From our President:

Anne Bender

A Year of Roses in Review

This past year has been a whirlwind of prayer and activity for Roses for Our Lady. The Roses Board has accomplished some important behind-the-scenes work such as developing a website and sending out email reminders of upcoming events, defining a mission statement, reviewing and updating the by-laws and having Roses for Our Lady listed in the statewide Catholic Directory. We’ve had new sashes made so that we may proudly represent ourselves at our various functions. Together with the Vocations Office we have created a Roses for Our Lady brochure and have put together and manned a booth at area Catholic conferences and events so that we can better promote our organization.

But there is much more work to be done! We have many special plans for the upcoming year as well as continuing all of the wonderful prayer events at which you have so lovingly joined us such as our monthly Holy Hour for Vocations at St. Francis de Sales Seminary, the annual May Crowning, the Festa Italiana Procession and the special Mass to honor our Blessed Mother on the anniversary of her birth!

All of this work to honor and glorify our Blessed Mother takes much prayer and effort! I thank you for your continued presence throughout the year and ask that you prayerfully consider how you might be able to offer additional help. Following our January 8th Holy Hour we will be holding our annual election. All positions of the Board of Trustees will be open for re-election, and this year, we are especially in need of nominations for our vacant Vice-President position. If you feel called, if you know of someone who would welcome a nomination to these positions or if you would like more information about what these positions entail, please contact me at or at 414-328-1568.

Thank you for your continued love and devotion to the Blessed Mother!

Remembering Our Founder:

Father Thaddeus Bryl, R.I.P.

by Marilyn Shannon (Ft. Wayne, IN)

On December 2, 2010, the founder of Roses for Our Lady, Fr. Thaddeus Bryl, passed away in San Camillo Retirement Community, Milwaukee. He is buried in Southern Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Union Grove, WI. It would be a spiritual work of mercy to pray for the repose of his soul as the first anniversary of his entrance into eternal life passes.

My husband Ron and I met Fr. Bryl in 1978, when he was assistant pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Milwaukee. He truly loved Our Lady, and shared his love for her through his priestly ministry. He was the benefactor of our family in several ways, most especially in giving instructions in the Faith to Ron in 1978 at Our Lady Queen of Peace. During our very first meeting with him for Ron’s instructions, he read us the poem, “Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue.” He baptized our first child, now Fr. John Shannon, in 1979. Fr. Bryl led the rosary in the evenings at Our Lady Queen of Peace, and he also led processions outdoors. His good-bye greeting was invariably, “Straight home! And angels go with you!”

We have lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for over 30 years, but continue to be grateful to Fr. Bryl for his spiritual leadership. We exchanged Christmas cards with him for many years and always his Christmas cards included the closing, “Mary Christmas” before his signature.

We were fortunate to visit him in Milwaukee in June, 2010, when Father was at San Camillo. Our son had just been ordained less than a month before, and we wanted him to meet the priest who baptized him, and who undoubtedly had prayed for him for many years. Our Fr. John had arranged to say a private Mass in the nursing home chapel, with Fr. Bryl present and for the older priest’s special intentions. I knew from our two years as Fr. Bryl’s parishioners, back in 1978-1980, what his favorite hymns were, so

I intoned “On This Day, O Beautiful Mother” and “Mother Dearest, Mother Fairest” while Ron found the right page in Father’s hymn book. Fr. Bryl sang with the same strong tenor voice that I remembered from so long in the past. Our son brought Jesus to the altar, present for all of us to receive. It was a most unanticipated joy.

I am always interested in correspondence from those who knew Fr. Bryl. To Jesus through Mary!

Marilyn Shannon, her husband Ron, daughter Lucia, and son Fr. John Shannon, FSSP with Fr. Bryl at San Camillo on June 19, 2010, a few months before his passing

ROSES FOR OUR LADY

c/o Anne Bender

1908 S. 75th St.

West Allis, WI 53219

From our Spiritual Advisor:

Bishop Donald Hying, Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee

As we celebrate another Christmas season, we renew our devotion to the Mother of God. No Mary – no Christmas; no Jesus –no salvation through the incarnation of the Lord. Mary gives Jesus His humanity and for her “yes”, her fiat, we will always be grateful. Just as Joseph and Mary looked for a place to stay that first Christmas, so too the Lord is looking for holy and welcoming souls in which He can abide and take up residence. With our increased secularism, it feels like God is being pushed into the corner, like there is no room for Him in so many aspects of our world today. Our life of prayer and

Upcoming Events

  • Holy Hour for Vocations at 2:00 pm every second Sunday of the month at St Francis De Sales Seminary
  • Christmas Party and elections following the January 8 (Feast of the Epiphany) Holy Hour
  • May Crowningat 2:00 pm on Sunday, May 13 (Feast of Our Lady of Fatima) presided by Bishop Hying

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donations are tax-deductible

sacraments, our love and service to others, our stillness and peace allow the Lord to enter our world today through us, as assuredly as Jesus came to us through Mary. As devoted children of the Blessed Virgin, we commit ourselves to being those faithful disciples in which God can take up His residence. Thank you for all you do to support Roses for Our Lady! Have a blessed Christmas!