(Catholic Herald photo/Kris Kranenburg)
“Thank you for your happiness” and “thank you for taking on this responsibility.”
Those were the words Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison used to show his appreciation on the day he installed Fr. Bart Timmerman as pastor of Queen of Martyrs Parish in Beloit and Clinton.
Held on June 22, the Feast of Corpus Christi, at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Beloit, Father Timmerman’s installation was the ninth pastor installation since Into the Deep’s strategic reorganization began.
The new Queen of Martyrs Parish consists of the three Beloit churches — Our Lady of the Assumption, St. Jude, and St. Thomas the Apostle — and St. Stephen Church in Clinton. Our Lady of the Assumption School is also part of the parish.
Serving alongside Father Timmerman are Parochial Vicars Fr. Jim Murphy and newly ordained Fr. David Jaramillo.
Transitional Deacon Luis Reyes is assigned to the parish before his expected priestly ordination in 2026.
A culmination of effort
Father Timmerman’s installation was not the first time Queen of Martyrs Parish came together to worship.
The Mass was the culmination of a year’s worth of effort to bring the four faith communities together.
Their worship as one community began a year ago on July 14, when nearly 1,000 people attended a Mass for unity at ABC Supply Stadium in Beloit, prior to a baseball game featuring Beloit’s Sky Carp minor-league team.
The unity Mass served to “begin to build our new parish,” Father Timmerman said at the time.
“The Mass was meant to help us realize our mission as disciples and make that mission more fruitful moving into the future,” he said last summer.
“It was also a day to remember our heritage and to celebrate the goodness we bring into our new pastorate,” he added.
Now, the parish’s fruit is beginning to ripen.
For new parishioner Julie Cannistra, the parish was the reason she relocated with her husband last year, choosing to live in Clinton over other small towns in the area.
“I could live down the street from a wonderful Catholic church . . . that’s why we chose to live here as transplants from Illinois,” she explained.
Although her husband Mario still has a commute across the state border for his job, “this is where we want to settle and invest.
“There’s so much potential to grow your faith in Queen of Martyrs Parish,” she said, thanking Father Timmerman.
Nico Rojas is another parishioner of Queen of Martyrs Parish and began working for Father Timmerman a few months ago.
Rojas said the Mass was “a historical moment,” seeing “the first installation of the first pastor of this new parish”.
It was something “not a lot of people get to see,” he said.
From talking with longtime parishioners and working with Father Timmerman, Rojas described Father Timmerman as “an outpouring priest” who “wants to give his heart as a heart of Jesus to the people”.
Hispanic ministry
At the Installation Mass, the strengths of Queen of Martyrs Parish were on display.
One of those strengths is their active Hispanic ministry, which Diocesan Director of Hispanic Ministry Lorianne Aubut described as “blooming”.
She explained that “Father Bart, as a bilingual pastor, has established a solid team of Hispanic leaders who are passionate about their faith.”
That reason, along with bilingual parish staff members and new Hispanic Parochial Vicar Father
Jaramillo, gives Aubut hope the community will continue to grow under Father Timmerman’s leadership.
She said she hopes the community will have “greater opportunities to receive spiritual accompaniment through the sacraments” and “strengthen their community through cultural and spiritual devotions”.
Another strength of Queen of Martyrs Parish was noted by Bishop Hying during the Installation Mass.
He said, “Your parish has more Religious Sisters than any other parish in the diocese.”
Adding that each of them are from other countries, Bishop Hying said they’re “here as missionaries.”
“They’ve left their homeland to serve us, to pray with us, to love us, to lead us to Christ, and what a blessing each one of them is,” he continued.
Of the seven Sisters, four are from the Sisters of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.
Three are from the Hermanas Auxiliares Sacerdotales del Santísimo Sacramento (Sisters of the Priestly Auxiliary of the Blessed Sacrament).
Bishop Hying also gave a word of encouragement and congratulations to Father Timmerman and the congregation.
He said, “Congratulations on the birth of your new parish.
“You are the salt of the earth and light of the world. You are called to shine here in Beloit and Clinton as the promise of hope gained for us in the victory of Christ and celebrated in this Eucharist.”