St. Bartholomew Catholic Church and School has stood on Wayzata Boulevard for more than a century, serving the small lakeside community that grew up on the North Shore of Lake Minnetonka. The parish's name honors its founding pastor, the Benedictine priest George Bartholomew Scheffold, and the simple white stucco church that twelve farming families raised in 1916 has grown into a Catholic community of several hundred families with a parish school, a robust sacramental life, and a deep tradition of sacred music.
More Than a Hundred Years on Wayzata Boulevard
The parish began because getting to Sunday Mass was hard. Before St. Bartholomew existed, families in the Wayzata area traveled by boat across Lake Minnetonka and then by streetcar to churches in Hopkins or Excelsior, or made the slow journey by horse and buggy to Holy Name. In winter the roads could be impassable for weeks at a time. In 1916 twelve families (the Tibbets, Milbert, Klochner, C. H. Wise, Feser, Holmberg, Mullane, Gerber, A. Wise, McGinty, Rooney, and Gibbs households) pooled their resources and asked the archbishop for a parish of their own. The archbishop contacted the abbot at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, and the Benedictines agreed to staff the new mission.
On October 8, 1916, the cornerstone for a sixty-seat white stucco church was laid at Highway 12 and Broadway. On Christmas Day of that year, Father Scheffold celebrated the first Mass. Within five years the original five-hundred-dollar debt was retired, and Richard Gibbs, the man who had signed the first note, watched the mortgage burn in October 1921. A new rectory followed in 1941, a convent and school in 1955, and in the fall of 1956 the first students walked through the doors of St. Bartholomew School, taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Suburban growth in the 1950s and 1960s soon outgrew the original structure. In 1961 the parish built a new church seating 840, and in 1989 a connecting narthex and fellowship hall joined the church to the school. By 1997 that building debt, too, was retired, and nine new meeting rooms had been finished in the church's lower level. The most recent major chapter came in September 2007, when a six-year process of discernment, design, and construction produced a sweeping renovation of the church and school. The renewed campus was built to serve the community for another hundred years.
Mass, Confession, Adoration, and a Strong Sacred Music Tradition
Weekend Mass is offered on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Weekday Mass is celebrated on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is heard every Saturday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Reconciliation Room next to the chapel, and by appointment. Eucharistic Adoration is held every Friday morning throughout the year from 9:00 a.m. until noon.
St. Bartholomew places particular weight on the liturgy. The parish's goal is vibrant liturgies in word, witness, and sacred music, holding that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Sacred Music Ministry draws on what Justin Fields, the Director of Liturgy and Music, calls the Catholic patrimony of sacred music: chant, classical polyphony, and traditional hymnody, while also embracing a wide range of contemporary styles. The adult and high school choir, which rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., sings at the 8:30 and 10:30 Sunday Masses and at major feast days. Cantors, instrumentalists, and a small corps of volunteer AV and video camera operators support both the in-person liturgies and the recorded video that is shared on the parish's YouTube channel.
Mass Intentions are scheduled throughout the year, and parishioners may reserve a date by calling the parish office.
The Seven Sacraments
The parish welcomes Catholics to all seven sacraments of the Church. Baptisms of infants are celebrated on designated Sundays at noon (except during Lent), and parents are asked to be registered parishioners and to attend a baptism workshop offered most months on a Friday evening via Zoom or in person on Saturday afternoon. A separate track exists for adults preparing for baptism and full initiation through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, known at St. Bart's as OCIA.
First Reconciliation and First Eucharist are prepared for over a seven-month, two-part process that begins each October and is open to registered parishioner families with children in grades two through seven who were baptized Catholic. Children must complete First Reconciliation preparation before receiving First Eucharist, and the program includes at-home lessons, Activity Learning Stations, and a rehearsal before the celebration.
Confirmation preparation is a two-year program for students in grades eight through eleven. Candidates gather once a month on Sunday mornings, beginning at 9:00 a.m., and conclude by attending the 10:30 Mass together. Each candidate attends with a parent or a confirmation sponsor and works through the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the lives of the saints, and the theology of the sacrament. The parish's two-year Rite of Confirmation typically takes place at the Basilica of St. Mary.
Couples preparing for marriage are asked to contact the parish at least a year in advance, to be active members, to meet several times with the priest or deacon, to complete the PREPARE inventory along with four to six mentor-couple meetings, to attend a marriage retreat, and to provide recent baptismal certificates. Weddings follow the Catholic vision of marriage as a gift from God and a sacramental bond. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is available to anyone suffering in mind, body, or spirit, and is especially consoling before surgery or a change in health status; parishioners may call the parish office to request it. Holy Orders vocations are also fostered from within the parish.
