St. Columbkille Parish

Transcription

1 Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 10, East Sixth Street Papillion, Nebraska Phone (402) Fax: (402) Fr. Pat Nields Associate Pastor St. Columbkille Parish Annual Report Fr. Dave Reeson Pastor It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. - Mother Teresa

2 Monday, September 11 8:15 a.m. Hai Tran(Fr. Nields) 5:30 p.m. John & Lorraine Humpal-Anniversary (Fr. Nields) Tuesday, September 12 8:15 a.m. Huong & Khan Tran (Fr. Nields) 5:30 p.m. Christian Swanson-Blessings (Fr. Reeson) Wednesday, September 13 8:15 a.m. Jerome & Marian Rosenberg (Fr. Nields) 5:30 p.m. Michelle Riepe (Fr. Reeson) Thursday, September 14 8:15 a.m. Poor Souls (Fr. Reeson) 5:30 p.m. Dean Candea (Fr. Nields) MASS INTENTIONS BRIEF ANNOUNCEMENTS Friday, September 15 6:20 a.m. Poor Souls (Fr. Reeson) 8:15 a.m. Ed & Rosemary Koley (Fr. Reeson) Saturday, September 16 8:15 a.m. Communion Service (Dcn. Vande Berg) 5:00 p.m. Margaret Janak (Fr. Nields) 6:30 p.m. Marie Schroeder (Fr. Reeson) Sunday, September 17 7:30 a.m. Denise Lane (Fr. Nields) 9:00 a.m. Hattie Suchy (Fr. Reeson) 10:30 a.m. Kathy Bellino (Fr. Reeson) 12:00 p.m. Link & Margaret Lynam (Fr. Nields) 5:00 p.m. For the Parish (Fr. Reeson) To view the Parish Calendar, please visit The calendar is on the right side of the page. Theology of the Body will begin on Monday, Sept. 11th at 7PM in the Steinhausen Center. Study guides can be ordered for $15. Please contact Joe or Kristen Klapatch at if you desire a study guide. The first H.S.A. meeting of the school year is Tuesday, Sept. 12 th at 7pm in the School Gym. The Uniform Exchange will be open and CARE cards will be available for sale at this and all HSA meetings. We hope to see you there! Bundle Sunday Our St. Vincent de Paul Society will be collecting gently used winter coats, gloves, mittens, scarves, & hats for the homeless on Sept. 23/24. Please drop off your donations at the SVdP truck in the church parking lot. Join us for the Knights of Columbus Breakfast after Mass from 8:00-noon. RE Classes Monday, Sept. 11, 5:00-6:15 pm Wednesday, Sept. 13, 5:45-7:00 pm THE FAMILY FUN FESTIVAL IS SEPTEMBER 17! Volunteer: All sign-up sheets can be found in the Social Hall. Pick what suits you best. For more details, contact Daniela Kueper at or daniela.kueper@hotmail.com. Raffle: Raffle tickets for the 2017 St. Columbkille Family Fun Festival are available in the Social Hall, the narthex of the church, and the Parish Office. For more information, contact Ben Robles at brobles86@gmail.com. Donate: We are looking for gently used stuffed animals, glassware, 2-liter bottles of pop, and gallon ice-cream buckets with lids. All items can be dropped off in the Social Hall at the bottom of the staircase. The day of the festival, you can also donate baked goods and plants. The next H.S.A. Restaurant Night will be Monday, Sept.18 th from 4-8pm at the Texas Roadhouse in Shadow Lake. Be sure to mention St. Columbkille School & thank them for supporting us! On Sept. 23, join Archbishop Lucas at St. Mary's in Bellevue for Mass at 8:00 a.m. followed by a rosary procession to the local abortion facility. For more info, contact Mike and Lynn Jones at Teen Faith This Week Small Group Faith Sharing: Small Group meetings are held in the homes of the adult leaders. For information on where your teen s group meets, contact Nicole at (402) or ncook@saintcolumbkille.org. Teen Faith Next Week Large Group: We ll spend time in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament & explore why and how we pray for others. Preschoolers are doing so well! We continue to talk about the world God has made for us. We are unique and wonderful in His eyes! Reminder: there are no preschool classes Friday, September 15. The Creation Care Team of St. Columbkille invites you to join in prayer with millions of Christians around the world to celebrate the Season of Creation. In this time of climate change and the ongoing damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, the country certainly needs our prayers. St. Columbkille Athletics will now offer St. Columbkille Crusaders Cheer! Download forms at Basketball Registration for Grades 2-8 is now open! Evaluations will be held for Grades 5-8. Deadline to register is Sept.15 th. Sign up online! St. Columbkille 3-on-3 Basketball: Sunday, September 17th at the Family Fun Festival. Fees are $40 per team. Deadline is Sept. 11, Register online! 2 St. Columbkille Parish

