Parish History

 A History of St. Anne Parish

July 26, 1998, Saint Anne Catholic Church is born.  The first Mass is celebrated in the cafeteria of Pleasant Prairie School with about 300 people attending.  But just like a baby, its birth is not its beginning.  On May 29, 1997 Saint Anne Parish received a decree from Archbishop Weakland establishing the Congregation of Saint Anne.  The name Saint Anne was given in honor of the Saint Anne Parish in Milwaukee’s central city that was closed after 100 years.   This is when the real work began. Informational Meetings were held from September through November 1997 with fifteen to twenty people attending each of the meetings.  Each meeting focused on a specific area of ministry.

Some of the decisions made at this time were:

• Jean Werbie and Sam Johnson became trustees. 
• Banks were contacted. 
• Pleasant Prairie School was chosen for worship and classroom space. 
• Space would be rented from LakeView Corporate Park for offices. 
• A committee was formed to develop a stewardship program. Church furniture was received from Saint Gerard’s in Milwaukee. 
• Many other decisions about the planning that goes with the first mass, times for worship, times and places for Christian Formation, ministries needed, and inviting others to join the parish were made. 

Then in January of 1998, a local family donated the home that is the current Parish Center.  The house needed to be moved to make room for TCF Bank on Hwy 50 and what eventually would become the IHOP restaurant.  The Parish purchased two acres of land from John Steinbrink close to the future parish site.  A committee of Jean Werbie, Sam Johnson, Frank Trecroci and Father Don took on the challenge of permits, acquiring bids, moving the house and work to be done once moved, and the leasing of Pleasant Prairie School.  Phil Godin took the position of Parish Attorney to help with the legal aspects of all of this.  On March 13, 1998 the house was moved from Hwy 50 to 88^th Avenue and a basement was added and some remodeling done.

Besides Father, there were three part-time positions recruited to run the Parish. Joan Cunningham was hired as Administrative Assistant and Kevin Burrow as Director of Music.  No one applied for the Pastoral Associate position, so Father agreed to take over these duties.  Eventually a new position called Pastoral Assistant was created and Catherine Anderson accepted the position – only to leave after a few months. Jennifer Christ was hired as a consultant to lead our faith formation ministry.

A stumbling block was hit when no one anticipated that the building (future Parish Center) would be identified as a commercial property with additional costs for remodeling.  The original goal of moving into the Parish Center in mid-June didn’t happen so Father and Kevin began working out of their homes. We moved into the Parish Center on July 22, 1998. Saint James Parish gave us a donation of $25,000 that helped to furnish the Parish Center. 

All the preparations were complete and Liturgy was celebrated.  Now we all know that once a baby is born it is just the beginning and there is still much to be done.  The child needs nurturing as it grows.  The same is true of Saint Anne Parish.

On October 4, 1998, the Sunday morning family program began with seven classes, over fifty students and fourteen teachers.  On October 11, the first Baptisms were celebrated.  They were a brother and sister from Russia, Skylar DeLaney and Griffin Edward Hibsch.  They are the children of Edward and Lydia Hibsch.   

On December 6, 1998, Archbishop Weakland installed Father Donald Thimm as the Pastor of Saint Anne Parish.  Father Don is a native of Hartford, Wisconsin.  He has been a priest in the Milwaukee Archdiocese since his ordination in 1976.  He has served at Saint Frederick in Cudahy and Saint Agnes in Milwaukee.  In 1985, he was assigned as Director of the Diocesan Synod, a planning effort involving 120,000 participants.  From 1988 until his appointment to Saint Anne’s, Father Don was the Archbishop’s delegate for Human Resources.

After three months of services, the parish outgrew the cafeteria for worship and moved to the gymnasium.

On January 2^nd and 3^rd of 1999 a huge snowstorm hit the Kenosha area.  The parking lots at the school were not plowed, so services were cancelled.  Since there had been no plan set up for canceling services, parishioners had to be notified by telephone.  A few parishioners were able to make it to the school to help take down the chairs and altar for school on Monday.

The first funeral of a Saint Anne parishioner, Prentiss Beveridge, happened on February 16^th of this year.

A leadership retreat was held at St. Francis Monastery in Burlington that focused on Parish Dreams and Visions and the group learned what makes a vibrant parish. This was the beginning of our parish mission statement. Other parishioners were invited to share their dreams and visions for the parish as well. Our mission statement was presented and signed at our first anniversary celebration and picnic at Prairie Springs Park in 1999.

Early in 1999 12 parishioners were gathered to form a Campus Development Ministry with John Rende as the coordinator. They selected the following partners:

• The Groth Design Group of Cedarburg as our architects
• The Bentley Company of Miwaukee as contstruction partne