G.I.F.T. and Faith Formation from Preschool Through Fifth Grade
The parish's children's program is called Growing In Faith Together, or G.I.F.T., and it is designed to walk with parents as the primary teachers of the faith. Susie Osacho, the Children's Faith Formation, First Sacraments, and OCIA Coordinator, oversees a PreK and Kindergarten track as well as the Grades 1-5 program. Both run on Sunday mornings during the school year, beginning with breakfast at 9:00 a.m., a large-group gathering at 9:15 with prayer and a liturgically themed activity, age-specific small group lessons at 9:30, and pickup at 10:15 in time for families to attend the 10:30 Mass together. The year opens with a kick-off Sandwich Service Project that benefits the Sandwich Project of Minnesota, and adults, confirmation candidates, and high schoolers serve as small-group student leaders alongside the catechists.
Middle School, High School, and Confirmation
The Middle School Youth Ministry gathers sixth through eighth graders twice a month on Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the school gym or youth room. The evenings alternate between spiritual formation (food, fellowship, prayer, group games, and small-group stations) and recreation, which can include family-friendly movies or organized sports. Each summer, middle schoolers can attend Extreme Faith Camp, with high schoolers serving as small group leaders.
The High School Youth Ministry meets on Thursday evenings twice a month from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Formation nights include praise and worship, time in Eucharistic Adoration, a formation talk, and small group sharing; recreational nights trade the talk for a group activity. Beyond the regular meetings, the parish offers two high-profile annual opportunities. NET Lifeline is a Saturday-night rally in West Saint Paul hosted by NET Ministries and featuring worship, a presentation, Mass, and Adoration, and the Steubenville Conference is a national summer gathering with nationally known speakers and musicians. Jonny Rodriguez, the Youth Ministry and Discipleship Associate, coordinates both the high school program and the Confirmation program.
Wine, Wit & Wisdom and the Wider Adult Community
Adults at St. Bart's have a formation program of their own. James Shackelford, the Director of Ongoing Formation and Discipleship, oversees adult ministry, family catechesis, school religion classes, evangelization, and discipleship, with the support of two FOCUS missionaries who are assigned to the parish. The signature adult event is Wine, Wit & Wisdom, a Thursday-evening speaker series held October through December and again February through April. Each evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with fellowship, moves into a talk at 7:00 p.m., and concludes with questions and answers. The parish provides light hors d'oeuvres and non-alcoholic beverages; the talks are byob, and a small donation is suggested. Other adult formation offerings include the Women's Devoted Life evenings and a regular cadence of small groups, retreats, and parish mission trips.
Pastoral Care, Prayer Shawls, and Walking with the Homebound
The Pastoral Care Ministry is grounded in the Roman Catholic tradition and aims to be the presence and compassion of Christ in times of need. Scott Brazil, the Director of Pastoral Care, oversees a network of trained volunteers who visit the hospitalized and homebound, bring Communion to parishioners in assisted living, and stay connected with families during illness and bereavement. For urgent situations requiring the Sacrament of the Anointing, a phone call to the parish line routes to an after-hours priest; local hospitals also have priests on site who can respond quickly in dire circumstances.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls that are given to parishioners experiencing illness, grief, or loss, each one a tangible symbol of God's ever-present love. A Caregiver Support Group gathers relatives, friends, and neighbors caring for someone young, old, ill, or disabled, and the parish also offers pastoral counseling, spiritual direction, and referrals to professional counselors.
Marriage and Family Support
Beyond preparing engaged couples for the wedding day, the pastoral staff supports marriages long after the celebration. Couples who want to strengthen their relationship or work through a difficult season can meet with the pastoral team, take the ENRICH inventory, and be referred to professional counselors when needed. The parish also points couples to a network of archdiocesan and national resources, including the Archdiocesan Marriage Preparation Retreat, the St. Paul Minneapolis Catholic Engaged Encounter, Worldwide Marriage Encounter, Retrouvaille for troubled marriages, the archdiocesan Natural Family Planning office, and the Sojourner Domestic Project.
School's Cool and a Quarter Century with the Banyan Community
One of the parish's most visible outreach efforts is School's Cool, a partnership with the Banyan Community in the Phillips neighborhood of south Minneapolis. For twenty-seven years, St. Bart's parishioners have filled backpacks with school supplies, paid for uniforms, and helped cover fees for K-12 Banyan youth. The program began in 1999 when Alison Johnson, a St. Bart's parishioner, recognized that basic needs had to be met before children could learn, and it has grown into a year-round volunteer commitment: assembling backpacks in late summer, donating toward supplies, and supporting the children year by year. The high school graduation rate for Banyan youth is ninety-eight percent.