3 A Letter from Our Pastor As I was visiting the playground the other day, I saw a group of children praying in the Mary Garden. Their faith was a beautiful witness to me, and reminds me of the verse in Matthew 19 when Jesus says, Let the children come to me. I do not know what they were praying about, but it was heartwarming to see them turn to God and to Mary. We can learn a lot from these children, whose faith leads them to give of themselves through stewardship. Our Parish Mission Statement is to Go and Make Disciples!, and stewardship is the action we take in response to Jesus call to follow him as disciples. Stewardship is rooted in gratitude for the unique gifts that God has given to each of us, and leads us to share these gifts with others out of love. We ve been a stewardship parish since 1979, and the four pillars of stewardship--prayer, Formation, Service, and Hospitality provide many illustrations of the vibrancy of our faith community. I am delighted to see parishioners give of their time to know God better through prayer and formation. For example, this year we continue to increase the number of adults and families who commit some time each week to prayer in our Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I am similarly inspired by some of the fruit of our formation program; we welcomed 12 adults into the Church at Easter, baptized 134 infants, saw the Confirmation of 134 students, and 123 students received their first Holy Communion. Moreover, I am incredibly thankful for all the ways the stewards of our parish have used their talents to serve God and others over the past year. We are blessed with nearly 100 active ministries, each fulfilling a different need, and parishioners have given countless hours to serve within the church, school, religious formation programs, and in different community organizations. Be sure to check out our feature articles in this Annual Report that showcase the Our Parish Mission Statement is to Go and Make Disciples!, and stewardship is the action we take in response to Jesus call to follow him as disciples. wonderful service of but a few of our parishioners involved in the Secret Kindness Agents, Legion of Mary, and a Prison Bible Study. This just scratches the surface on the incredible stewardship in our parish. I am also pleased to report some noteworthy successes in our parish s stewardship of treasure. This year, we were able to fully pay off the Pave the Way construction loan, which was originally $280,000. Our contributions will now go toward energy efficient air-conditioning units in Phase 3 of this project, and we ll move forward once we have half of the money needed. Additionally, we saw our St. Columbkille Educational Trust grow to be over $1 million. This fund allows us to give out $20,000 every year in tuition assistance, $2,100 for preschool tuition assistance, $2,000 for youth ministry to participate in the National Catholic Youth Conference, and $4,500 to support many worthy activities within our Religious Education Office. As you read the financial report in this issue, you will see that our parishioners are very generous to a wide variety of worthy causes such as donating to our FOCUS missionaries, Habitat for Humanity, and the Essential Pregnancy Services Baby Bottle Drive. In closing, I want to briefly touch on a final pillar of stewardship: Hospitality. A friend of mine by the name of Fr. John Pietramale, the Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Adalbert s, told me he recently went to a Protestant Church on a Sunday morning where he was welcomed and greeted at least 20 times by staff, the minister, and parishioners. I know St. Columbkille is a warm and welcoming community, but I also know we can do more! We are moving towards the day when everyone who walks through the doors of our church will be welcomed as Christ and as a faith community we will be seeking to deepen our commitment to stewardship as a way of life in which we gratefully and lovingly share from our Godgiven gifts of time, talent, and treasure. How can each of us use our gifts to love and praise God? Thank you for your ongoing support, and for being children of God who make the culture of stewardship thrive at St. Columbkille! Pax, Fr. Dave Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 10,

4 Stewardship: Discipleship in Action! A CULTURE OF HOSPITALITY, FORMATION, SERVICE, AND PRAYER THE REMPE FAMILY: SECRET KINDNESS AGENTS Life for a young family can be chaotic, but even in the midst of a packed schedule, the Rempe Family makes time to give back to others. Jim and Jessica, along with their children, Rylee, Addison, Eli, and Harper, use the gifts they have received from God to build up the community around them. In addition to coaching, playing on sports teams, teaching Vacation Bible School, altar serving, and lectoring at Mass, the family participates together in the Secret Kindness Agents, a group that Jessica started last year for families to come together to serve others. Life is so busy, and every night you have things to do, practices to be at, and places to go, so we just thought we needed to provide opportunities for families to come together with other families and work in service - to give of their time, talents, and energy for the betterment of others, Jessica explained. The Secret Kindness Agents spread charity in little ways, whether by chalking inspirational quotes in the park or making matching keychains for kindergarteners and their moms for the first day of school. Many times, they support people in times of crisis. When the principal of St. Patrick School in Elkhorn passed away, the Secret Kindness Agents made shamrocks of encouragement and prayers and hung them all We needed to provide opportunities for families to come together with other families and work in service - to give of their time, talents, and energy for the betterment of others. over St. Patrick school. They plan to continue uplifting others in times of trial by making survival kits for mothers of babies in the NICU and Mother s Day cards for Alzheimer patients. There s just so much sadness around us, Jessica said. You don t know what else to do besides pray and do something kind for someone else. One of the goals of the group is to perform acts of kindness without spending money so that anyone can participate, but they occasionally hold donation drives for various causes. 