Our Patroness St. Thérèse of Lisieux said, "In the heart of the Church, I will be love!" Nestled in the heart of Appleton on Wisconsin Avenue, our parish strives to imitate St. Thérèse's "Little Way" of seeing our primary vocation as Love. To love God with our whole heart, and to love our neighbor as ourself. The four marks of our parish are "Grow, Pray, Serve, and Belong" capturing the four desires we believe everyone has when they set foot in a parish with hopes of growing closer to God.

• Grow - through study of our Catholic Faith
• Pray - through living a life of prayer, virtue, and the sacraments
• Serve - through parish ministries and parish outreaches
• Belong - through our time together and through our common identity received in Baptism, when we became beloved sons and daughters of a God who loves us.

Furthermore, the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the role of the Parish in our Life:

"A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop."¹¹⁵ It is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ's saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love" (CCC 2179).

We hope you feel at home here with us, and find here a place where you can grow in knowledge of your faith; deepen your relationship with our Lord Jesus; find ways to respond to God's love through service; and thus enter more fully into a new family of faith. Please let us know if we can assist you in any way, and May God bless you always!

Fr. Ryan Starks