Appreciated

Today is National Principal Appreciation Day. At St. Columbkille Catholic School we celebrated after Mass highlighting the qualities Mr. Makey and Mrs. Redburn display as principals at our school.

Thank you Principal Makey and Asst. Principal

 Redburn for your service to our school!

"Now Thank We All Our God"

" Now thank we all our God,
With hearts, and hands, and voices
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices
Who, from our mothers' arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today." 

-- Traditional hymn

While driving this week I noticed that some homes already were lit up with Christmas lights, and  I was kind of sad about that.

I've come to accept that people like to start decorating early, while the weather is still nice. But jumping ahead to Christmas often means glancing over both Thanksgiving and Advent, two times of the year we should savor and enjoy.

I love Thanksgiving and hate to watch it fade as Christmas shopping not only encroaches upon it but completely envelopes it. As a nation we need an occasion to just pause and say thanks. We often forget how blessed we are and tend to take our freedom and prosperity for granted. We need to remember God, the source of all blessings.

I love the 9 a.m. Masses that St. Columbkille offers on holidays like Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Apparently others do, too, because the pews seem to get fuller each year. Musicians and other liturgical volunteers give us a full celebration.

The holidays become more meaningful in the context of Mass, especially Thanksgiving. Worshipers praise and thank God and ask for His blessings on themselves, their families and even the dinner bread they bring and will later share at home. They also bring food pantry donations, a way to acknowledge their blessedness by sharing with others.

The entire Mass puts me in the right frame of mind to enjoy all the other good things about Thanksgiving --  including food, family and football.

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Our Bishops Met

This week the US Bishops gathered in Baltimore earlier this week. There they heard from apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò who encouraged them to be witnesses of Christ. He said, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers."

Also during the week, our Archbishop George Lucas was elected by his fellow bishops to Chair of the Committee on Education.

There are currently 265 active and 180 retired Bishops in the United States. Archbishop Elden Curtiss was among the retired bishops attending.

Bishop Christopher Coyne (@bishopcoyne) tweeted some picture from the conference including the one above and two below. Above he shows his view at the conference.

Here he shows how much space the bishops had at their seats.

Above is the device bishops would use to cast their votes.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley decribed the conference in his blog:

There was also time spent at the conference on the situation in the Philippines and how the Catholics of the United States might assist them, both through prayer and monetary contributions, in relief and rebuilding efforts.

Perhaps one of the most widely anticipated actions we took during our meeting was the election of our new president, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky who will succeed Cardinal Dolan in that position. ...

Of course, the issue of the HHS mandate was also discussed at the meeting, and on the final day of the conference, we released a Special Message on the issue that I want to share with you here:

Mary's Minions

Somehow two boys turned a conversation about clothes into a lesson about our Blessed Mother Mary.

My sons Paul, 10, and David, 6, had just changed clothes, and both were wearing striped polo shirts. Paul casually mentioned that he thought his shirt was the color of angels: blue, white and yellow. He said those were the colors he typically saw in artwork of angels.

David, wearing green stripes, said he was wearing Mary's colors.

Wait a minute. What? Paul and I looked at each other, both confused. I told David that blue is traditionally associated with Mary, that she is often pictured wearing it, that sometimes mothers dress their children in blue out of devotion to our Lady, and there's even an old  song and poem about a "Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue."

 So I had to ask, "Why is green Mary's color?"

"Mary wears green, not blue," he said, pointing to a painting behind me. Sure enough, in an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mary was wearing green. 

"OK, green can be Mary's color too."

Then David said, "I could be Mary's minion."

That comment dazed me. Later I realized he probably said that because he was imitating her in wearing green. And of course minions are popular among 6-year-olds now because of the "Despicable Me" movies.

But at the moment I thought, "Wow, where did he get that from?"

I told David that actually Mary has minions. Sometimes they call themselves her children, her servants, even her slaves. And when we place ourselves at her service, we serve Jesus at the same time.

But I kept thinking about minions. What a perfect word. One dictionary has this definition: "a favorite or dependent, especially a servile or fawning one." It's good to be one of Mary's favorites, dependent on her, serving her, even fawning over her. I think her Son would like that.

I'm going to encourage David to be Mary's minion. And I want to be one, too.

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Helping the School at H.S.A.

At the Home School Association (HSA) meeting last night Principal Makey gave an in-depth report on the results of the TerraNova testing that was recently done for all the students in grades 3 through 7. This standardized test is done to assess reading, language, math, science, and social studies. He could immediately see that the effort put into reading the last few years has shown fruits in the scores.

After he displayed the scores grade by grade he showed his teaching roots by asking (rather than telling) if the parents saw any trends? They quickly spotted two. The first is that as the students get older the gap between their scores and the national averages get bigger each year. He said this is what he expected and wanted to see, as it should be in every good school. The second is that while all the scores were higher than the national average, math scores were relatively lower. He then addressed specific, implementable steps the school will undertake to make those scores even better in the future.

Perhaps the most exciting event of the meeting was hearing that the Not-A-Thon, as it came down to the wire brought in $31,500 exceeding the $30,000 goal. In comparison, in previous years selling candy or other items, the best the fundraiser ever netted was just over $15,000. This is due in a large part to a dedicated group of parents who create excitement in the kids to ask for help and in keeping the fundraiser in everyone's minds.