4 St. Columbkille Parish While some of the events are school-related, many benefit the entire community and all families are welcome to be a part of the Secret Kindness Agents. Giving up time is a sacrifice, but it yields a huge reward when done together as a family. Their spirit of service extends outside their own family and into other areas of their lives, as well, as they perform works of service with the teams they co-coach, using their experiences to grow stronger as a team, a family, and a community. I feel like our family has grown closer, just making time to give of ourselves, together, Jessica said. I ve seen a change in my kids, wanting to do things for others - they see someone that s sitting alone and they want to play with them, or they see someone on the street and they want to go home and get them a blessing bag. It s just been eye-opening for them to realize that people are all different and not everyone has the same needs. Ultimately, the Rempe s see service as simply returning the gifts that God has given them. I think we re just one family in a mass of all these families who are doing so many good things for others in the community, Jessica said. We are surrounded by greatness and it makes you want to be a better person. St. Columbkille Parish thanks the Rempe Family for sharing their story and their gifts through this ministry of service. If you are interested in joining the Secret Kindness Agents, contact Jessica Rempe at jessicarempe@gmail.com. HOLLY SALES: LEGION OF MARY The Legion of Mary was founded in 1921 by an Irishman, Frank Duff, whose special devotion to Mary called him to serve others through prayer and hospitality. He founded the Legion in order to help men and women grow closer to Jesus through Mary, particularly focusing on the spiritual works of mercy. Frank Duff felt like everybody needs to grow in their spiritual life, said Holly Sales, President of the Legion of Mary at St. Columbkille. Everybody is equal in that way - there s not the poor and the rich. The Legion of Mary focuses on serving others through hospitality and prayer. Several members of St. Columbkille s Legion make welcome visits to new parishioners, going to

5 their homes, introducing them to our faith community, and evangelizing through their presence. Eventually, the group would like to be able to go door-to-door on home visits to talk to others about the faith, no matter their faith background. This ministry also visits nursing homes and brings Communion to the elderly and homebound. The Legion is involved in Pro-Life work, and members often go down to pray outside of the Abortion Clinic in Bellevue. Along with strengthening their own prayer lives, the Legion promotes the rosary and encourages others to take the next step in their spiritual journey, whatever that may be. The objective is the glory of God through the sanctification of members by prayer and active apostolate, Holly said. The structure of this ministry is based on the Roman Legion. For example, at every meeting, the spiritual director gives an allocutio, which takes its name from the small speech given by a Roman general before troops went into battle. Similarly, the Tessera was a small token that identified a Roman soldier, and in today s Legion is the prayer that members say that guides them through every meeting. MIKE SMITH: PRISON BIBLE STUDY Time, talent, and treasure: everybody s got one of those, Mike Smith says. It s just getting out there and getting started that s that hard part. When his cousin asked him to be a part of his Prison Bible Study, Mike faced a tough choice. Already part of several other ministries at St. Columbkille, he saw the need to balance the different areas of his life. After careful discernment, he stepped down from running the That Man is You! program that he had helped to start seven years earlier, and focused on prison ministry. Now, Mike is in his fourth year of leading Bible studies at the Omaha Correctional Center, forming men in spirit and character. This has been one of the most rewarding activities I ve been involved in, he said. Just seeing where these guys have been and which way they re headed now, because they re reading the Bible and trying to follow God s Word, is incredible. He and three other Omaha men take turns leading the Bible study on Thursday. The non-denominational