St. Peter Catholic Church Newsletter — September 2021

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ST. peter C ath athoo lic li c CHu r ch Monthly Newsletter

MEET

Kayla West, Our New Director of Evangelization and Missions “It’s a Blessing to Share the Gospel”

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Kayla West is excited to be back in Lincoln and serving as Director of Evangelization and Missions at St. Peter.

vangelization is a mission near and dear to Fr. Eric Clark and our entire parish. Recently, Fr. Clark used the Gospel of Mark — in which Jesus “summoned the Twelve and sent them out two-by-two — to introduce a new position and staff member to the parish.

We welcome Kayla West as the new Director of Evangelization and Missions. In this role, Kayla will help meet Fr. Clark’s goal of eventually visiting every home within our parish boundaries, among other tasks and objectives.

“I know how impactful a personal invitation can be,” Kayla says. “I am excited to reach out to people. We want people to know

they are missed and invited. We want you here.”

Previously, Kayla served as a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary for three years, having most recently served at Eastern Washington University.

Raised in Wichita, Kan., Kayla graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in speech pathology and a minor in Spanish and education. She also served in AmeriCorps, teaching in Spanish in Austin, Texas immediately after college graduation.

Now, she is so excited to be back in Lincoln and serving in this position at St. Peter. continued on page 2

S t. pet er C atholiC Ch ur ch MEET

Kayla West, Our New Director of Evangelization and Missions continued from front cover

“I just love that working for the church, I am always getting to talk with people about how the Lord is working in their lives and how He is working in mine,” Kayla says.

“It’s a blessing to share the Gospel with other people. It’s the best thing in the world you can give them.”

Kayla will be working in a variety of areas in the church and school, like helping with the CCD program, as well as planning mission trips and pilgrimages. She will also work with school marketing, teacher recruitment and teach Spanish as an elective at the middle school.

Importantly, this position will allow Kayla the valuable opportunity to do work for which she is passionate. She truly loves getting to know people and hearing their stories.

“I receive so much by hearing how the Lord has worked in other people’s lives,” she says. “I get to know the Lord better by seeing how He works.”

In her free time, Kayla loves to cook, bake, read, hike, and enjoys the outdoors. She fell in love with hiking and camping while living in Washington State. She looks forward to getting to know parishioners and settling in at St. Peter.

“I feel so welcome here,” she says. “I’m just so happy to be here. I truly am.”

In the near term, Kayla will be starting a St. Monica Adoration Apostolate. This will be a dedicated time to pray for family and friends who have left the faith.

“We need to make sure we are praying for all of these people,” Kayla says. “There is a lot of power in this dedicated prayer time.”

Please join us in welcoming Kayla West to our parish staff! She can be contacted via email at kayla-west@cdolinc.net.

“I just love that working for the church, I am always getting to talk with people about how the Lord is working in their lives and how He is working in mine. It’s a blessing to share the Gospel with other people. It’s the best thing in the world you can give them.” — Kayla West, Director of Evangelization and Missions

PLEASE SIGN UP FOR OUR NEW PARISH DIRECTORY! 1. Go to www.ucdir.com 2. Click on Photography Appointment Scheduling Login 3. Church Code = ne102 and Church Password = photos 4. Select a day and time to schedule your family’s appointment 2

A Letter from Our Pastor

September: A N O N G O I N G O P P O R T U N I T Y T O

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

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CHANGE THE WORLD

n his letters, St. Paul often began by greeting his “brothers and sisters.” Every time I read one of these letters, it reminds me that you and I truly are sisters and brothers in the Body of Christ, the Church, but especially here in our parish. We need to understand that we are indeed a family, and the way we see and treat one another is fundamental to the health and happiness of this family.

Our spiritual family doesn’t stop at the walls of our church, but rather, extends to include every man and woman created in God’s image and likeness. You may be familiar with the term “Catholic Social Teaching,” part of which is built on a commitment to the poor. These are the beliefs that guide Catholics on how to apply the faith to all aspects of life, and they lay the framework for the Church’s teachings on the dignity and sacredness of human life. Once we make a commitment to be disciples of Jesus and pursue stewardship as a way of life, the principles of Catholic Social Teaching become very easy to incorporate into our lives.

Catholic Social Teaching has been around since those first followers of Jesus tried to balance their new faith with the realities of living in a world of Roman oppression. Jesus reminded His disciples then, just as He reminds us now, that caring for and administering to the poor should be at the core of all we do. Recall when the Lord said in Matthew, “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you gave me clothing; I was ill and you cared for me; I was in prison and you visited me.”

This is our foundation as we seek to embody mercy

and justice to our fellow man and should be one of our major goals as a faith community.

Many of our parish ministries provide for us an opportunity to do just as Jesus asked — to serve those most in need. The most direct ministries that serve the poor are St. Vincent de Paul and Catholic Social Services. I encourage you to take a look at assisting these great works of charity. As we move into the fall season, with Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas soon to follow, now is a good time for us to recommit ourselves to addressing the needs we see around us — both as a parish society and as individuals.

