Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Roman Catholic Church, Lagrangeville NY

WOW is all I have to say. I have never seen a Reverend with less compassion in my life. Two of my friends passed away last year and the family had their memorial funeral this past Saturday at this church. I believe the Reverend was John Wilson. This man did not want to be here. He rushed the family and I believe I even saw him running out of the church the minute it was over to go somewhere. The worst part was when Reverend Wilson literally grabbed the mike away from a Native American family member about to read a prayer. I was horrified and felt terrible for the family. How do you do that to a grieving person in the house of God? The church itself was beautiful, the Reverend made a sad event even sadder. You would think a man of the cloth would know the difference between right and wrong.

The church itself is beautiful. Though Rev. John Wilson is the WORST Priest I have ever seen, stay away from him. We were at a funeral memorial this past Saturday for a husband an wife that passed away in an accident a year ago. From the onset this man seemed to be in a rush to get away (he literally ran out right after the ceremony was finished). First he told the grieving daughter of the deceased that he does not think she will keep it together on stage and should probably not go up. Then he told her again to speed things up so they could get started. His entire speech showed zero compassion. Even though he asked for details about the deceased he did not mention them all besides their names. If that was not enough, then the most amazing thing happened, a relative of the deceased, a converted American Indian who is now catholic (see any irony here - Saint Kateri Tekakwitha) was going to say a prayer and she had prepared a three sentence statement that was going to discuss Jesus's commitment to the religion that led into the prayer was starting to talk, this man got up from sitting down and talk her to read the prayer. When she started speaking again, he literally RIPPED AWAY the microphone in front of everyone and scornfully told her to do WHAT HE SAYS. Hundred plus people were shocked. We were here to mourn the loss of two great people that we literally had a wait a year to do and this man made a mockery of it. I am appalled at what this man did to this poor family trying to mourn the loss.

Registered and started attending when we moved here. When I asked for a sponsor letter to be a godparent, Fr Pancrose said he would have to look at my history of donations before he could provide a sponsor letter. WOW. Just wow.

Not only a beautiful church, but spiritual feeling & sense of reverence is a apparent.

My family and I go here every week but the church is slipping. Father Pancrose is very hard to understand and that is why they are losing a lot of parishioners to other churches.

I am newer to the area and was looking for a local parish to join. I had driven past Saint Kateri and will openly admit that I was drawn to the beauty of the parish, as I am sure so many others are. This is an absolutely beautiful church, and as I sit here now and read through the reviews I notice that almost every review comments on the beauty of the church and it's large parking lot, but one thing I don't see many people commenting on is the welcoming environment of the church and after my recent visit I can see why there are not many comments about this. I went to the parish office and was warmly greeted by the woman who was working in the office. I explained to her that I wanted to register with the parish and that I was interested in having my son baptized there. She said that that was fine, but that the father would like to meet with me. At first I thought that this was a very nice gesture that the father wanted to take time to meet with new parishoners, however this "meeting" turned into what felt like an interview that lasted about half an hour. I walked out of that meeting feeling extremely unwelcomed and judged as a Catholic. I have been raised Catholic, I have received all of my sacraments, I went to religious education classes for years, Sunday school, Bible School and now I am beginning my son's journey in the Catholic Church and yet I walked out of there feeling like I am a bad Catholic. I have never in my life been made to feel this way. In that moment I felt like I wanted to walk away from the Catholic Church altogether. I have always been raised believing that the church is a welcoming place, a community. I never imagined that I would come to a church and be "interviewed" and left questioning myself as a Catholic. I can see why so many people are leaving the Catholic Church, because when you are made to feel unwelcomed or judged it is not a community that you want to be a part of. After this incident I made it my quest to not give up on the Catholic Church and luckily I found a church that is not as local as Saint Kateri, but that welcomed my son and myself into their parish with open arms and more importantly no judgements.