group has had anywhere from eight to more than twenty people. Mike s goal is to give these men a foundation, not only for while they are imprisoned, but also after. They re so worried that when they get out, they re going to fall back into that same trap, he said, so you re trying to address that issue, and the support that they do or don t have makes a huge difference. There are both active and auxiliary members. Active members must go through a probationary phase before taking the Legion s promise to the Holy Spirit, and they complete two hours of active work per week. Auxiliary members pray the Tessera every day for the Legion. For some, the commitment of the Legion is intimidating and challenging, but for Holly, it was exactly what she needed. Being accountable, for me, was so important, she said. I was needing structure and needing something to help me organize my own spiritual life. If you re someone who doesn t like structure, then the Legion might not be for you, but there s some other ministry for you. What you ve been given by God isn t just for you, it s for everybody, Holly said. Stewardship is taking care of those gifts and using them for His glory and His work. St. Columbkille Parish thanks Holly for sharing her story and her gifts through this ministry of prayer & hospitality. If you are interested in joining the Legion of Mary, contact Holly Sales at The group builds fellowship and gives the men an outlet to seek help from others in similar situations. Mike often tells them to seek each other out when time are hard, which can be often. He encourages men in the prison to better themselves spiritually, but also to put themselves in a position to succeed by working hard and staying away from bad influences. Most of all, he realizes the dignity each man has, and that prisoners are no different from ourselves. I could tell you a lot of stories about what happened with these guys, but it s nothing you haven t heard before, he said. It s just that we re all sinners, and these guys went down the wrong path. Although his ministry is primarily about forming others, Mike found that it aids in his own formation as well, and that he gets as much out of it as the men do. As Catholics, we didn t really grow up reading the Bible at all, he said. That s why I went out there, because it Time, talent, and gives me the opportunity to treasure: everybody s really get into the Bible, and I got one of those. It s needed to do that. It s the most interesting book in the just getting out there world, and like they say, it s and getting started the best-selling and least-read that s that hard part. book that s out there. As St. Paul says in his Letter to the Hebrews, the Word of God is living and effective, and Mike has certainly seen it at work. St. Columbkille Parish thanks Mike for sharing his story and his gifts through this ministry of formation. If you are interested in sharing God s Word with the imprisoned, contact Mike Smith at mcsmith1975@gmail.com. Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 10,

6 Finance Council Reflections This year we are pleased to report that we are in the midst of exciting and energizing changes, and that we have reason to celebrate. We have welcomed a number of new faces into the parish staff and are excited to experience what they can offer to bring the Kingdom of God right here to our little corner of earth. We continue to welcome new families and members into our growing parish each week. We see our parishioners continually seeking out opportunities to carry out our mission to Go and Make Disciples. Also on the near horizon, we will be making exciting and challenging decisions to determine how we next expand our physical surroundings and buildings. As we continue to grow in all areas of the parish, we must first ask the Holy Spirit to guide us. We should celebrate our significant accomplishments. We have looked at how we are doing our ministry and are evaluating how we can do it better. We have tightened our belt in some areas and yet we are preparing the ground in other areas where we need to grow. All of this takes time and patience, but we will get there. One example of how we are trying to do things differently is the way we are using a special edition of the bulletin to herald the good news of our parish through this Annual Report. Rather than printing a separate booklet, this new approach provides a significant cost savings and yet we can still share our parish highlights. Tell us what you think of the new layout we will listen. As the months ahead unfold, we will also share more of the stories from our parish family through a variety of new communication approaches as we seek to inform and inspire concerning our efforts to deepen our discipleship. The Parish Finance Council is happy to provide you with a snap shot of the past year s financial activities. A Pave the Way Update Here is where celebration is truly in order! When we completed the construction of our new parking lot in August 2015, we had a shortfall with our desired level of contributions that unfortunately