Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald staff
To commemorate 250 years of “One Nation Under God,” St. Boniface Parish in Chetek is hosting a series of events during the July 3-5 weekend during Chetek’s annual Liberty Fest celebration.
These events dovetail with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus this month and their invitation for parishes across the country to contribute to 250 hours of adoration and 250 works of mercy.
Organizer Heidi Wise, a recent convert and member of the parish’s Evangelization Team, told the Catholic Herald, “Ultimately, this whole thing is about giving greater glory to God,” which is why they have titled the initiative “One Nation Under God.”
Additionally, the committee is uniting their plans with the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage theme, which invites participants to “realign our lives, community, and country under the sovereignty of Christ.”
With three themes for the three days that coincide with Chetek’s annual four-day Liberty Fest, July 3 is an invitation to “Be Healed & Restored.” July 4 is “Be Loved & Refreshed,” and July 5 invites participants to “Be Renewed & Sent.”
Keeping the Eucharist “the very first thing,” Wise said, “We want to have a strong emphasis on placing God at the center of everything.”
First Friday Mass will be celebrated at 8:30 a.m. at St. Boniface Church in the heart of downtown Chetek. Immediately following, there will be a 24-hour period of Eucharistic adoration with the goal of offering 250 hours of adoration, ending at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 4. Initially not expecting to reach the goal the USCCB has encouraged parishes across the nation to meet, Wise feels the Holy Spirit has moved and bolstered their courage.
“This is a big ask,” she said.
The original goal was to have three persons per hour for the Adoration, but during the bus trip for the annual Chrism Mass (partnered with the Barron, Cameron and Cumberland parishes), Wise’s conviction shifted. She heard herself in conversation up the ante, “What God do we serve?… We should be going for all 250 hours!” Asking herself and doing the math for what that would take, “24 times 10 is 240, but then I rounded it up to 12 for the 12 Apostles.”
“I just felt like it was the Holy Spirit working through me and saying, you need to have more faith, you need to have more courage, and you need to not worry about the outcome because outcome is up to me and not up to you, Heidi.”
One month prior, one-third of the spots had been filled. Wise is asking for others to join in this effort and sign up for an hour. There is an online sign-up form at sspbandj.org/adoration-sign-up with an asterisk indicating which hours will have spoken prayers and/or sacred background music; multiple hours will simply be silent adoration.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will also be offered from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 3, the healing and restoration aspect of that day’s theme.
According to the event schedule for Liberty Fest (cheteklibertyfest.org) Saturday, July 4, is the busiest day, with a pancake breakfast, art and craft show alongside a car show both at the local airport with helicopter rides.
Included in the official schedule is “Fair Food Concessions and Prayer Station” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at St. Boniface, which is on the parade route. Concessions including pork kebabs, mini-donuts and corn on the cob will be available, as will a prayer station “to experience the grace of Jesus’ love through prayer and support for your needs and intentions,” as the parish website states.
With the Grand Parade starting at noon, Wise proposed the concessions and prayer station as an opportunity to evangelize. With the town growing 10 to 20 times its size for the festival, it would be “a missed opportunity” not to have a prominent presence.
She envisions people passing by the church bookending the parade, not only seeing that “our church is alive, but that we are gonna reach out to you and share the love of Jesus with you.”
They are offering food no one else has planned, which is “a draw … but the prayer station will be the main thing.” The plan, Wise shared, is to have a half-sheet with the menu on one side and on the other, an invitation to visit the prayer station and receive a gift.
“We’ll prompt them with questions,” she added, “asking if any difficult things are happening in their life, is a loved one hurting or are they grateful for something they want to acknowledge.”
Keychains featuring a mustard seed and prayer cards with information about the church will be given to those who take part as well as tiny Jesus Loves Me figurines for the kids. “They’ll know that they can come back and are welcomed to do so.”
Wise admitted feeling a bit nervous to put themselves “out there” like this but said that several of those who will be offering the prayer ministry attended the Spring Evangelization Workshop in Rice Lake with Ryan O’Hara.
“It could be scary, but,” after the training exercise they experienced at the workshop, “It doesn’t have to be that hard to do,” Wise affirmed.
“I’ve been practicing,” Wise said, “and I know others have been practicing too with our own Catholic friends … We’re trying to apply what we’re learning at these wonderful workshops.”
They are prepared to walk among the people promoting the prayer station using the two-sided menu as a prompt. “I get very comfortable behind a table under the canopy in the shade,” but Wise added that they’re not just going to wait for people to come to them.
On Sunday, July 5, while Liberty Fest offers “church on the beach,” a High Mass with Schola Choir will be celebrated at St. Boniface at 10 a.m., followed by an ice cream social.
While the Wise family has attended St. Boniface for 11 years, Heidi is excited to offer something she’s never seen done at the church. They are also trying to round up extra altar servers to add to the reverent and special atmosphere.
Wise iterated, “The specialness is giving glory to God, but also on this occasion of the 250th anniversary of our county, we are drawing attention to the blessings and the responsibility we have as a nation.”
Visit sspbandj.org/one-nation-under-god for more information, adoration sign-up and links to additional resources.
