St. Peter Catholic Church Newsletter — August 2020

AUGUST 2020

ST. peter Catholi C atholi c CH ur ch Monthly Newsletter

ST. PETER WELCOMES OUR NEW PASTOR, FR. ERIC CLARK FINDING GREAT JOY IN SERVING OUR FAITH FAMILY

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ere at St. Peter Catholic Church, we are happy to welcome Fr. Eric Clark as our new Pastor! While all priests are called to tend to God’s flock here on earth, Fr. Clark has firsthand experience as a shepherd, thanks to his family’s cattle farm. Taking to heart the Lord’s call to Peter to feed his sheep, Fr. Clark finds great joy in serving the spiritual needs of his parishioners.

“I’ve never been a pastor, but I’ve been a shepherd for cattle,” Fr. Clark says of his early life experiences on the farm. “As a shepherd, you need to protect, feed and heal.

In order to protect my parishioners, I want to speak truth with charity. I want to feed them with the sacraments, and I want to heal them with the sacraments.”

Fr. Clark, who is the second of five siblings, was raised in a Catholic home in McCool Junction. Family meals and Sunday Mass attendance were an instrumental part of life for the Clarks. When Fr. Clark graduated from high school in 1999, he went on to pursue a degree in agricultural economics and animal science from the University of Nebraska. He became engaged to be married and had continued on page 4

Fr. Clark enjoys fishing with his fellow priests in his free time.

S t. pet er C atholiC Ch ur ch LIVING ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL

Forming a Conscience and Moral Code

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s Christians, it is important that we recognize the difference between right and wrong — both morally and ethically. Sometimes, though, this line can become blurred.

Many situations we encounter in our lives include variables that can leave us internally conflicted and unsure of how to move forward in accordance with God’s will.

So, how do we work through these moral conundrums? One way is to develop a solid Christian conscience.

A moral conscience exists in the heart of every individual. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking. Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed” (1777, 1778).

Think of your conscience as the “angelic” version of yourself sitting on your shoulder, giving you sound advice.

While everyone is blessed with a conscience, each individual has a responsibility to develop this conscience from the time they are young. Parents obviously play an important role in developing their children’s consciences. As the primary educators of their children on ethical issues and the Catholic faith, parents have a responsibility to teach virtue to their

children and help them to avoid fear, selfishness and pride. As we grow older, we take on the lifelong challenge of continually forming our own consciences, and establishing a moral code that enables us to make the proper judgments.

One valuable tool in forming a conscience is the practice of introspection. “It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience” (CCC 1779). In contemporary society, where there are so many distractions and routines, it is extremely important that we take the time to look inward and truly listen to what our inner voice is telling us.

Another way to ensure we are developing a good moral code is by conforming to the mind of Christ.

God the Father gave us Christ, physically present on this earth and recorded in Sacred Scripture, as the ultimate example of what to do and how to behave according to God’s will. In turn, when we act in loving imitation of Christ, we are certain to make practical judgments of conscience.

The next time you are faced with a moral dilemma, take some quiet time to look inward, weigh the positive and negative outcomes, and listen to the voice of your conscience. Read the Gospels for examples of Christ’s teachings. By making this a regular practice, you will find that the voice of your conscience will come in louder and more clearly than you may have initially expected.

The next time you are faced with a moral dilemma, take some quiet time to look inward, weigh the positive and negative outcomes, and listen to the voice of your conscience. Read the Gospels for examples of Christ’s teachings. By making this a regular practice, you will find that the voice of your conscience will come in louder and more clearly than you may have initially expected.

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A Letter from Our Pastor

AU G U S T:

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S GIFT OF TIME Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

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s August dawns upon us, I’m shocked by the simple reality that summer is just about over! Yes, some of us are trying to squeeze in that one last activity or sit outside for just a few more minutes.

I once heard from a psychologist that time seems to pass more quickly as we get older because we’re experiencing fewer “firsts.” When we’re continually experiencing new things, time tends to stand still while we’re living them.