Parishioners also serve in other local and global ways. A coat drive each October supports Holy Rosary, the parish's sister parish in south Minneapolis, and teams regularly pack meals at Feed My Starving Children. The Sandwich Service Project, hosted at the parish each fall and several times a year, sends hundreds of meat and cheese sandwiches to the Salvation Army Harbor Light and the Waite House food shelf in Minneapolis.
Stewardship and Giving
St. Bartholomew is a stewardship faith community, asking parishioners to share their time, talent, and treasure in gratitude for the gifts God has given. Electronic giving is available through Shelby Giving, and parishioners can also give through Venmo at @stbarts-wayzata, through the Tip Tap devices on the collection baskets, by check mailed to the parish office, by Donor Advised Fund, by stock transfer through the parish's USB broker, or by IRA distribution. Memorial gifts can be designated to specific funds, and a Matching Gifts program can effectively double many donations. Marilyn Peller Nelson, the Director of Stewardship and Development, helps parishioners connect their giving to the parish's mission.
The Parish School
St. Bartholomew Catholic School, whose students are known as the Bulldogs, has been a fixture on the parish campus since 1956. The school serves preschool through sixth grade and is led by Principal Ginger Vance, a Catholic educator with more than two decades of experience in Catholic schools. The school offers a challenging curriculum combined with state-of-the-art technology and student-centered instruction, with a faculty that models and teaches the Catholic values students need to succeed academically, spiritually, and socially. A new school year begins with enrollment each spring.
Meet the Pastoral Team
Fr. John A. Klockeman became the tenth pastor of St. Bartholomew on July 1, 2021. A native of West St. Paul and a 1986 graduate of Arizona State University, he holds degrees from Franciscan University in Steubenville and the University of St. Thomas, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 27, 2000. He is a widely recognized speaker on Catholic spirituality and the author of multiple retreat and parish-mission series.
Deacon Rick Witucki has served the parish since 1995, celebrating baptisms and weddings, preaching, presiding at wakes and funerals, co-facilitating the OCIA process, and assisting at Mass. Rick is also a longtime probation and parole officer, family therapist, and mediator.
Ginger Vance, the school principal, leads the parish's PK-6 program. Justin Fields directs the parish's liturgical and musical life, drawing on training at the Aaron Copland School of Music and prior parish experience in Brooklyn, New York. Scott Brazil directs pastoral care, bringing nearly thirty years of Catholic parish and education ministry to his role. James Shackelford, a veteran and a doctoral candidate in early Christianity at the University of Pennsylvania, directs ongoing formation and discipleship. Susie Osacho coordinates children's faith formation, First Sacraments, and OCIA. Jonny Rodriguez, a former two-year Lifeteen missionary, leads youth ministry and discipleship. Sue Scott directs community engagement and safe environment. Marilyn Peller Nelson directs stewardship and development.
Visiting St. Bartholomew
The parish is located at 630 E. Wayzata Boulevard, Wayzata, Minnesota 55391, with office hours Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (the office closes at 12:30 p.m. on Fridays during the summer). The parish telephone number is 952-473-6601 and the general email is stbarts@st-barts.org.
Anyone interested in joining the parish is invited to complete the Join Our Parish form online or to stop by the Welcome Desk on the weekends. New parishioners are welcomed through a series of gatherings and a New Member Welcome Team that helps them get to know the parish. Families with children can enroll in the parish school or in the G.I.F.T. faith formation program; young adults and adults can find small groups, retreats, and service opportunities in the parish's many ministries.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of St. Bart's, and there are dozens of ways to get involved, from greeting at the door to serving as an altar server, cantor, lector, or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, to teaching faith formation, to knitting prayer shawls, to packing sandwiches, to helping with School's Cool. Current volunteer openings include Music and Liturgy, Faith Formation, Parish Life, Youth Ministry, Local Outreach, and Immediate Needs. All adults and youth working with children must complete the Essential 3 background check through VIRTUS before serving.
St. Bartholomew Catholic Church and School has been a steady presence on the North Shore of Lake Minnetonka for more than a hundred years. It remains a community called to encounter the Living God, to be equipped by the Holy Spirit to grow in faith, and to go forth and engage others with lives transformed by the Gospel.