Raingutter Regatta!

Part of SPLASH! Thursday at the Schwer

Splash Pad was the Raingutter Regatta.

Scouts designed an decorated their boats for the event ...

 

 ... and provided the windpowere to move them along.

 

Thank you to everyone who participated

and helped make the gathering possible.

Training Servers

Last night Fr. Vogel held a training session for new servers. 

The new servers had a chance to role play their tasks and

Fr. Vogel created an instruction book to help them.

There will be another training for those wanting to

become servers Monday at 6:30 in the church.

How Many Can We Fit?

Each year Columb's Ceili raises money, typically for a brick & mortar project, for Helping Hands. This year the Helping Hands Project was Extreme Helpover: Bathroom Edition. The project is to update the main bathrooms at church.

As the work portion of the project was ready to begin, it turned out we were missing something. We don't have an official plaque displayed in the church showing the official capacity. We discovered we need to have that before the bathroom construction begins.

So our official capacity is being refigured very shortly. Then the work may begin.

Server Training

Fr. Vogel will have the following

training sessions for new servers:

Thursday, July 28th 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Monday, August 1st: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Parents are asked to fill out a form at the start of the session.

Server should be in at least 4th grade, although
Fr. Vogel was in 3rd grade when he was a server.

Couples' Stories

This is National Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week. The dates of NFP Awareness Week highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood.

Below are links to the stories of couples who are living NFP:

"My Husband the Gentleman" by Sarah Hammond. A blog-like reflection on a husband’s chivalrous treatment of his wife.

"Be Her Joseph" by Tom Mealey. A husband reflects on his appreciation of NFP and his spiritual journey in striving to be a better husband and father.

"Escape from Fuddledom"  by Sharon and Mike Phelan. A funny and thoughtful reflection on spiritual conversion by an NFP couple.

"Connections" by Jennifer and John Campbell. A young couple shares their experience on how NFP has strengthened their marriage.

"NFP, the Theology of the Body and Our Marriage" by Michael and Alysha Chambers. A couple's witness story.

"How Natural Family Planning changed my Life"  by Dawn Farias. A reflection on the personal and spiritual growth fostered by the practice of NFP by a wife and mother.

St. Kinga

St. Kinga (sometimes called St. Kunegunda) is credited with discovering a large salt mine near Krakow, Poland. Because of this, she is the patron saint of miners. Within the salt mine, miners have carved a chapel dedicated to her made entirely out of salt. (The altar area, including the statues of her in the center are pictured above.)

St. Kinga was a niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and great-niece of Saint Hedwig. Kinga's sisters were St. Margaret of Hungary and Blessed Jolenta of Poland. At age sixteen she was married to Prince Boleslaw V of Poland. After he died, she turned down becoming Queen of Poland in order to join the Poore Clares. Her feast day is July 24th.

Next weekend the Poore Clare sisters in our diocese will visit us as they work to build a new convent.

Measuring

Today there were some guys

measuring the windows in the church.

 

There will be more

about this soon.

 



Help Convert a Strip Club into a Community Center

Two ways you can help:

Be part of the work team Saturday August 6

(one of the Step Out and Serve Projects)

or

Make a donation to help cover the

materials the work force will need:

• Paint - 2 five gallon buckets - $98 each
• Drywall - 35 4x8 sheets - $6.49 each
• 5 Pre-hung interior foors - $65 each
• 5 sets of door hardware - $15 each
• 6 surface light fixtures - $105 each

This is an inCommon project located at 2909 Leavenworth Street. For more information about working or contributing email Jean Marie or call 402-593-9214.

New Website for the Catholic School

In response to a survey of parents, a new website

is up for St. Columbkille Catholic School.

The site is still being finished, but you can see it coming together at: http://www.saintcolumbkilleschool.org/

Police chaplains help officers, victims of crime

Deacon John Zurek was interviewed as part of an article Joe Ruff wrote for the The Catholic Voice on Police Chaplains as the issue also looked at how "Police officers turn to God in stressful job." Here is part of that article:

Police officers have to be tough, decisive and in control.

