Parish Staff

Deb is the pastoral and spiritual leader of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. She was appointed by the archbishop and has been given the responsibility for the spiritual life of our parish, the administration of the parish and its physical plant. Deb directs the Women’s Retreat and oversees the Pastoral needs and life of the Faith Community.

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From 1961 to 1998, I was a student then a member of a religious community, the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (commonly called Trinity Missions). The charism of this community is to collaborate as laity, religious and clergy in preserving the faith. In those 37 years I served in the Watts area of Los Angeles; a Puerto Rican Community in Ohio with culture and language studies in Puerto Rico; as the director of vocations in Silver Spring, MD; as staff member of Ministries Center for the Laity in Brooklyn, NY; and Trinity Ministries Center in Sterling, NJ.

In every assignment, I learned to work together with a diversity of races, socio-economic levels, cultures, denominations and types of people. I was given the chance to develop skills in public speaking, facilitation of groups, collaborating on retreat and parish missions. I came to believe that an inclusive community is essential to be Church.

In 1992, my dad became very frail and I came back to Racine to care for him. Since my ministries for years had demanded that I continually travel and not have a stable community, the chance to be a parish priest at St. Edward’s was an eye opening experience. I loved celebrating liturgy and becoming a member of a stable group of parishioners. When my dad died, I realized that being in a parish is what I needed. After a year’s sabbatical and a 3-year incardination process at St. John Vianney, Brookfield, I became an Archdiocesan priest.

My husband Keith and I had just been married, were new to Milwaukee, and were searching for a church. We attended our first Mass and the music and warmth of this community welcomed us in. Lourdes became our spiritual home where we raised our 4 children, and 30-some years later continues to feed and challenge us to this day.

Music has been my lifelong passion. I fell in love with liturgical music listening to Sister Margaret in my Catholic grade school. Later, I began to volunteer my time as a pianist, playing for children’s liturgies and weekend Masses. Although I had initially wanted to pursue a career in music, I wound up completing a degree in nursing, and spent over 10 years as a registered nurse in the Milwaukee area.

It was my engagement with the Lourdes community that helped me to rediscover the meaning of music in my life. A volunteer position with the funeral ministry ultimately led me to decide to dedicate my life to music, and I completed a degree in piano performance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Pastoral music is a natural extension of who I am and is an expression of prayer for me. As your music ministry associate, I will collaborate with the director of music ministries and the director of liturgical ministries to plan and lead music for weekend Masses, funerals, and other prayer services.

Deb is continuing to help in these duties until a new directory of liturgy is hired.

I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the Faith Formation Team and tickled pink that God’s grace brought me here, to Our Lady of Lourdes. As your Director of Formation Ministries I will work collaboratively on our GIFT program, coordinate confirmation prep for our teens, coordinate our Youth Ministry programs, and serve as the staff liaison to RCIA.

If you would have asked twenty something Maggie what thirty something Maggie would be doing with her life, I guarantee she would not have said working in ministry. I was raised Lutheran by my Catholic mom. Her hope was that by bringing my brother and me up in my dad’s religion, he would become reengaged in his faith. Unsuccessful in her plan, our family adventure in faith quickly petered out. I did not think much about it again until I got my first teaching job after college at an all-girls Catholic School. In the years that followed I fell in love with the Catholic Church. Thanks to the gift of hindsight, it has become delightfully clear that I have spent my entire life looking for God. The biggest surprise on my faith journey so far is that I, a self-proclaimed hermit and introvert, feel closest to God when I am surrounded by my faith community.

Working at a Catholic retreat center opened my eyes to the wonder that is an open and loving faith community. I found this at Inspirio Youth Ministries (formerly Tyme Out Retreat Center). It was there that I knew that I had found a home. Soon after I joined an RCIA program and was confirmed. Since then this community has supported my biggest adventure yet, a year living and teaching in China. It then welcomed me home to be a Youth Minister at the same parish where my faith journey began.

The fact that my faith community now includes you, well it leaves me a little misty eyed. It is an honor to serve this parish community and I look forward to continuing on our journeys together! 

I am part of the Faith Formation Team along with Maggie Russell and Jenni Sladky. My primary responsibility is to co-coordinate and implement our whole community faith formation program – GIFT (Generations in Faith Together) with the rest of the Faith Formation Team. My specific duties include coordinating the preparation for the sacraments of baptism, reconciliation, and first Eucharist for the children and their parents of our parish. In addition, I develop the curriculum for GIFT up through the six grade, and oversee the Children’s Liturgy of the Word program.

I first experienced Our Lady of Lourdes in the early 1990’s during Lent. Years later when looking for a new parish closer to our home, I suggested to my wife Rebecca that we investigate OLOL. I mentioned that OLOL had moving liturgies when I attended. We immediately felt a sense of community here that we hadn’t at other parishes. Rebecca and I have two children, Tommy & Ryan, who were both baptized and celebrated first reconciliation and first Eucharist at OLOL.

My path to working at Our Lady of Lourdes was circuitous. I started college as a forestry major, with the hope of being Smokey the Bear. Along the way, I worked at a residential treatment facility for at-risk youths, and a non-profit law firm for low-income clients. Eventually I went back to school for my teacher certification. I taught social studies at both the high school and middle school levels, and religion at the middle school level. I enjoyed connecting with students and facilitating their understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Christ. I tried to emphasize Catholic Social Teaching with my students, as that helped them to understand how we need to live our faith.

