When Michelle Oberholtzer and her husband moved to the Lake Geneva area 10 years ago with their 4 children, they were looking for a parish to call home. Trying out different Catholic churches in the area, they made the decision to join St. Francis de Sales on Christmas Eve during an especially beautiful liturgy. “We don’t live near our families, so our Parish is like family to us.”
Having moved 7 times in the past 28 years, Michelle has had the opportunity to be involved with several different churches and has always been an active parishioner in all of them. She met her husband, Jim, through Jim’s mom whom she sang with in her first church choir.
When she came to SFDS, she started out by working with Fr. Terry on the Faith in Our Future campaign. “It seemed to time to work on something outside of my life…something with a bigger purpose”. And wow did she work! She then joined the Pastoral Council as the Stewardship/Parish Life rep, was nominated to vice chair one year later, and subsequently became the Pastoral Council Chair. She has just completed her 3 year term!
She has been responsible for inventing, redesigning, or volunteering at many parish events including Bingo, Irish night, the Parish Directory, Italian Night, the Chili Cook off, Art and Environment, Fr. Terry’s Farewell party, the Ministry Fair, Fall Festival, National Catholic Youth Choir concert, Bishop Malloy’s installation and farewell, Fr. Jim’s installation Mass and reception, funeral luncheons, the remodeling committee, and represented our Parish in the Archdiocesan Synod. She also sings in the SFDS Chorale. “It centers me”. She attended ICSC International Stewardship Convention, and has been committed to growing our Stewardship at SFDS. “It’s all about changing the mentality. It’s really important to nurture not only the treasures but the time and talent of others and to recognize them as valued members”.
Her time as Pastoral Council Chair involved the coming and going of 3 different pastors, and she helped each time with the transition. What would she like to see for the future? “To continue to bridge the gap between the Anglo and Hispanic parishioners through different events and efforts. It’s all about the opportunity to connect with each other”.
On behalf of all of our parishioners, thank you Michelle for all of your work here with the Pastoral Council and beyond!