But they face difficult emotional situations that can challenge their ability to do their job, such as telling family members a loved one has been killed or investigating the death of a child who is the same age as their own daughter or son.

That is where police chaplains can help.

Chaplains ease the burden on officers by helping them deliver hard news to the families of victims, spending time with those families on the religious and emotional aspects of tragedy - and being available for the officers themselves, said Deacon John Zurek of St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion.

"Our primary goal is to take care of the officers," said Deacon Zurek, who is a chaplain with the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office and the Bellevue police and fire departments. "They're supposed to be macho, nothing can hurt them. But I've had a 6-foot-2 deputy in the field, crying."
 
Click here for the story at The Catholic Voice

God is Wild About You!

Here's a video from this summer's Vacation Bible School:

Joining Hands For Jeanne

There was a lot of grilling last night for the benefit for Jeanne Kemmy Longenecker. The money raised is to help her family meet the overwhelming medical costs of her treatment for colon cancer.

 Besides the food ...

... there was a split the pot, a live auction...

 ... a silent auction ...

 and t shirts for sale.

It was a packed night. Thank you to everyone who came. It was great of you to show your support.

If you missed the evening but would still like to help Jeanne and her family, donations can be sent to Pinnacle Bank: "Benefit for Jeanne Longenecker."

When is the Rosary?

So when can you pray the rosary with

others at St. Columbkille Parish?

Three Main times:

1. Folowing the 8:15 a.m. weekday Mass;
2. Before the Saturday 5 p.m. Mass; and
3. Before the Sunday 7:30 a.m. Mass.

So stop by and pray along.

Soccer Skills

Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. those in 1st through 6th grade can come

 to St. Columbkille's Soccer field to work on their soccer skills.

The first week there were eight players. Last Saturday there

were over 20 and the numbers are expected to grow.

Players are being split into stations to

 work on specific skills in small groups.

To emphasize passing, for the scrimmages Saturday

 players had to pass the ball three times

 before they were allowed to shoot.

The idea is to learn and have fun.

If anyone wants to come, there is no fee.

Just bring a ball and some water Saturday.

Twilight Criterium Route

Saturday is the 5th annual running of the Papillion Twilight Criterium.

We mention this because during the race part of Washington Street (aka 84th Street) is a one way street going south. So if you're planning to attend Mass Saturday, you may want to check your route or come a little early and watch some cycling first.

Let's Go to Spain

World Youth Day is August 16th-21st in Madrid.

If you can't make it, don't worry,

make a virtual pilgrimage!

Join faithful youth from around the globe for World Youth Day 2011! Create an avatar and send it on a virtual journey to Madrid, Spain for the largest youth event in the world. Through this site you can gather with the thousands who will be taking this pilgrimage for a personal encounter with Christ. Just go to http://virtualworldyouthday.org/.

When you sign up, be sure to click to tell your parish!

The Crusader Classic

Some pictures from the

Crusaders Classic last weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Mission Coop next weekend

Father John Hurley, O.S.F.S. will be visiting next weekend and will speak at all the Masses. Father is a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and is a missionary priest serving St. Anne Mission in Calvinia, South Africa. He will speak on behalf of the Orphanage there.

The charism of Oblates of St. Francis deSales is to spread the spirituality of St.Francis de Sales. This spirituality is optimistic in that it teaches that we are to achieve holiness in our state in life (teacher, housewife, students, plumbers, lawyer, etc.) We do this by living in the present moment uniting our will to God’s Will. We do the ordinary, extraordinarily well. The Oblates of St. Francis deSales spread this charism all over the world including mission territories in South America, South Africa, India, Mexico, US Virgin islands, Haiti and the Phillippines.

“Missionaries give by going; We go by giving.”