I had been exploring a change of direction in my career when I heard about the opportunity to work at Lourdes. The idea of working at OLOL with the GIFT program, which had been so helpful to me as a religious educator, felt like the Spirit calling me. The responsibility of helping to facilitate our community’s children’s understanding of our faith is truly a blessing.

I am the director of administrative services for Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. I join the core pastoral team that ensures that the pastoral and administrative needs of the parish are sustained. I help to ensure that the overall mission of the Catholic Church is applied in relation to parish policies and procedures for finance, facilities, stewardship, and human resources.

I have chosen to spend over 25 years working in the vineyard of the Lord in various positions. I come to OLOL after spending 14 years as the Business Manager at St. Agnes Parish in Butler. I’ve also been an administrative assistant and music teacher at various parishes in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

My husband Gerry and I live in Milwaukee, have 5 grown children, and enjoy spending time with our grandchildren.

My role in the parish is to take care of all aspects of communication be it through print or technology. In this era, technology is the preferred medium for many people to communicate, so a major part of my job is to keep Our Lady of Lourdes up to speed with these methods; however, keeping in mind that there are many parishioners who favor more traditional forms of communication and continuing to use those means of passing on information as well.

I have been a member of Our Lady of Lourdes my whole life. I am very excited to be sharing my skills with the parish that has been such an integral part of shaping who I am and my relationship with God.

I earned my Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Cardinal Stritch University in 2005. I have over 25 years working and volunteering experience in Catholic youth ministry, liturgy planning, and music ministry. Part of my ministry profession was working for a non-profit organization, the TYME OUT Youth Ministry and Retreat Center in Nashotah, WI, for 8 years. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Law Studies from Marquette University in 1992 which provides me a prospective into understanding ethics and safety in regards to technology.

In addition, I have a certificate in Project Management from Cardinal Stritch University. I have also earned a certificate in Web Design from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed the Advanced Courses in Internet Marketing from the eMarketing Association.

I have been a member of Our Lady of Lourdes for over 25 years. From the first Saturday that I walked into the church I knew this was the church for me. I received a warm, genuine greeting at the door, then sat down with the congregation and felt spirit all around. The priests, Father Tom, and Father Mick, gave the Word new life; the music was amazing; and the overall church community affirmed my decision to become a part of this vibrant ministry.

A little bit about myself, I purchased and ran a successful family business for 12 years before selling it and entering the corporate world. The next 28 years were spent navigating the corporate lifestyle. I come from a large, musical family. We pretty sing everywhere we go! My sisters and I often go to musical plays. Our musical adventures have taken us to Broadway, Chicago, Toronto and right here in Milwaukee. It is one of my passions. I have also been actively involved in musical community theatre.

My husband David and I have been members of Our Lady of Lourdes since late in 2018. We felt so welcomed by others in the “pews” who immediately recognized us as new to the community, introduced themselves, and made themselves available to answer any questions we had. The initial warm welcome and a continued demonstration of inclusiveness in the pews, in the Mass preparation, and musical choices made the decision to become members an easy one. We feel we found the nourishment we had been longing for in a parish community. 

As a stewardship associate, I am responsible for record keeping of parish contributions, deposits, and accounts payable as well as providing other administrative support. Having worked 36 years in the financial services industry, I am happy to exercise some of my skills to serve the parish. I could not have asked for a better opportunity to enrich my awareness and understanding of our parish organization and community. 

In our free time, David and I cherish being able to maintain relationships with our two grown sons, Kevin and Bryan, as well as other family, friends, and neighbors. We also enjoy cheering on our local sports teams and spending as much time as possible outdoors enjoying all four seasons.

I have been in this position for twenty years. This position is full-time and requires me to be here 40 hours per week, though I often find myself putting in overtime. My responsibilities are varied and require a vast amount of technical knowledge. I can be found simply changing lightbulbs around the building, cleaning up spills, or repairing furniture. You may also find me repairing plumbing in the restrooms, repairing equipment in the kitchen, or outside mowing the lawn and tending to our gardens. Of course, there is also work that you may not actually see me doing, on some of the equipment in our basement or on the roof. I clean, repair and operate our boiler to keep our facilities warm in the cold months, and maintain our air conditioners to keep everyone cool in Summer.

Some other tasks I perform, include ordering paper products for all of our groups functions, and the necessary supplies for our kitchen, custodial staff, and maintenance needs; wiring our building for phone and internet as needs change; and contacting vendors for more complex repairs on our facilities. Some of my work requires late hours, as I may need to turn off the water or power to the building to perform some tasks, without interrupting our staff or group functions.

I am in constant communication with parish groups and the staff to be sure everything is working properly and meeting their needs. I meet most regularly with Maryroes Wolf, Director of Administrative Services, to discuss what needs to be done and how best to facilitate completion of projects. I also meet monthly with our Buildings & Grounds Committee to review major projects; determining project scope, setting timelines, and selecting vendors.

Paul is our full-time custodian. His position is primarily responsible for providing janitorial services for the parish. Sets up, takes down and provides cleaning services for parish activities within facility. Paul works primarily 2nd shift, with frequent evening and occasional weekend hours.