After we’ve repeated those events numerous times, they don’t faze us much anymore — and before we know it, months have passed, seasons have changed, and it’s time to start the annual cycle again.

Yet, we should not allow our time to be something that simply evades our grasp, trickling through our fingers. After all, time itself — every moment on this earth — is a gift from God. Time is one thing that we all have but do not know how much of it we do have. One day, time will stand still for all of us and we will enter eternity, so “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33).

At the end of this summer, we have the opportunity to reflect on how we chose to use our time these last few months. Did we set aside time to pray? Have we allowed for time to serve others? Did we devote time each day to serve God?

In the midst of the COVID crisis, I hope that we have found time for God and our loved ones. It is easy to waste time in our culture. However, the American essayist Henry Thoreau once wrote, “You cannot kill time without doing injury to eternity.”

When we assess the use of our time, we must make a spiritual examination — “Have I been a good steward of the time given to me?” Maybe now is a good time to make some changes in our lives and get more involved. There is no better time than right now to seek out ways to serve God, our parish, and those around us. St. Padre Pio once preached, “The time spent for the glory of God is never badly spent.” This is what it means to be a good steward!

As the lazy days of summer give way to the routine and activity of fall, remember to keep God in your hearts, in your minds, and on your tongue as we continue our stewardship journey as a parish family. Please pray for me as I pray for you.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

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ST. PETER WELCOMES OUR NEW PASTOR, FR. ERIC C

FINDING GREAT JOY IN SERVING O continued from front cover

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planned on one day taking over the family cattle farm.

God had other plans for Fr. Clark, however, and he instead spent the four years after his college graduation serving with FOCUS campus ministry in Fargo, N.D. He had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the priests there and realized that he, too, was being called to the priesthood.

Fr. Clark began his seminarian studies at age 28 and was ordained at age 33, on May 24, 2014.

“It was pretty surreal,” he says of the ordination Mass.

“The liturgy is so beautiful, and the thing that struck me the most was when they started doing the ‘Lord, have mercy.’ I just started crying, knowing how many times I’ve rejected God, and He’s always been merciful to me. I have a devotion to the Divine Mercy. We’re all saved, and it’s incredible He chose a sinful man like Peter and a sinful man like me to be His instruments.”

Fr. Clark’s first assignment as a diocesan priest brought him to St. Michael for three years, followed by another three years at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. After several years of chancery work as the Director of the Diocesan Appeal and Master of Ceremonies for diocese, Fr. Clark is excited to return to parish life.

Fr. Clark once had a spiritual leader at seminary talk about the importance of caring for the most vulnerable of God’s people — the oldest and youngest parishioners. This exhortation rings particularly true for a shepherd, and Fr. Clark has found that he has a great love for serving these groups.

“I love working in the elementary schools,” he says.

“The kids bring so much joy. And I really enjoy going to nursing homes, sitting with the elderly and listening to their stories. There is so much wisdom we can gain from them. On the pastoral level, I’ve really enjoyed those two things. On the sacramental level, I enjoy Baptisms. I encourage people to celebrate their baptismal day, and I pray for those I’ve baptized by name every single day.”

As Pastor at St. Peter, Fr. Clark hopes to help our

Fr. Clark in Shepherds’ Field, Bethlehem.

He traveled there in January 2020 as the chaplain for Jeff Cavins’ Holy Land pilgrimage.

parish live out the four characteristics of the early Church described in Acts 2:42. He desires to increase Mass attendance, bring a renewed focus to adult and family faith formation, work with the adoration and prayer teams to increase parishioners’ daily prayer, and find more ways to fellowship and “share life” together as a parish.

