Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Trick or Treating at Papillion Manor

Today the 5th grade students at St. Columbkille Catholic School went trick or treating at Papillion Manor.

They began with a hike to Papillion Manor.

 
 St. John Vianney joined us there.
(btw: he hand sewed that hat himself.)

 Part of the event was trick or treating ...

 
... but the students also brought
 along prayer cards they had made ...

 ... and gave to the residents.

With some treats to sustain them, it was time to head back to school.


40 Days for Life

During 40 Days for Life people have been praying outside of abortion centers across the country, including many of our parishioners praying outside of this one in Bellevue. So far, we've received reports of 469 babies whose lives have been spared from abortion -- that we know of! That number includes this story in Bellevue:

A lone prayer volunteer watched as a mother and daughter left the abortion center, got into their car and drove towards the exit.

When they got to where the vigil participant was standing, they stopped. The daughter help up a sonogram and said, "His feet were moving!"

The mother said her daughter was 12 weeks pregnant -- and the sonogram had convinced her to reject abortion.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

All Saint's - A Holy Day

Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints. In the painting above, by Fra Angelico you will notice that each saint in the painting is different, but all are celebrated together.

For this Holy Day you can attend Mass at St. Columbkille Parish on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. or on Thursday at 6:20, 8:15 a.m. 12:10, 5:30 or 7:00 p.m.


Monday, October 29, 2012

Scouts Family Campout

 Here are some pictures from the
 Cub Scouts Fall Family Campout.

 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Success at the Fair Trade Bazaar

 Last Weekend the Fair Trade Bazaar raised $4,532 in sales and $6,639 in additional orders.

 
 Thank you for your support!

Big Jim's Challenge

On Thursday, August 2nd, Jim Krajicek who is 48 and the father of five, had a stroke. Although living in Grand Island, Jim, Theresa and their family had been very active in the St. Columbkille Community including Jim serving as President of the School Advisory Council. Earlier this month Big Jim's Challenge was held.

The benefit was a huge success. A lot of money for the Krajiceks to help in their accumulating medical bills but more importantly, it showed Theresa and the entire Krajicek family how much they are loved and how much they are cared for.  It was a day filled with the Holy Spirit.

 
 A big thank you to everyone who helped or attended.

 
 
One of the Ad Gentes nuns won the Redbud tree in the raffle.  It was planted it at the Ad Gentes house in Omaha.  Fr. Vitalis said a special blessing of faith and healing for Jim. 

 
They named the tree Big Jim.


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Soccer: Training and Finishing

 In addition to the normal soccer practices this fall, ...

 ... the Athletic Council was able to implement "Trainer Days" to supplement the players' skills. Each week Ted Anderson, UNO Women's Soccer Coach, and Andy Nicolarsen, Head Coach of Bellevue University's Wommen Soccer Team, were on hand to lead drills. This was designed to supplement the work done by their own coaches.

 
 
 
That work may have been a factor in how well the St. Columbkille teams did at their season ending tournament last weekend. There were no official results for those competeing in the U10 or younger groups, but there were in the older divisions. There the U14 boys teams coached by Bill Greco were tournament champions.

 The U13 girls team coached by Kevin Pokorny also took first.

The U11 girls team coached by Jason Brezenski finished second.

Congratulations to all ten St. Columbkille teams who competed in the tournaments! It was a very good year.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Building the Sacristy

Half of what was the chapel will become the new sacristy.

Last summer this area was closed up, but
 work has been in earnest there lately.

 The construction of a wall started at the top.

 
 
 
 
A lot of the work in the last few days has
 focused on the plumbing in the sacristy.

The sacristy will feature a sacrarium, which means some work in the basement as well. A sacrarium is drain that empties directly into soil and is used for disposing of water used to wash sacred items. So a hole has been cut into the basement floor and more work will need to be done so water can drain easily into the ground below the church.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Amazing Trust

"Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

We say these words so often, we might not appreciate the great faith and humility they are intended to express as we are about to receive Jesus hidden in the Eucharist. We have no proof of His existence in the Blessed Sacrament, yet we believe in Jesus' Eucharistic power to heal and help us. The prayer, of course, is from Scripture, in the story of the centurion from Capernaum. Here's the account from Luke's Gospel:

"A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged Him to come, saying, 'He deserves to have You do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.' And Jesus went with them, but when He was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell Him, 'Lord do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to You; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, "Go," and he goes; and to another, "Come here," and he comes; and to my slave, "Do this," and he does it.' When Jesus heard this He was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following Him, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.' When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health."

Jesus was amazed at the centurion. How amazing it is to amaze God! The centurion could be a patron saint for our Year of Faith with his simple, but amazing, trust in Jesus.

This faith does not appear to have come suddenly to the centurion. The Jewish elders knew this Roman soldier's life of faith: "He deserves to have You do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us."

And the centurion above all was humble. Great saints tell us that we need humility to grow in other virtues, like faith. We have to know who we are and Who God is; we are nothing before He Who is Everything. "I did not consider myself worthy to come to You," the centurion said in his message to Jesus.

As a soldier, the centurion knew about authority. He was subject to his commanders, and his soldiers were subject to him. He accepted the notion of human authority and believed in Jesus' authority over everything -- even illness and death. The centurion did not ask Jesus to go out of His way. He knew what our Lord was capable of. Jesus' word -- even from afar -- was enough.

And "when the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health."

Please, Lord, grant us the confident trust of the centurion. Strengthen our faith in You!

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this about exporing and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

They put the CRAZY in Crazy Hair Day

Due to the success of the Not-A-Thon, today the students at St. Columbkille Catholic School got to celebrate with Crazy Hair Day.