Year of Faith:
A rchdiocese of M ilwaukee
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O ctober 2012 - N ovember 2013
Sometimes, God Beckons in Song Music makes us move. It sets toes tapping, bodies swaying and faith growing. For two members of the Holy Family Parish choir, music has also brought about conversion. This is the first of two stories from writer Penny Kelsey of Holy Family Parish, highlighting the welcoming power of liturgical music. Jeanne Linnemanstons grew up in the United Church of Christ, a Protestant Christian denomination. A regular Sunday school attendee, she later joined the children’s choir and then adult choir. She faithfully attended Vacation Bible school, and her family attended church together near their home in Jackson, Wis. Jeanne began college at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but transferred soon after to Idaho State to be with her boyfriend, whom she later married. Not finding a United Church of Christ there, she decided to try out the local Catholic Newman Center for worship. It was there that she was introduced to the Mass and to the music of the St. Louis Jesuits. It was her first step toward learning more about the Catholic faith. Her fiancé, who had been raised Catholic, never pressured her to convert to his faith. They married at a United Church of Christ with a Catholic priest present. Jeanne’s new in-laws asked her
Jeanne Linnemanstons (Photo courtesy of Beth Algiers Manley)
about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, but at the time, she had no interest. After they married, Jeanne and her husband moved back to Wisconsin, this time settling in Mequon, Wis. Jeanne again searched for a spiritual home, and happened to stop at St. James Parish (now Lumen Christi), where she found Larry
Theiss leading a choir and playing songs of – who could have imagined? – the St. Louis Jesuits. For the first year, she sat in the pews, singing and smiling. Seeing this, a choir member invited her to join the group. She sang with them for a year before deciding that this really was her faith home, and she entered the RCIA program. “Larry’s guitar music spoke to me,” she said. “It helped me worship. I’ve been with the choir since 1988, the year before my daughter was born.” Jeanne, like many of the choir members, followed Larry to Holy Family in 2011. Jeanne, who divorced in 2000, has become a member of her new parish, Holy Family, where music continues to deepen her worship and prayer life. She gives much credit to Larry, who, she says, arranges harmonies in “a range where we can sing our best. You don’t have to be a professional to sing God’s praises.” During the Year of Faith, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will share stories of our Catholic community members who have converted to Catholicism or left and returned to the Catholic Church. If you are interested in sharing your faith story, please contact the Communication Office at (414) 769-3461 or communication @archmil.org.
Growing as Disciples of the Eucharist in the Year of Faith This indeed is an exciting moment in the Church Year! We have experienced the Risen Christ in the power of the Easter Season, By Archbishop been showered with Jerome E. Listecki the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and celebrated the great mystery of our God as Most Holy
Trinity. Soon we will begin that long and important journey of discipleship through the weeks of Ordinary Time. Between these profound moments of past and future, we celebrate the principle mystery of our faith, namely, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. At this time of year, Christ’s sacrifice in the Eucharist appropriately becomes the central moment in time. And that is as it should be because the
Eucharist is, and always will be, the center of our faith and the center of everything we do as believers. As the core of our faith, the Body and Blood of Christ hold all mysteries and time together. In receiving Christ under the form of bread and wine, we literally receive the Passion, Resurrection, Pentecost and the fullness of the Trinity. At the same time, See ARCHBISHOP, page 2.