required a $280,000 loan for this project. However, as the year went on, donations continued to come in and we are happy to announce that we have completely paid off this loan through Pave the Way, Future Fund donation envelopes and the Ceili proceeds. We are now in a terrific position to move steadily forward with our plans for increasing our savings in order to accomplish the next phase of our facilities plans (Phase 3). We will need to have at least half of the project funding in our coffers in order to proceed. We are currently updating our plans for what is needed for this Phase 3 work including obtaining estimates for the replacement of our aging church HVAC system you wanted air conditioning, and we re listening! We will be prepared when that time comes. We also financed, through the Archdiocesan Deposit and Loan Fund, the purchase of 4 houses in order to make space for the new parking and future needs. One house next door to Fr. Dave s home will one day be the Associate Pastor s residence. The Parish Offices remain, and the other four houses were demolished. An estate gift helped us to attain and renovate the Parish Offices, and we are excited to say that we have used our Debt Reduction Envelope funds and applied them to the principal of the future Associate s house so that it is now debt free. One by one, we will eliminate the debt on each home. Lastly, we put our quarterly Ignite the Faith distributions directly to the principal of our long term mortgage debt. We saw a small growth in our parish tithing last year, an increase of just under 2.0%. While that may not seem like a big change, many parishes in the state struggle to keep moving in a positive direction. We continue to expand our efforts to provide a message of stewardship to all parishioners and to spread Gospel values concerning the need to give back proportionately and sacrificially. It must be a goal for each parishioner to live a stewardship way of life. We strive to provide the best possible resources, staff, and facilities to our students attending our 5-day school. The cost to educate each student this past year reached $4,083. Annually, we evaluate the relationship between parish tithing and the need to assess a reasonable tuition rate. The tuition increase this past year, as in other years, helps offset the increase in personnel costs and other expenses at the school. Personnel expenses will always be the biggest portion of our budget. Our talented staff are the driving force that keep our ministry activities and programs moving forward and thriving. Last year, the parish and education administration received a modest 2% salary increase. The majority of educators in the school received increases ranging from 2% to 6% in order to maintain staff salary levels at 85% of the Papillion La Vista School scale. As needs of the parish grow, we need to be cognizant of utilizing our resources wisely to help recognize and reward the value all parish personnel bring to our faith community. With the goal of making access to a Catholic education accessible and affordable, our renewed commitment to stewardship will help make this possible. Community Contribution consists of funds from sources such as employee matching funds from various companies, Omaha Community Foundation Funds, Omaha Gives and Store Community rebate programs. These programs are great sources. Parishioners should continue to check with their employers to see if similar programs are available. Our overall strategy concerning expenses is to remain vigilant in keeping costs down with careful research and utilizing costs savings wherever possible. Last fall, our parish participated in an energy audit that evaluated our plant facilities and identified areas where energy savings may be obtained. It also identified the essential need for an overall plant maintenance plan that systematically replaces and maintains aging plant equipment. This will be a focus of financial planning in the year to come. Our Fiscal Year shows that our operations, excluding our capital fundraising activities, resulted in an excess of revenue over expenses of $273,181. This is largely due to a combination of revenues staying strong, some vacant staff positions during the year, and other areas were expenses were managed well such as supplies and maintenance. Thank you to each and every member of the St. Columbkille parish for your contributions of time, talent and treasure to make our faith community stronger every day. It is truly an EXCITING time to be a part of St. Columbkille! A special thanks goes out to the members of the Parish Finance Council for the hours spent in meetings monitoring, planning, consulting and insuring that our parish resources are wisely utilized and that we are good and faithful stewards of the gifts that God has given our parish community. We appreciate their counsel. If you have any questions concerning the financial information provided in this Annual Report, please feel free to contact Debbie Armentrout our Parish Business Manager at or to dkarmentrout@saintcolumbkille.org.