On Friday HSA has their next event: Turkey Bingo. A number of prizes have been collected including a signed Doug McDermott jersey. The food, bingo and fun will all be ready Friday starting at 6 p.m. in the Social Level of the church.

Helping those affected by Typhoon Haiyan

Catholic Relief Services teams arrived at the port in Ormoc (Leyte Island, Phillipines) on Sunday and were in Palo today.  Travel has been extremely slow due to roads clogged with debris. Teams report a large percentage of homes are unlivable. Trees and posts are uprooted and shops and other buildings destroyed. Communication with the Manila office only on a very limited basis through satellite phone with poor signal, as they have not reached any area with cell service yet.

Late yesterday the first information arrived from Samar Island and it is similarly as devastated as Tacloban City, a focus of media reporting.  Initial reports indicate that hundreds are confirmed dead so far and thousands are missing, according to a statement by a local official on November 10th.


Samar Island has approximately 733,000 people. It was the first location that the storm made landfall. Its residents have not been able to get information out or contact loved ones.  Giporlos and Guiuan are reported to be “totally ruined” and 2,000 are listed as missing in Basey alone, according to a member of Samar’s Disaster Management Council.  It is assumed that similar situations will be found in other areas of Southern Samar which took Haiyan’s first direct hit.  UNDAC assessments teams are conducting aerial surveys of Samar today so some additional information will become available.

In addition to 18,000 tarps, CRS support includes water and hygiene supplies and non-food-item kits for 5,000 families. Cash-for-work community clean up and debris removal area also planned.

St Columbkille Parish will hold a Second Collection

this weekend to support Catholic Relief Services.

• $8 provides a water kit for a family. This includes 1 jerry can, 1 pail and aqua tabs for water purification.
• $15 provides an emergency shelter kit. This includes tarps and nails that are combined with local materials to create emergency shelter.
• $22 provides household living supplies. This includes sleeping mats, three blanket, utensils, plastics, glasses, and a cooking pot.
• $28 provides hygiene kits. This includes a two-month family supply of soap, laundry detergent, toothbrush, toothpaste, feminine sanitary napkins, and towels.

Note: Dollar amounts cover items only. They do not include costs associated with distribution, training and monitoring.

Veteran's Day

St Joan of Arc is the patron saint of soldiers. Just after the Battle of Patay, her greatest victory, she came across an enemy soldier who was mortally wounded. Joan dismounted and held the man’s head in her lap to comfort him as he died.

Today we recall all veterans and pray that all who rest with God rest in the same grace and mercy shown by St. Joan of Arc.

Souls and Goals

The last few weeks Fr Vogel has been practicing and preparing play in a big soccer game last night. He wasn't the only one excited for the game:

Last night there was a standing room only crowd for Souls and Goals: Soccer Cup 2013. There clergy, like Fr Vogel, took on the Lions of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. (They took their mascot from Archbishop Kenrick's motto, noli irritare Leonem, "Do not anger the lion.")

In the end the Lions won 2-0 in this event held to promote vocations. Thank you to Katie Pesha of the St. Louis Achdiocese for sharing the news and some pictures.

Starting Late

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You, too, go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. He went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, he found others standing around and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You, too, go into my vineyard.' "

We are entering the last days of the Year of Faith, which concludes Nov. 24, the feast of Christ the King.

The Year of Faith has given us an opportunity to deepen our relationship with God. Up to this point many of us may have failed to live out this call from the Church. But that doesn't mean it's too late to begin -- even as we approach the eleventh hour of this specially designated year.

In an April homily Pope Francis reminded us that we are all journeying toward the heavenly Jerusalem, "the happy day when we will see the Lord's face, and be with Him forever, in His love."

Our Lord reminds us in Matthew's Gospel quoted above, and in other parts of Scripture, that He welcomes our steps toward Him, even if we start late, even if we falter.

Undoubtedly some late-starters are in Heaven. St. Dismas, the name traditionally given to the good thief who was crucified next to Christ, exemplifies this type of saint. Dismas was a criminal. Yet he asked for God's mercy as he was dying. Jesus' reply: "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

It would be wrong to intentionally procrastinate in setting forth on our journey, to put off God and then presume His mercy. But God always welcomes earnest workers into His vineyard, even when we begin late in the day.

Pope Francis said that the work would be hard at times, quoting Saints Paul and Barnabus: "we must undergo many trials if we are to enter the Kingdom of God." Our Holy Father went on: "The journey of the Church, and our own personal journeys as Christians, are not always easy; they meet with difficulties and trials. These obstacles are part of the path that leads to God's glory, just as they were for Jesus, Who was glorified on the cross; we will always encounter them in life!"

The journey is one of faith and perseverance, the pope said. We must "remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with hope in the Lord. This is the secret of our journey."

Let us begin, even in this late hour in the Year of Faith, toward our eternal destination in Christ!

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Saints Parade

Kindergarten, First and Second Grade students had a "Saints Parade" through the school today. Each student decorated a crown with the name of the saint. They wore the crown as as they paraded through the school.