Catholic Churches of NCC includes: Saint Patrick Parish Seneca WI; Saint Philip Parish Rolling Ground WI; Saint Mary Parish Gays Mills WI; St James Cemetery Rising Sun WI; Kneeland Cemetery Seneca WI catholicchurchesofncc.com

Sunday, February 22, 2026

1^st Sunday in Lent

St. Mary, St. Patrick, St. Philip Parishes

Mailing address for all three parishes: PO Box 35, Seneca WI 54654

Website:  https://www.catholicchurchesofncc.com

Confessions: Normally, 30 minutes before  every Mass and by appointment.

Normal Monthly Eucharistic Adoration:

St. Patrick: First Friday after the 8:30 AM Mass

St. Philip: First Sunday after the 10:30 AM Mass

Mass Intentions This Week

Pastor: Fr. Tom Huff – Rectory 608-734-3252 email: frtomhuff@gmail.com

Bookkeeper, Bulletin, Mass Intentions, Membership: Kevin Murray 608-391-0434 or 608-734-3931

email: secretary@ncc.diolcparish.org

New Bulletin Information Deadline: Mondays at 6:00 PM. Bulletin is posted on our website.

UPCOMING PARISH EVENTS

Tri-Parish Adult Faith Study

Adult Faith Sessions will not be held during the Lenten Season. Sessions will resume on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at St. Mary’s at 7:00 PM. Please take advantage of these informational learning sessions and join us!

St. Philip Announcements:

St. Philip Candles: Contact Bonnie Murphy. The cost is $5 per candle.

Food Pantry items are needed. Please leave any gift at the rear of the Church.

St. Mary Announcements:

Rosary – 30 minutes before Mass

First Sunday Potluck Brunch after Mass each first Sunday of the month. All are welcome, dish to share is appreciated, but not required. Next potluck is Sunday, March. 1^st.

Saint Mary’s is open 7:00am – 6:00pm (winter hours) daily. Please feel free to come and pray and light a candle if you would like.

Food Pantry Donations can be left in the basket in the rear of the Church.

We need more Mass Intentions for St. Mary Parish

St. Patrick Announcements:

In need of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion! Anyone willing to volunteer your time to be an Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion Saturday nights or Sunday mornings please text or call Sue Boland @ 608-851-0192.

St Patrick’s 8th grade CCD class is hosting a Baby Drive for 2 area organizations: Door of Hope in Viroqua & Clarity Clinic in Platteville. They are in need of diapers of all sizes and baby wipes. They also accept new or gently used baby clothes from Newborn to 2T. Umbrella strollers have been requested as well. Items can be dropped off at the Church Hall through March 1st. Please contact Heidi with and questions. Thank you for your support!

Tri-Parish Announcements:

Adoration will be held at St. Mary on Saturday March 7^th, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. Confession will be available starting at 2:30, Benediction at 3:00.

Lenten Stations of the Cross and Soup Supper will be held on all Wednesdays of Lent at St. Mary at 6:00pm. Stations of the Cross will begin on Wednesday February 25^th. The soup supper will follow the service in the Church Hall. All are welcome.

The Weekly Bulletin is available on our parishes website, this is the link to the bulletin page, updated every Friday:

https://www.catholicchurchesofncc.com/bulletins

                               Income from Last Week

DIVINE MERCY IN MY SOUL - St. Faustina writes: “O Jesus, make my heart sensitive to all the sufferings of my neighbor, whether of body or soul.” (Diary, 692 )

Other Announcements:

Holy Trinity Fish Fry, will be held at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Eastman, March 13^th 5:00 – 9:00 pm. Cost is $15.00 per person, children ages 7 – 12 $10.00, children 6 and under are free. The proceeds will go to various parish projects.

From the Diocesan Office for Sacred Worship, the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18. Lenten regulations are as follows:

1. Catholics who have celebrated their 14th birthday are to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, all Fridays in Lent and Good Friday.

2. In addition to abstaining from meat, Catholics who have celebrated their 18th birthday, until they celebrate their 59th birthday, are to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Those who are bound to this regulation may eat only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted if necessary to maintain strength according to one’s needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted.

Tri-Parish Prayer List – We want to pray for the ill and others in our parishes who need ongoing prayer. To be placed on or to place someone on our prayer list, please call: Sue Peterson 608-735-4865, Bonnie Murphy 608-386-4954, or Ica Boylen 608-734-3287.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the renowned U.S. evangelist whose impending beatification has just been announced by the Vatican. This overdue recognition of the holiness of the greatest Catholic preacher in American history — and one of the greatest in the long life of the entire Church — was happy news to Catholics throughout the nation. It was especially welcome in the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where he was born, and in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Rochester, New York, where he served the Church with so much distinction throughout his decades of service as a priest and bishop.

Archbishop Sheen’s compendious output of books, syndicated newspaper columns and audio and video recordings includes a treasure trove of Lenten insights, highlighting the positive benefits that always derive from conforming with the Church’s recommended penitential sacrifices.

“We can think of Lent as a time to eradicate evil or cultivate virtue, a time to pull up weeds or to plant good seeds,” he counseled. “Which is better is clear, for the Christian ideal is always positive rather than negative.”

Priest’s Corner: Temptations in the Desert and in our Own Life

At the beginning of this Season of Lent we follow Jesus into the desert for forty days and forty nights. And by following Jesus, we are being asked to keep our life in perspective, so as to keep faith and hope alive in our hearts and minds and our impulses toward sin and evil at bay. By thinking on how and why Jesus defeated the temptations offered to Him by Satan, we too can share in His victory.

To understand this first victory of Jesus let us look at His mindset. Despite the glittering gifts offered by Satan, they meant nothing to Jesus. His love for His heavenly Father and His fidelity to His mission was paramount to all else the world could offer Him. Jesus submits Himself to external temptations to show us how and why we too are meant to confront Satan, who will try to turn us also away from the path of Christian virtue and holiness. Jesus is victorious over the enemy’s wiles, because His mind heart and mind are fixed on doing the will of His Father. And this first victory sets the tone for the rest of His life, leading to His ultimate victory of the love and obedience leading Him to His life-giving sacrifice on the cross.

Like Jesus, we are asked to confront the various temptations to sin in our own lives. And in this confrontation with evil, we will need to be strengthened by the gifts of Holy Spirit and the seven special channels of grace, which are called sacraments, to resist and be victorious over the various sinful temptations of our hearts and minds.

The centuries old means of helping one during this struggle against sinful temptations are; a consistent prayer life, fasting from food and giving up things which may be enslaving us, and giving donations to morally good causes and organizations. Such Lenten practices are meant to help us keep our life in perspective by freeing us from selfishness and sin and to renew and deepen our love for God and our desire to faithfully follow Jesus and His teachings.

Bishop Battersby has asked the Clergy and People of the Diocese to pray this daily during Lent:

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.