Departments

St. Therese Catholic Parish, Appleton

In 2002, Saint Therese Catholic Parish invited the Appleton area Hispanic community to join its church family. Deacon Tony Abts says the parish, which was founded in 1927 by German immigrants, is proud of its diverse ethnic heritage. Today it also includes about 70 Micronesian members from the Island of Chuuk in the Southwest Pacific.

Hispanics make up 4 percent of Outagamie County’s population, but comprise two-thirds of the 1,500-member congregation at St. Therese Parish. Weekly masses are offered in both English and Spanish. In the above image, parishioner Tito Sosa replaces the pew hymnals after the 11 a.m. Spanish mass on Sunday, October 1.

On October 1, the parish celebrated the patronal feast day of Saint Therese of Lisieux, for whom the parish is named. “The theme of the day is celebrating the ethnic diversity of our parish and that fits right in with Saint Therese, who is the patron saint of missionaries,” Deacon Abts says. “She went throughout the entire world spreading the Catholic faith.”

In Catholicism, a grouping of candles displayed in a rack, known as vigil lights, are often lit as a symbol of prayer. Parishioners light a candle as they say a prayer, believing the flame helps prolong their prayerful intention. Candles are also used to mark special celebrations and honor saints.

Engaging the community:

“Parishes have boundaries. In the old days, it used to be if you lived in those boundaries you went to that parish. Today it’s not like that. People go to whatever parish they want to, but the boundaries are still there. Our bishop has asked us to look at those boundaries like a mission field. We have tried to get involved in this neighborhood. We partnered with Habitat for Humanity and hosted Rock the Block. They came in and worked on about 30 homes in this area. As a kick off to that, we did a prayer walk where we sent people out in teams to pray and meet people and talk to people.” – Deacon Tony Abts