On February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the newly merged Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish celebrated the installation of Fr. Drew Olson as pastor.
Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison was present that day, presiding over the installation rites of Father Olson and praying the Mass with him.
The Installation Mass was celebrated at St. James Church in Madison.
The churches of the former Good Shepard Parish — St. James Church and St. Joseph Church — and the former St. Raphael Cathedral Parish — Holy Redeemer Church and St. Patrick Church — make up the new parish.
St. James School, on the same campus as St. James Church, is also a part of the parish.
All four churches and the school are in Madison; they are located on or near the isthmus.
In addition to Bishop Hying and Father Olson, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia Fr. Tait Schroeder, Parochial Vicar Fr. Andrew Showers, Parochial Vicar Fr. Jose Luis Vazquez, Permanent Deacon Todd Burud, and Transitional Deacon David Jaramillo were present for the installation and Mass.
As part of the installation rites, Father Olson renewed his ordination promises to the bishop.
Then, members of the parish’s pastoral council, finance council, and trustees were invited to the front of the church.
There, Father Olson greeted them, shaking their hands and embraced a few.
After greeting the lay members, Father Olson gave an oath of fidelity to them and to the congregation.
After Father Olson’s oath, Bishop Hying said, “Congratulations Father Drew and all of you,” to much applause.
“Today is a day of new things,” he continued, saying, “Formally, you have a new pastor and a new parish and we celebrate that.”
Gesturing towards the priests and deacons and then towards the congregation, the bishop said, “We ask the Holy Spirit to continue to anoint you, our leaders, and you, our people, that together, as we form the body of Christ, we can go forth and live the mission, in the power of the Church.
“For all that, we give thanks and praise to God.”
In remarks at the end of the Installation Mass, Father Olson spoke about the parts of the rites that inspired him.
He said, “One was the first thing the bishop says: ‘I am confident of Father Drew’s qualifications for the office of pastor.’”
Another, he said, was “with great fidelity and care, I shall carry out duties incumbent I have been called to exercise.”
Father Olson said he was reminded that “God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified, but he qualifies the called.”
Father Olson then asked “the Lord to fulfill this responsibility” in him, and also for the congregation to know that he has “a greater desire to pray for you, to be of service to you at all times.”
After the Mass, a reception was hosted in the church basement.
There, Marie Ethen, who is parish director of operations and a member of the pastoral council, celebrated with other parishioners.
She said that she was “excited to be uniting with Father Drew’s leadership.
“We have a broad, diverse community and appreciate his leadership for the entire parish.”
Otoniel Ortega, another member of the parish, has been attending Holy Redeemer Church since the turn of the century.
Now, Ortega serves as one of two trustees for the parish.
Ortega said that since Into the Deep began, “It been a good blessing,” and since coming together as one community, he said he has especially enjoyed the “opportunity to know more people”.
“We hope that everything comes together as the Lord would like it to,” Ortega said.
A longtime member of St. James and St. Joseph parishes, Koso Weller said, “Today is a happier day for me.”
“It feels so good to me, that whatever I’ve been longing to see is here, today.”
She explained that she was happy to see the young and old together, people from each church in the parish celebrating.
Another parishioner, Leticia Rodriguez, who serves on the lay leadership council, was happy at the parish reception.
She said, “It’s hard to have changes, but we feel very grateful.”
She said that the changes initiated by the Into the Deep parish restructuring plan were “something that our community needed, to become more united”.
“We feel very blessed and grateful to have Father Drew, who has been working very hard.
“We just keep praying for him,” Rodriguez said.