As every good shepherd knows, the best relationships are built on trust. As we move toward these goals as a parish, an abiding mutual trust will continue to bind us together. continued on page 5

CLARK

OUR FAITH FAMILY “The most important thing is trust,” Fr. Clark says. “First, we have to trust God and trust that He sent His beloved Son for us and that the Holy Spirit is working through our brokenness. The more we can trust, the more parishioners can trust their pastor and the pastor can trust the parishioners. I think trust is the number-one thing that needs to be established both in our society and in our personal lives.”

Fr. Clark is thrilled to be our new Pastor and can’t wait to get to know all of God’s faithful here at St. Peter.

“I look forward to it,” he says. “I look forward to learning.

I’ll try to do a lot of listening to understand what the needs are. I want to hear and see the parishioners! I’m an extrovert, so I don’t want to be locked away in my office — I want to be out with them. The reason I wanted to be a priest was to be with the people.”

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SHARING YOUR UNIQUE TALENTS THROUGH THE SCHOOL FAMILY ASSOCIATION

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hen parishioner Amanda Wiegert first got involved in the St. Peter School Family Association, or SFA, she never dreamed that she’d end up serving an extra year as President. At the time, she had young children and was simply looking for a way to get involved and meet people, while also giving back to her parish and school.

“I think people are often shy about getting involved,” Amanda says. “I know I was when my husband and I first started. But it’s been so good for us both socially and spiritually. We look at it as our way to give back.

And you feel so much more like a community when you get involved.”

As SFA president, Amanda says it is her and her fellow board members’ job to become a kind of bridge between school families and staff. They serve as a sounding board for Sister Mary Michael, help generate funds for the school through fundraisers, and coordinate all school volunteer efforts.

“Because we are a Catholic school, a lot of what we do relies on volunteers,” Amanda says. “So the SFA helps by organizing most of the volunteers for almost every activity that goes on at our school. This ranges from parents helping in the classrooms, helping with lunch duty, or assisting with the First Communion retreat.

For parents who can’t volunteer during the day, there are also evening opportunities. Some teachers need help cutting or organizing, and you can take it home and do it on your own time.”

The SFA also hosts monthly meets for all school parents, typically the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. These gatherings are designed to provide parents with important updates about the school while also displaying students’ successes. It’s designed to help build relationships amongst parents and strengthen the overall St. Peter community.

“The more people come and get excited about being there, the more we can build up that school and parish

Third-grade students participate in a Living Rosary.

family,” Amanda says. “It’s just one of the pieces to the puzzle of making our school great.”

Not only are these collective SFA efforts important to the continued success of the school, but they also enable parents to model a stewardship lifestyle for their children. For Amanda, this has been one of the greatest blessings of her involvement in the ministry.

“I hope that it’s something that sticks down the road with my kids,” Amanda says. “I know they do all this with me now because it’s what their mom is doing, but I want to show them that it’s important to give of your time and give back to the parish. We always talk as a family about the importance of being good, kind people.

This is kind of one of the ways that we live that out.”

All St. Peter Catholic School parents are encouraged continued on back cover

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S t. pet er C atholiC Ch ur ch 4500 Duxhall Dr. │ Lincoln, NE 68516 402-423-1239 │ www.saintpeterslincoln.com

MASS SCHEDULE: Saturday: 4:00 p.m.

Sunday: 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m.

DAILY MASS Monday-Friday: 6:30 a.m., 8:15 a.m.

Saturday: 8:15 a.m.

CONFESSION: Monday & Wednesday: 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

Saturday: 3:00-4:00 p.m.

THE SCHOOL FAMILY ASSOCIATION

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to take a leap of faith and increase their involvement during the 2020-2021 school year. It doesn’t have to be something big or labor intensive — it can even be something that you enjoy doing.

“Pick things that match your strengths,” Amanda says. “It’s about giving your unique talents. Your time is so valuable. That is something you just can’t put a price on and we are so appreciative of everyone who puts time in.”

If you would like more information about the School Family Association, please contact Amanda Wiegert at 402-681-9214 or ajb46@hotmail.com.

School Family Association board members volunteer at the annual Trunk or Treat.