To the Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki, Archbishop of Milwaukee;

      St. Theresa’s Chapel has been serving the Catholic community of Powers Lake for over 80 years.  St. Theresa’s, through the guardianship of The Immaculate Conception Parish of St. Mary’s in Burlington is part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. During the last several years our small community has seen the closing of St. Mary’s in Pell Lake, the need to share a pastor between St. Alphonsus in New Munster and St. Johns in Twin Lakes, and recently the closing of St Theresa’s- all victims to the shortage of Catholic Priests. We wish to reverse the closing of our beloved Chapel of St Theresa.

      The Chapel has recently been listed for sale with a local realtor through the Milwaukee Archdiocese office.

     We are a mix of Illinois and Wisconsin residents, young and old, who want to continue to share our common faith and love for one another by celebrating mass weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Over the past eighty years our families have celebrated mass at St. Theresa’s with our parents, our children, aunts, uncles and cousins. We have shared many of lives important moments with-in her walls, we have baptized our children and found peace with our fellow Catholic neighbors.

      We would like to purchase the Chapel as a group and continue to serve our faith community by holding Mass between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We assure you, we will be of no burden to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We will supply “our own Priests” (family and friends), and maintain the Chapel in every way necessary.

     It may only be three months of the year that we meet at St. Theresa’s Chapel, but this area holds our hearts year round. This past year that St Theresa’s has been closed has assured us that we need to do everything possible to keep her open.  We are open to discussing any options that would allow us to hold mass on 12 weekends of the summer.   Purchase, Lease, whatever method serves the Archdiocese; we are simply needing to serve this family of faith by offering mass on 12 weekends a year.

Sincerely,

Kim Partridge Kipp     and       Ed Bellock       on behalf of

“Friends of St. Theresa’s”