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| 10/7/2009 8:00:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Above: The Rev. Jim Schuerman is the new administrator at St. Andrew Catholic Church. Schuerman replaces the Rev. Brian Holbus, who accepted a reassignment to Milwaukee after 6 1/2 years at the church. (Photo by Vicky Wedig Farence.) |
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| Julie Kadrich |
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Fresh start at St. Andrew's
Church
Delavan church, school get new leaders
VICKY WEDIG FARENCE
Delavan Enterprise Editor
New leaders at St. Andrew's church and school in Delavan are excited about embarking on a new journey together and blending the school and church communities.
St. Andrew's Church has a new pastor. The Rev. Jim Schuerman replaced the Rev. Brian Holbus, who spent 6 1/2 years at St. Andrew's before accepting a transfer to St. Roman's in Milwaukee earlier this year.
St. Andrew's School also has a new principal. Julie Kadrich replaced Julie Supernaw, who was the St. Andrew's School principal for 19 years before becoming the Elkhorn Area School District's coordinator of gifted and talented programs in 2008. An interim principal served at the school last year.
Kadrich, of Waukesha, has taught junior high school social studies and religion for 24 years - 19 of them at St. Luke's School in Brookfield. When the school closed due to budget constraints, Kadrich, who is completing her administration certification at Marquette University, sought an administrative position.
Originally from Elk Grove, Ill., Kadrich was familiar with Delavan and has passed by St. Andrew's on occasion.
"It's really nice to be in a new community," she said. I'm really enjoying getting to know a whole new community."
Kadrich will continue to live in Waukesha with her husband, Kyle, where their youngest daughters, Kayla, 18, and Emily, 15, attend Waukesha South High School. Their oldest daughter, Megan, 21, attends the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Kadrich said St. Andrew's is about the same size as St. Luke's, and she believes in the strong base and character-building that a Catholic education provides.
Kadrich said having a new pastor and a new principal is a good thing in St. Andrew's case.
"I think it's very exciting," she said. "Change can be difficult."
But, in this case, she said, she and Schuerman can start fresh together and create a blended school and church community.
Schuerman has been a priest for 23 years and spent the past 12 years in seminary formation. He was the spiritual director at St. Francis de Sales Seminary on the Lake Michigan shore in St. Francis and taught theology at the Sacred Heart School of Theology in nearby Hales Corners.
Coming to St. Andrew's brings Schuerman closer to his hometown of Lyons, where his 88-year-old father still lives on the farm where Schuerman grew up.
Schuerman wanted to return to parish life and was attracted to the cultural mix at St. Andrew's.
"I like that kind of a challenge," he said.
Schuerman speaks Spanish and plans to take parishioner Patti Kostechka up on her offer to teach him American Sign Language. Kostechka serves as the church's director of religious education for the deaf community and provides sign language translation during masses.
Schuerman said he would like to learn enough ASL to be able to community personally with St. Andrew's deaf parishioners.
Schuerman said he too is positive about starting out with a new school principal and pastor at the same time. He said both he and Kadrich come to the church and school with fresh ideas, and he finds it uplifting to be in a starting position where they will learn together. He said he and Kadrich will embrace this year's theme of growing in faith, hope and love by moving ahead in unity with a school and church community vs. considering the two separate entities.
Technically, Schuerman will remain the church's administrator until the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has an archbishop to officially assign him as the pastor.
The church is currently looking for a new director of religious education for its Anglo-Saxon community to replace Heide Williams, who spent about a year at St. Andrew's as one of its three religious education directors. The church also has directors of religious education for its Hispanic and deaf communities.
The church also is seeking to replace liturgical minister Maria Wargolet, who left St. Andrew's after about a decade of coordinating the church's music for a position in Effingham, Ill.
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