About St. Martin's Parish
We are a small parish of just over 300 families on the Eastern Shore of Lake Shawano in northeast Wisconsin about half an hour northwest of Green Bay. In the summer our attendance is swelled by many summer residents and tourists enjoying the recreational opportunities of the area.

We serve the villages of Cecil and Bonduel as well as a large surrounding rural area. Many of the area residents are retired; many also work outside the immediate area. We believe also that the area will continue to grow, since we are served by Hwy 29, which is now a major highway providing easy access to Green Bay.

The parish is over 100 years old and historically was served from another parish. For many years, the Norbertines helped serve the parish, especially during the summer when they ran a nearby camp. Also the parish has been served by St. John’s in Gillett or Sacred Heart in Shawano. Since 2000, there has been a parish director. When he arrived there was no parish house or office. A storefront was rented for the office and an apartment for living quarters. Scarcely a year later, the former parsonage of the United Church of Christ was purchased, and the office and living quarters was established there. We now serve over 100 children in our religious education program, which because of space, is held on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have repainted the church, put in air-conditioning and new carpeting. We also have put a classroom/meeting room in the house with a separate basement entrance which is also used for our food pantry.

We have been very fortunate too in having a priest who comes out every weekend to lead us in the celebration of Eucharist.

We think that our parish will continue to grow as the communities surrounding it grow, and if you are ever in the area, we welcome you and encourage you to visit. If you are moving to the area, we invite you to worship with us and join us.

Deacon Tom Craig
Our Parish Director is Deacon Tom Craig. Deacon Tom is a widower with three adult children and two grandchildren. He has been in full time ministry for over fifteen years. He came to St. Martin's as their first Parish Director in September of 2000, but he had been Parish Director for five years, and his previous ministries were at LaSalle Center, as director of a youth retreat house, and parish associate at small parishes in Perronville, Schaffer, Bark River, and Foster City, Michigan. He previously worked as an accountant in Marinette, Wisconsin and the Chicago area. He was born in Chicago, and the rest of his family still lives there. He has a Master's degree in Pastoral Ministry. He was ordained in Green Bay in 1982.

A Brief History of St. Martin

• 317-319 A.D. Born in Pannonia (Hungary) to pagan parents.
• Served in the Roman army until about the year 339, when he gave half his cloak to a beggar, and a vision of Christ drew him toward baptism and the religious life.
• Ordained an exorcist by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers.
• Lived a life of a hermit on the Italian coast.
• Converted his pagan mother, and was flogged for publicly opposing the Arians.
• Built a monastery with St. Hilary in Liguge, where he was chosen Bishop of Tours in 371.
• Lived in the stone and wooden grottoes of Marmoutier, attracted many followers, and became the founder of monasticism in Gaul.
• Rid Tours and Gaul of idolatry and, with St. Ambrose, protested against those who put heretics to death.
• Had an extraordinary gift of miracles and died a peaceful death.
• Feast Day, November 11.