I am proud of our collective efforts in assisting and serving the poor, but I also know that we can do more.

Many of us personally need to get involved in these efforts.

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a great love and regard for the poor and, like Jesus, she showed how to serve them. She once said, “Unless we believe and see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar, we will not be able to see Him in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

As Jesus becomes poor and in disguise for us at Mass, may we also find Him in the service of the least of our brothers and sisters.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor 3

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BISHOP’S APPEAL FOR VOCATI E

ach St. Peter household has received a special envelope for the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations.

When we return that envelope with our contribution, we are not only helping to support the formation of future priests, but we also are acting to foster vocations.

The Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations is a tangible way we can help to support our 42 seminarians who have answered God’s call and are studying to become the priests who will guide us in the future. The cost for each seminarian’s education is nearly $40,000. This support goes hand-in-hand with the prayers we offer for these young men.

One of the seminarians we are assisting is one of our parishioners, Peter Foley. He grew up in St. Peter Catholic Church and attended St. Peter School, as well as Pius X High School. During his time at St. Peter School, he had the opportunity to attend daily Mass.

“This, I would say, is where God placed the seed of a priestly vocation on my heart,” Peter says. “When the time came for me to begin serving Mass during the school days and at Sunday Masses, I became interested in the Mass, and especially what the priest was doing during Mass.

“I remember also that when at school, the school’s Sisters of Christ the King would always tell us to say a short prayer after receiving Communion,” he adds.

“This prayer, ‘Jesus, please tell me what you want me to do with my life, and I will do it,’ I remember that I would

often pray this prayer after receiving Communion, and then look up at the priest who was still distributing the Body of Christ to other students, and wonder if that was what God was calling me to do.”

Peter had another important moment in his vocational discernment at St. Peter ’s Leadership Camp during the summer after his seventh grade.

This was a weeklong camp for boys held at Camp Kateri. While he enjoyed the whole camp experience, the most important moment for him took place during Eucharistic Adoration.

“The priest had just exposed Jesus in the Eucharist and was giving a short meditation, and he finished by asking us all to consider if God was calling us to give seminary a try,” Peter says. “During that hour I really began to consider it as a real option for my life, and continued to pray about it throughout high school, especially after receiving Holy Communion.”

During the close of his high school years, Peter once again encountered the question that had long been resting in his mind — was God calling him to go to seminary? Although he pondered this off and on during his junior and senior years, it was further time spent in Eucharistic Adoration that sealed his decision to enter the seminary.

“My Godteen parents had set up for each of us Godteens to take a holy hour individually, and my time slot was 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” Peter says. “During that holy continued on page 5

“The seminarians of the diocese differ widely in our background, age and financial situations, and I know that several of us would be unable to continue pursuing the priesthood if we were not supported so generously by the Bishop’s Appeal. While the most important assistance you can give the seminarians is your prayers, we also are very grateful for the financial assistance you are able to provide through the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations.” — Peter Foley 4

I O N S Looks to Our Spiritual Future hour alone with Jesus in the large St. Peter Church, I reflected on the consistent call I had felt throughout my life to the priesthood and realized that I need to at least give seminary a try.”

Our prayers and support to our seminarians like Peter do make a difference as they make this spiritual journey.

“One of my favorite quotes by St. John Vianney, the patron of priests is, ‘If we truly understood the priesthood, we would die of joy,’” Peter says. “However, alongside this great gift comes a struggle. From talking to my brother seminarians and my own experience, it is clear that the devil continually tries to put up obstacles and excuses especially in front of seminarians to prevent them from becoming effective ministers of the graces that flow from the altar. Your prayers are vital to our perseverance in the long, but fruitful, journey of seminary formation.”

Peter and his brother seminarians are very grateful for the support we give the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations, citing the freedom it gives them to enter formation more completely, without worry about tuition costs.

“The seminarians of the diocese differ widely in our background, age, and financial situations, and I know that several of us would be unable to continue pursuing the priesthood if we were not supported so generously by the Bishop’s Appeal,” Peter says. “While the most important assistance you can give the seminarians is your prayers, we also are very grateful for the financial assistance you are able to provide through the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations.”

Fr. Clark notes that vocations are affected in several ways by the appeal.

“This appeal not only supports the formation of our future priests, but it also is a way to foster vocations,” Fr. Clark says. “Here at St. Peter, I have determined that we will set up our own fund to support not only current seminarians but also support vocations from the youth in our Catholic schools and CCD programs. This will

ensure that we have resources available for any person in the parish who would like to participate in vocation retreats and visits.

“The Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations is important to us because each person is called to promote pray, and support vocations,” he adds. “The BAV gives every person in the parish a chance to participate in a direct way in the future of the Church.”

Along with giving to the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations via envelope, you can also donate online on our parish website at www.saintpeterslincoln.com.

