of

Confirmation with Bishop Siegel

at the 5 pm Mass St. Vincent

DePaul Food Drive

Haiti Collection

The Carpenter—January, 2019 Page 11

St. Joseph Catholic Church Vanderburgh County

6202 West Saint Joseph Road Evansville, IN 47720

NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Permit No. 3002

Evansville, IN 47708

OFFICE: 812-963-3273 SCHOOL: 812-963-3335 Fax: 812-963-3337

PRAYER CHAIN: 812-963-3149 www. stjoeco.org

Fr. Gene Schroeder—Pastor E-mail [email protected]

Ms. Kristan Gilles— Director of Liturgy E-mail [email protected]

Mr. Nathan Winstead—Principal E-mail [email protected]

Mrs. Julie Kempf—Secretary E-mail [email protected]

Mrs. Jessica Reckelhoff Religious Education Coordinator

E-Mail [email protected]

room next to his stash of cookies and candies. “Gus always enjoyed desserts,” Verena recalled. “And he loved dunking his cookies in his coffee.” Through the years, Gus was active in the Men’s Club and the Knights of St. John and could be counted on to offer his help on all their projects. And, in later years, he loved play-ing clabber with his friends in the Senior Citizens group. And if you came to the summer social, you would find Gus in his faithful spot helping to park cars. Later in life, Gus helped with the activities at the Arm-strong Recreation Center. But mostly he just enjoyed being at the side of Verena, who was truly the love of his life. When she came to work at dinners, Gus could be found close by, helping out where he could. In the last eight years of his life, Gus dealt with the rav-ishes of Alzheimer's disease. Verena’s desire was to take care of him at home for as long as she could. She was able to do this until he required more help than she could give, so for the last three years Gus was a resident at Oasis Dementia Care Home. We give thanks for the gift that Gus was to Verena and his family and to our parish. His kind and gentle presence blessed us in so many ways. We pray now that he will know the full-ness of God’s life in heaven where he will be secure in the knowledge that his sweetheart Verena and his family will all be taken care of.

(Continued from page 5)

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PLEDGE TO THE CPC?

PARISH GOAL $116,000.00 PLEDGED TO DATE $114,157.00 NUMBER OF PLEDGES 363 AVERAGE PLEDGE $ 314.38

THIS YEAR MORE THAN EVER WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP!!

JOIN US FOR…. …..delicious meal and …..a night of dancing

More details to come!!