Saint Willebrord Parish 209 South Adams Street, Green Bay WI. 54301.

Home Page RECOLLECTIONS FROM A FOUNDING FAMILY Bernard M. Berendsen, one of the founders of St. Willebrord parish, was the grand uncle of Helen Berendsen and Lenore Berendsen Katers. They shared their memories of the church and their grandfather, Louis Berendsen, who "was a big muckymuck on the building committee when they built the church over the old courthouse church," according to the sisters. Helen Berendsen and Lenore Berendsen Katers' family ties go back to the church founding. They remember pew rent paid by the year. Family names were on a card displayed at the end of the pew only after the rent was paid. Families would sit in their pew, four to a bench, at Sunday Mass. There were two Sunday morning Masses at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. The Berendsen family went to 8:00 a.m. Mass. Their father, Henry W. Berendsen, a trustee, would go back to the 10:00 a.m. Mass and stay "sometimes until 2:00 p.m." visiting with Father Van. Helen Berendsen graduated from St. Willebrord in 1917 with a class of about six girls and six boys. Lenore Berendsen Katers graduated in 1921 with about eight girls and 16 boys. They recalled that the Notre Dame sisters who taught at the school couldn't go out at all. Sister Ambrosia was able to attend the ordination of their brother, Father Eugene Berendsen, but she was not allowed to attend the ordination dinner.