The Wise Men have arrived at the Creche.

Epiphany celebrates the introduction of Jesus to the Gentiles, in the form of the Wise Men or 3 Kings. This Nativity Set was recently repaired and repainted. The Wise Men and the camel all look great.

Br. Thomas

The first week of the year we were blessed to have a visit by Br. Thomas of Einsiedeln Abbey of Switzerland. This is the Abbey where our founder, Vincent Wehrle, was from. Br.
Thomas is spending the year studying at St. Meinrad's in Indiana. Here are a few pictures of him (one with a picture of Bishop Wehrle).

Chrismast Creche in the Church

A few pictures of our Christmas Creche in the church. We know that this set was in the church prior to the bankruptcy of 1924 according to Br. Victor and may have been purchased in the early 1910s. This past year, the parish raised funds to repair and repaint the figures. Here are a few pictures of the renewed Nativity figures. The pictures do not do justice to how good they really look.

Christmas gathering with the Sisters of SHM

On December 28th we had our annual Christmas gathering with the sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery. We start the evening with prayer (obviously, the best way to monastics to start anything) at Vespers followed by a meal. After this, we gather in our community room for visiting and games. Sr. Patty reported that the pinochle players were on their best behavior. I'm not so sure that this could be said for our Trivial Pursuit players of Sr. Phoebe, Br. Basil, Br. Bertrand, and Br. Alban. However, a good time was had by all.

Christmas Cheer

Christmas day is spent at our wonderful liturgies and other communal festivities. However, clean-up still needs to be done! Here are a few pictures of our clean-up after our Christmas dinner and also gathering in the community room for dessert and chat.

Christmas preparations

Br. Alban leads the monastic crew is preparing food for the day - brunch and supper. Here are a few pictures of monks setting tables.

Desert.

Br. Bertrand did pecan and pumpkin pies for desert on Thanksgiving. Here are few pictures of monks gathered after supper. I do have to add that we do more than just eat - simply is a good time to take some pictures!