Rite of Election

The Easter Vigil is the liturgical highlight of the year. At this Mass new members are baptized, receive First Communion and/or are confimed into the Church, depending on their circumstances. On March 1st, a number of people who will be entering the Church at St. Columbkille gathered at the Cathedral and were welcomed by Archbishop Curtis. A few of them are pictured above.

Zoo Trip

Last week Sacred Heart Preschoolers visted the zoo. It was really a great time for the preschoolers, parents and staff!

4th Grade Basketball

The 4th grade girls were winners of the Holy Ghost basketball tournament. Congratulations!

Children's Mission

The first night of our parish mission, after the children exited for their mission, Deacon Keating commented on the 100 or so children in attendance saying, "Maybe tomorrow we'll have to go downstairs and the kids will stay up here." The Children's Mission was led by members of Pro Sanctity and was titled "Celebrate the Big Heart of Jesus." On Wednesday the kids were split into 14 groups (a few pictured above) and each was assigned a station of the cross. The groups drew pictures about their station, created a skit about that station and led the enitre group in a corresponding prayer.

A History Lesson

In the parish office, we have gotten a larger than normal number of people asking when Fr Damian's latest homily would be on the website. He gave what he called "A History Lesson" behind this weekend's Gospel. It is posted at http://www.saintcolumbkille.org/generalinfo/mp3/200903/20090322HomilyFrDamianZuerlein.mp3

Twitter Poll

Twitter is an online service for keeping in touch in real time. It has been brought up as a possible way to keep people in the loop about what is going on.

People who are interested in receiving messages would do a free sign-up on Twitter, then they would decide whether they want to receive their messages as an email, as a text message to their phone or as an instant message on their computer. When the parish want to communicate something, a message 140 characters or less would be sent.

While this was designed for people to keep in touch with friends about what they are doing, President Obama started using it during the campaign and the Israeli government uses it to keep people updated in the war with Hamas.

Right now we're playing with the idea -- as we're also curious to see how many people fill out a poll like this!

2009 Spirit of St Columbkille

On March 7th the parish celebrated our third Ceili. Besides the dinner and auction, Fr Damian presented two Spirit of St. Columbkille awards. The Spirit of St Columbkille awards are given to those who quietly demonstrate to the rest of us what it means to be a disciple. The first went to Barry and Gretchen Reid who have been active in the parish since they joined in 1977. The second award went to the John & Crystal Senger family who have taken very seriously the parish's mission to "GO and Make Disciples" as the now live in Kansas.

Guatemalan Visitors

On St. Patrick's day the school had a number of visitors from Guatemala. They were:

Carlos Humberto del Valle Cano: Director of Catholic Schools of Huehuetenango, Padre Marco Aurelio Alonzo: pastor of the Cathedral of Huehuetenango, Maria Alejandrina (Jandy) Gomez Vasquez: Director of Social Ministry, Nora Elizabeth Marroquin Lemus: Director of the Disciples of the Good Shepherd, and Alfredo Lopez Lopez: Medical Director.

The K-2 students sang two songs for their visitors, greeted them in Spanish and sent along some gifts to their sister school in Guatemala. Among their other stops in the school were visits to other classes, lunch in the faculty lounge and a visit to the computer lab.

St. Mark's Text Message

From Fr. Damian's March 1st Homily:

Mark's Gospel, that we're hearing this liturgical year, is very concise. Very dense. Not a wasted word. Nothing extra. Mark is like the original texter.

http://www.saintcolumbkille.org/generalinfo/mp3/200903/20090301HomilyFrDamianZuerlein.mp3

Daddy & Me

Daddy & Me Night is an annual night out for dads (or grandpa's, uncles...) to spend some one on one time with their preschoolers. Dads and preschoolers spend time completing crafts, making a snack and learning a little about St. Joseph (the patron saint of fathers). It is also a nice opportunity for some of the preschool parents to meet. This year over 50 daddies attended with their preschoolers!

5th Grade Sportsmanship

Because of the number of interested 5th graders, two basketball teams were formed. Now, in tournament time, the teams are showing up for each other's games and cheering. Many people come to the gym to witness this through word of mouth or by the volume of the cheering! Even the refs have commented on what a great bunch of kids they are! Tonight the teams play each other. Regardless of the outcome, they have already demonstrated they are all winners and an example to the rest of us.

Deacon Keating

We have Deacon James Keating from the Institute of Priestly Formation leading our parish mission. Before the mission, Dcn. Keating gave the homily at all seven of our parish Masses.

On our webpage (www.saintcolumbkille.org) we post homilies given in our parish. In the past we have always posted one homily per homilist each weekend. But this time we posted multiple homilies for Dcn. Keating because he gave distinctly different homilies at some of the Masses.

With a smile, Dcn Keating said he does this, "So the priest pays attention."

Better Together - SPIRITuality ALIVE

During Lent, the SPIRITuality ALIVE groups are reading and discussing the book, Better Together-40 Days of Community.
A two or three page reading for each day offers a practical way to express love for each other.
Groups meet every evening Sunday through Thursday as well as in the morning Tuesday through Friday.
Check this blog for reflections from the groups and share your thoughts with us.
If you would like to purchase a book and read along with us, call the Religious Education Office - 339-0990.