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S t. pet er C atholiC Ch ur ch

OFFERING OUR

Love and Adoration to Jesus

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ucharistic Adoration is the adoration of Jesus Christ present in the Holy Eucharist. Churches that have this adoration display the Eucharist in a special holder called a monstrance, and people come to pray and worship Jesus.

Christ’s great love for us was shown when He was crucified on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and give us eternal life. He loves us without limit and offers Himself to us in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Can we not give Jesus a few minutes of love and adoration in return?

What is the importance of Eucharistic Adoration?

Eucharistic Adoration is the respect and worship we give to Jesus, who is truly present to us under the appearance of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a priceless treasure; by not only celebrating it but also by praying before it outside of Mass, we are enabled to make contact with the very wellspring of grace.

What are the fruits of Eucharistic Adoration?

People who observe Eucharistic Adoration experience a deeper devotion to Jesus, and this manifests itself in countless ways. The primary fruits are repentance and conversion, which lead to increased charity — that is, the love of Christ alive in His people. The adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist also leads to greater reverence at Mass, a deeper desire for personal holiness, and a stronger sense of union with the parish and the whole Church. Ever since the early centuries of Christianity, the Church has linked Eucharistic Devotion to service to the poor. The practice has, more recently, led to an increase in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.

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What is proper etiquette during Eucharistic Adoration?

When we are not taking part in vocal prayers and hymns with other adorers, we should be praying silently. Whenever we pass before the place where the Sacred Host is reserved, we should genuflect. We should observe the modest dress and decorum that are appropriate to very solemn occasions. We should avoid any actions that might disturb or distract others, or otherwise draw attention to ourselves rather than Jesus.

How should we pray during Eucharistic Adoration?

There are many ways to pray. We may meditate in silence by gazing on the Sacred Host. We may silently speak to Jesus from our minds and hearts. We may also rely on devotions and prayers from Catholic tradition, such as the reading of Scripture, recitation of the Rosary, or the litanies. When two or more are gathered before the Sacrament, they may pray or sing hymns together.

What is the best way to promote Eucharistic Adoration?

The best way to promote Eucharistic Adoration is by doing it! Make frequent visits to Jesus at the tabernacle. Invite your spouse, your children, your neighbors, and co-workers to join you. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration. ‘To visit the Blessed Sacrament is … a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord’” (1418).

READERS MINIS TRY: SHARING GOD’S WORD AND S TE WA RD SHI P GI FT S W I TH TH E PA R I S H C OMM U N I T Y

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s Catholics, we are called to celebrate the Holy Mass each Sunday and on Holy Days of Obligation. The Holy Mass has many important parts, and one of those is the readings — for as stated in the second chapter of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, “In the readings, the table of God’s Word is spread before the faithful, and the treasures of the Bible are opened to them” (57).

As the readings are so important, the person proclaiming them is tasked with an essential role. Michael Messineo enjoys fulfilling this role at our parish, having been a reader at St. Peter for more than 20 years.

“I enjoy sharing the Word of God with fellow parishioners,” Michael says. “It’s helped me to understand more about salvation and the Old Testament history.”

When Michael first came to St. Peter, he asked thenPastor Fr. Michael Christensen how he could get involved.

They had known each other from Pius X Catholic High School, where Michael was involved in theatre. Fr. Christensen knew Michael had a gift for public speaking and urged him to get involved in the Reader Ministry. It has been a blessing to Michael ever since.

Michael works to read like he is talking to the congregation or telling a story. He also takes the time to practice the readings before he proclaims them.

“It’s a lot easier to express it, when you have taken the time to read it over, practice, and really study it,” he says.

Numerous studies have shown that many people’s number one fear is public speaking — so, those with a gift should step forward to serve.

“Not everyone can be a reader, but I really enjoy it,” Michael says.

Through all these years of serving as a Reader, Michael also says he has grown in his faith life. And while this ministry, like many others, was on a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael is so happy to be back to sharing God’s Word.

“It has made me a better Christian to understand how

Robert Downey reads on Holy Thursday.

God has worked through the centuries, preparing us for the coming of Jesus,” he says.

Michael encourages everyone to get involved at St. Peter Catholic Church, whether as a reader, usher, or Religious Education teacher. We all have our gifts, and we should use them to serve.

“God is so generous,” Michael says. “If you participate in a ministry, especially of the Mass, He will bless you tenfold.”

“It has made me a better Christian to understand how God has worked through the centuries, preparing us for the coming of Jesus.” — Michael Messineo

Those interested in becoming a reader may access a guide on the various steps of this ministry. There is also a book available to help prepare for the Sunday readings. If you are interested in becoming a reader, please call the parish office at 402-423-1239.

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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 & Friday: 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

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

Don’t forget to return your

COMMITMENT CARD

Please remember to turn in your commitment cards to the parish as soon as possible. We appreciate your willingness to participate in this year’s Stewardship Renewal. The more we grow to embrace and understand the stewardship way of life, the more our parish will flourish and grow!

View our online commitment card at

saintpeterslincoln.com