Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald Staff
Mass and healing service in Tomahawk
St. Mary’s Church in Tomahawk is hosting an event on Sunday, April 15. The sacrament of confession will be available starting at 2 p.m. Fr. Bob Thorn of St. Matthew’s in Wausau will celebrate Mass at 3:30 p.m. and the healing service will follow with eucharistic adoration.
Event organizers Teri Cernoch and Janene Ravit prepared a resource for promotional use to answer frequently asked questions about healing services.
It clarifies that anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, may receive healing prayers. For Catholics, it is suggested to be in the state of grace as healing prayers do not replace the actual graces of absolution received in the sacrament of reconciliation. They explain that the service takes place in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in recognition of Jesus Christ as the Healer, the priest only serving as an instrument of intercessory prayer.
Describing the atmosphere as one of great reverence, the organizers list the various types of healing that can be experienced through the Holy Spirit in a healing service: emotional, relational, spiritual, physical or psychological. They also clarify that the effects may only become apparent in the days, weeks or months that follow.
Sharing her personal experience, Ravit said while she usually attends a service with specific spiritual healing intentions, “God kind of just reveals what I should be praying for at that time; it seems like I receive exponential graces, which brings other avenues of my life to begin to correct themselves.”
While Ravit has been to secular counselors, she realized that “for spiritual treatment you need a spiritual doctor.” She also acknowledged the role psychology plays under certain circumstances and noted, “the constant struggle to discern what type of healing is needed for aspects of a person’s life.”
For more information on the event, contact Teri Cernoch at 715-218-7776.
New committee chair for diocesan charismatic efforts and Pentecost Mass
Under the direction of Fr. Dean Buttrick, Diocesan Charismatic Renewal Liaison, the Core Team Advisory Board has a new committee chairperson, Mary Joan Sutton. A parishioner of St. Bridget’s in River Falls, Sutton has been part of a team behind the parish’s annual Life in the Spirit seminars and community prayer group for almost 10 years.
Describing what drew her to explore the renewal, Sutton shared her experience of spiritual hunger, “that yearning of my need for something.” She said a year passed between her first and second charismatic event attendance. It wasn’t until the second that she felt spiritually and emotionally ready for the depth of what the renewal had to offer.
Sutton shared the common experience of people who meet someone involved with the renewal, “they’re a lot more peaceful and joyful.” This stirs up the questions: “What do you have and how did you get it?”
The Core Team is planning a Pentecost Mass at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20, in Rice Lake at which Bishop James P. Powers will preside. There will be praise and worship led by “Spirit Takers” at 3:15 p.m .at St. Joseph’s Church; refreshments will follow the Mass.
Although no details are available at this time, the Core Team Advisory Board will organize a fall conference and is looking to other communities receptive to Life in the Spirit seminars. Mary Joan Sutton may be contacted at 715-441-9699 or .
Ravit, who is also a member of the diocesan charismatic committee, said that Fr. Buttrick continues to stress the need for education on the renewal and the working of the Holy Spirit. She said there is “definitely more that’s happening. I believe this is just the beginning.”