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9 Archdiocesan Collections *The Annual Appeal is a Special Collection administered by the Archdiocese of Omaha. **Each summer we a missionary speak for the Mission Cooperative Appeal. Due to scheduling issues, there are times when we have 2 speakers in the same fiscal year and then none in the next year. ***Contributions were sent by parishioners directly to the IXIM headquarters. ****Collections went to help storm and disaster victims. *****Contributions from the designated envelope are given directly to the St. Vincent de Paul Society for use in our community. 2016/ Archdiocean Annual Appeal* $146,380 $117,609 Mission Cooperation** $0 $25,292 Religious Pension Fund $12,412 $10,456 World Mission Sunday $8,677 $9,292 Seminarian Fund $7,028 $8,130 Campaign for Human Development $8,677 $7,658 Catholic Relief Services $7,808 $7,555 Home & Foreign Missions $5,604 $4,780 Peter's Pence $5,001 $4,358 Black/Indian Missions $5,146 $4,044 Catholic Communication Campaign $3,560 $3,813 IXIM: Spirit of Solidarity*** $0 $3,457 USCCB Disaster Relief **** $4,332 $0 St. Vincent de Paul Society***** $63,121 $68,159 Archbishop s Annual Appeal The Archdiocese of Omaha is the name of a very, very large family. We are a family of Catholics, along with our friends and loved ones. Each one of us has a personal story of faith. Some of these stories are simple; others are quite complex. All of them are part of our story of faith in the hundreds of neighborhoods in our archdiocese. With a gift to the Archbishop s Annual Appeal, you ensure that our parishes and schools remain vibrant. You support seminarians formed in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. You help young couples prepare for the joys and challenges of marriage. Because of you, teachers, lay catechists, priests and deacons receive continuing education. Your gift strengthens youth ministry programs, adult faith formation outreach and RCIA classes throughout the archdiocese. The goal of the Archbishop s Annual Appeal is $3.5 million. Your generosity enlivens every facet of parish life. A gift to the Archbishop s Annual Appeal ensures that the sacramental life of the church reaches more people and the message of the Gospel touches more hearts. You will receive information regarding this essential Annual Appeal at your home this week. If each of our families would give in proportion to what they have received from God, we would easily reach our goal of $131, As you discern your response to this year s Annual Appeal, prayerfully consider who your neighbors are and how God calls you to love your neighbor as yourself. Do I give joyfully and as generously as God gives to me? Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 10,

10 Time In gratitude, we share our God-given talents, focusing our energy to serve others, build fellowship, and create an atmosphere of hospitality to all who enter our doors. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified Peter 4:10-11 To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement. - St. Augustine of Hippo The time we spend building our relationship with God enriches our lives and strengthens our souls and so does the time we spend building relationships with others. Time spent loving someone is never wasted! Talent We value God s Creation Blessing of the Animals We grow in faith Vocation s Day We share our gifts Picnic with the Padres We encourage others STC Volleyball We pray for the suffering 40 Days for Life We undergo formation Confirmation Retreat We value education Educational Trust 5K We serve those in need Ixim Outreach We support our country Rosary for Our Nation We have fun together Father/Daughter Dance We feed the hungry Kids Against Hunger We humble ourselves Parish Festival