St. Wenceslaus Parish Festival has beautiful weekend

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague had a beautiful weekend for its annual Parish Festival. There were kids games, food trucks, music, bingo, and three Polka Masses.

The first Polka Mass was on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. After the service the band, Big Toe and the Jam provided music as people enjoyed refreshments and pork burgers. A special ceremony was held around 6:45 p.m. with the burning of the church’s mortgage for several projects that have been done over the last two decades. The total was $5 million and the church has been in debt since 2001. Among the projects the church has done was the removal of the former convent, building of the Parish Activity Center, plus many infrastructure projects including electrical, drainage, work on a chapel, connecting the buildings on the church’s property, work on the playground and the improving of the parking lot that required the removal of a house. Father Eugene Theisen of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church thanks everyone for their generosity through years to get the debt paid in full.He added, “Our parishioners are working together to keep our campus vibrant and fiscally sound!”

Cathy McNamara helped to bring together people for the mortgage burning ceremony. There were 20 people who participated in the ceremony. They had been part of such groups as the facility need task force, the finance teams, and committees. Others had worked with the six capital campaigns the church has done for the improvements to the church’s property. McNamara also served on many of the groups that oversaw the projects.

The majority of the capital campaigns have been paid with the latest this year. The majority of the festival was on Sunday, Aug. 14, with Polka Masses...

To see more on this story pick up the August 18, 2022 print edition of The New Prague Times.