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.

Ceili Q & A

Q: What is Columb’s Ceili and how do you pronounce ‘Ceili’?

A: Columb is the shortened form of St. Columbkille who is our parish’s patron saint. He was born in Ireland and Ceili [pronounced with a hard C: Kay-Lee] is a Celtic word that refers to a festive party that is all inclusive.

Columb’s Ceili is an annual event at our parish where everyone is invited to come and celebrate together. It is a dinner where the Spirit of St. Columbkille awards are given; it is also a development event with a silent auction before dinner and an oral auction and a dance afterwards. As a signature event of the parish, it fun way to be part of the parish and support its future.

Q: Can you get good deals at the auction?

A: As far as he auction portion, it is a fun way to give to the parish. What most people do is come with a dollar amount in mind that they would like to give to the parish. Then they bid on items up to the amount they wanted to spend. The fact that you end up with something at the end is a bonus. It is a fun way to give a development gift to the parish.

Q: Do you have to bid on items?

A: No. Feel free to come gather with our parish family, enjoy an elegant meal out and enjoy yourself.

Q: What should I do if I have something to donate for the auction?

A: Contact Deacon David at 339-3285 ext 104 or Ceili@saintcolumbkille.org

Q: How much is it to attend and how do I sign up?

A: It is $75 per person. You can call Christine at 614-9266 or Ceili@saintcolumbkille.org

New Years Resolutions

A new year has begun. This is a time for reflecting on the year ahead and choosing how we are going to live differently this year. Though, I must confess, most of my resolutions for a new year go unfulfilled. The same thing happens when I return from my annual retreat. I want to do things differently and stay closer to God, but I end up falling into my same old patterns. My failure most of the time happens because I seek too dramatic of a change.

Personal change occurs in small steps, not big ones. It is possible to make a change in habits if they are incremental. Perhaps the first step in the change requires me to change my thinking, my view of myself and my world.

Each year, the Pope makes recommendations to us for change in his January 1 address. Of course, his view concerns the global community, but I place a few samples of it here to invite you to consider a small change in how you think about our world:

At the start of the New Year, then, I extend to every disciple of Christ and to every person of good will a warm invitation to expand their hearts to meet the needs of the poor and to take whatever practical steps are possible in order to help them. The truth of the axiom cannot be refuted: ‘to fight poverty is to build peace.’…

The recent economic crisis demonstrates how financial activity can at times be completely turned in on itself, lacking any long-term consideration of the common good. This lowering of the objectives of global finance to the very short-term reduces its capacity to function as a bridge between the present and the future, and as a stimulus to the creation of new opportunities for production and for work in the long term. Finance limited in this way to the short and very short term becomes dangerous for everyone, even for those who benefit when the markets perform well…

If the poor are to be given a priority, then there has to be enough room for an ethical approach to economics on the part of those active in the international market, an ethical approach to politics on the part of those in public office, and an ethical approach to participation capable of harnessing the contribution of civil society at local and international levels. International agencies themselves have come to recognize the value and advantage of economic initiatives taken by civil society and local administrations to promote the emancipation and social inclusion of those sectors of the population that often fall below the threshold of extreme poverty and yet are not easily reached by official aid…

Non-material forms of poverty exist which are not the direct and automatic consequence of material deprivation. For example, in advanced societies, there is evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral and spiritual poverty, seen in people whose interior lives are disoriented and who experience various forms of malaise despite their economic prosperity. On the one hand, I have in mind what is known as “moral underdevelopment”, and on the other hand the negative consequences of “super development.”…

Fighting poverty requires attentive consideration of the complex phenomenon of globalization. This is important from a methodological standpoint, because it suggests drawing upon the fruits of economic and sociological research into the many different aspects of poverty. Yet the reference to globalization should also alert us to the spiritual and moral implications of the question, urging us, in our dealings with the poor, to set out from the clear recognition that we all share in a single divine plan: we are called to form one family in which all – individuals, peoples and nations – model their behavior according to the principles of fraternity and responsibility.

Peace,
Fr. Damian
January 3-4 Bulletin

Christmas

"Under the influence of a hedonistic consumerism, unfortunately, Christmas runs the risk of losing its spiritual significance to be reduced to a mere commercial occasion to buy and exchange gifts. In truth, nevertheless, the difficulties and the uncertainties and the very economic crisis that in these months so many families are living, and which affects all of humanity, can be a stimulus to discover the warmth of simplicity, friendship and solidarity -- characteristic values of Christmas. Stripped of consumerist and materialist incrustations, Christmas can thus become an occasion to welcome, as a personal gift, the message of hope that emanates from the mystery of the birth of Christ.

"All of this, nevertheless, is not enough to assimilate fully the value of the feast for which we are preparing. We know that it celebrates the central event of history: the incarnation of the divine Word for the redemption of humanity. St. Leo the Great, in one of his numerous Christmas homilies, thus exclaimed: "Let us exult in the Lord, my dear ones, and open our hearts to the most pure joy. Because the day has dawned that for us means the new redemption, the ancient preparation, eternal bliss. Thus in the yearly cycle, the elevated mystery of our salvation is renewed for us, which, promised at the beginning and fulfilled at the end of times, is destined to endure without end (Homily XXII).

"At Christmas, then, we are not limited to commemorating the birth of a great personality; we do not celebrate simply and in the abstract the mystery of the birth of man or in general, the birth of life; neither do we celebrate only the beginning of a great season. At Christmas, we remember something very concrete and important for man, something essential for Christian faith, a truth that St. John summarized in these few words: "The Word was made flesh.""

Pope Benedict XVI
December 17, 2008