Do Whatever He Tells You

Last week Kaitlyn Maloney (Stewardship & Development Coordinator for the Omaha Archdiocese), Mary Buttell (Director of Stewardship at St. Robert's) and Deacon David attended the Monsignor McGread Conference at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita, Kansas. The conference was about the Spirituality of Stewardship and how that can be lived.

As you enter the Spiritual Life Center there is a sculpture based on the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2). Bishop Gerber has meditated upon this feast for decades. First is Mary interceding to Jesus on behalf of the wedding couple saying, "There is no wine."

Although Mary is present in scripture from the Annunciation to Pentecost, the last time she is quoted is in John 2:5 when she tells the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."

The servants can then serve wine to the guests.

Then the wedding couple is told,

 "thou hast kept the best wine until now."

"As we are transformed into Christ, as we put on His mind, as we follow Him down the road listening to His word and eating His body and blood, our lives take on a different coloration, emit an enhanced fragrance and an increase in faith... the best wine always yet to come."

Eugene Gerber, Bishop Emeritus of Wichita

Family Friendly Service Opportunity

Tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7:00 p.m. we're looking for help in the Steinhausen Center to help stuff envelopes for the parish raffle. This is a kid friendly activity as we can use your help! Feel free to stop in.

Chapel Construction has begun

Before:

 Today:

 

 

We've been told that construction should take about four months. So we'll see if everything is done on the Feast  of St. Nicholas or the Immaculate Conception or the Feast of St. Juan Diego or the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe or maybe Christmas?

In any case, we're one step closer.

What's Different?

The change in the sactuary (since yesterday)

is having the temporary speakers removed.

While the change in the speakers is obvious,

 the big change being made this week

 is upgrading the components.

We will be getting rid of the cassette deck and will be able to play and record CDs (while we will still be able to record digitally.)

For the next day or two the sound system will be down while the upgrades are made. But everything will be set up for this weekend. Of course, we know there will be a few tweaks made after the weekend to adjust a bit (having the sanctuary full of bodies is something you simply can't replicate and test during the week.)

We want to make certain that when Fr. Damian asks, "Can you hear me now?" you can say, "Yes!"

Clergy Retreat

This weekend our parish's clergy gathered at the St. Benedict 

Retreat Center for their annual retreat together.

Fr. Damian led the retreat which considered lessons from St. Francis. In particular they looked at qualities St. Francis displayed in his life such as Solitude, Humility, Prayer, Chastity, Community, Compassion and Service.

It was also a chance for them to pray together, eat

together and connect more with one another.

The clergy have been meeting since the St. Benedict Center was built. The Retreat Center is on the bluff north of Schuyler and is surrounded by farmland. It has been a tradition for them to walk around the section together. They were fortunate that it was a little cooler on Saturday for the walk.

All of us need to "retreat" to God and recharge.

Starting the Chapel

 Next week work begins on the chapel which will

 be built behind the northeast side of the church.

 You may notice the pink paint outlining the addition.

Because the steps to the kitchen will move, one of the big tasks next week will be pulling out all of the concrete and rebar that supported the current "passageway" to the kitchen.

FOCUS Missionaries

We're delighted that three of our parishioners are serving as FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionaries. Rob Cargill (left will soon begin his first year serving at Northwestern (and already has the date of the Nebraska-Northwestern game circled). Shannon Zurcher (center) will start her fourth year with FOCUS and her second on the UConn campus. Andy Dejjka (right) will begin his first year at the University of Illinois.

We were fortunate that last weekend Andy and Rob were able to speak after all seven of our Masses. Their ministry to university students serves people at a critical time of their lives and is perfectly in tune with our parish mission to "Go and Make Disciples." All three of them are supported by the generosity of donors that help them specifically.

You can hear their talk from the link here.

The Server's Party

The priests weren't the only ones to ride the go karts at the Server's Party. Servers were having fun all over the place.

 

 

 

Today's event was just a small gesture to express our thanks to all the servers for the hard work they put in over the course of the year.

Thank you!

The Race

The server party at Papio Fun Park yesterday

 included a race between the priests.

 

 

Fr Vogel said he thought Fr Damian's car was a little fast, but not fast enought to get around Fr Vogel on the outside. Fr Damian did crash once trying to get inside.

It was a good race!

Track

As the Olympics are in full swing, it seems like a good time to look back at the St. Columbkille Track team.

 

Knowing that those who will get very serious about track will do so in High School, the track program at St. Columbkille for 4th to 8th graders is designed to give a good, fun experience. It is also our only sport where both boys and girls compete. Like all our sports, it is open to everyone in the parish, regardless of the school they attend.

 

 

This season there were over 30 personal records achieved by our athletes. Olivia Flott had a particularly strong performance setting school records in shot put, discus and high jump.

Congratulations on a great season!