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Dear St. Bernard’s Academy and Lourdes Central Catholic Alumni and Friends,
This past spring Bishop Conley put out a pastoral letter to our diocese called Love Made Visible. This letter specifically deals with a greater understanding and the importance of Eucharistic Adoration. Love Made Visible is our theme and our mission! God tells us through scripture that we were created out of love, made for love, and made to love. Moreover, St. John tells us that GOD IS LOVE. In fullness of time God shows us his love not by miracles and covenants but by sending us his only begotten Son VISIBLY in the flesh and “dwelling among us.” The faces on our “Knight Life” newsletter depict the many ways in which our alumni and students are impacting our community and our world. We see the love of Jesus made visible in the actions of our Alumni, who are witnesses to others through their life and vocations. Three times each year you will receive our “Knight Life” newsletter. We hope you enjoy the pictures and stories of Lourdes past and present. We encourage you as part of our Lourdes family to send us your news. Together we can all pray for those who face struggles and challenges in the Lourdes Community. May you experience a beautiful Advent season! Yours In Christ, Fr. Mark Cyza Meet Brooke Chaney? Hello St. Bernard’s and Lourdes Alumni:
In June I started working at Lourdes Central Catholic School as the Special Projects Director. Part of my role at Lourdes is coordinating Alumni events and communications. I’m excited to work with Dorothy and our Alumni Association Advisory Committee. Dorothy has done a wonderful job of keeping track of our alumni over the years and sending out the alumni newsletter. You can expect to receive this Knight Life alumni newsletter three times a year via mail. The school’s website, (www.lourdescentralcatholic.org) has an Alumni section that will keep you upto-date on alumni events and activities. If you are planning a reunion or have any news, questions, or updates regarding our alumni please contact me via email at brookechaney@cdolinc.net or by calling the school at 402-873-6154. God Bless & Go Knights! Brooke Chaney On our cover (Left to Right) Row 1 Katlynn Yost ’06 recently made her Chicago premiere in Chimera Ensemble's “Sister Cites.” She has worked with many theaters such as Nebraska Shakespeare, Blue Barn Theatre, Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre, and The Omaha Community Playhouse. Her work has been seen at The Great Plains Theatre Conference and The Kansas City Fringe Festival. She has years of experience working in non-profit arts education with organizations such as RESPECT, a touring educational theater group seeking to spread awareness about bullying and mental health issues to kids and Project Harmony, a child advocacy center aiming to end child neglect and abuse. She is a recent Black Box Academy Graduate and holds a BA in Acting from The University of Nebraska at Omaha. Kayla Haneline ‘12 was chosen captain by her teammates and coaches on her international professional volleyball team in Budapest, Hungary.
Marissa Galardi ’17 had a lead role in Creighton University’s theatrical production of Three Sisters. Row 2 The Alumni Association hosted a Chili Feed & Alumni Night at Lourdes Basketball on Friday, December 8th. Pictured are Alex & Nicole (Kingery) Schnitzer and Debbie (Lollmann) Bruggeman from the Class of 1997. Alumni Homecoming Tailgate!
Lourdes Central Catholic’s One Act Play won the District Championship qualifying for State Competition. “A Seussified Pride and Prejudice” is directed by Ms. Lesley Gould. Row 3 Lourdes Central Catholic President, Fr. Mark Cyza, Principal, Mr. Curt Feilmeier, and Activities Director, Mr. Joe Tynon, visited our young alumni this fall at UNL, UNO, and PSC. Piper Monson, Luke Partsch and Tyler Mucha selected to participate in All-State Music for Chorus and Band.
2017 Homecoming King & Queen, Benjamin Scott Miller and Anna Marie Heng.
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Be sure to share your email address with us to receive notification of Alumni Events! Let’s Get Together!
Save the date and join us for these upcoming events!
Class of 1967 Celebrates their 50th Reunion! June 2017
December 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm Young Alumni Pizza at Lourdes Central Catholic School. Alumni from 2012-2017 are invited to join us I n the commons for pizza & pop and to catch up with your classmates.
January 6, 2018 at 4:00 pm Jam the Gym at PSC Join us to cheer on our alumni Noah Vasa ’15 & Paulius Sakinis ’14 at the Peru State College home basketball game Free admission for Lourdes families & alumni! Wear your Lourdes gear & we hope to see you there! January 27, 2018 Alumni Volleyball Tournament Get your team together for our annual Alumni Volleyball Tournament. Watch the website for more information. April 7, 2018 The Lourdes Event 2018 “Escape to the Tropics” We would love to see our alumni at the Lourdes Event! Grab your classmates and reserve a table! See page 7 for more information
Class of 2006 met Thanksgiving weekend to tour the new addition at Lourdes. (November 2017) Homecoming 2017 On Homecoming the Alumni Association hosted an Alumni Tailgate. Approximately 200 alumni and their families enjoyed hotdogs and hamburgers and cheering on the Knights at our Homecoming Football Game. Andrew and Lindsay (Mayberry) Krog won the “Best Vintage Lourdes gear”contest. College Visits Lourdes Central Catholic President, Fr. Mark Cyza, Principal, Mr. Curt Feilmeier, and Activities Director, Mr. Joe Tynon, visited our young alumni this fall at UNL, UNO, and PSC. It was great to host an opportunity for our alumni to get together and to hear how our alumni are doing!
June 25, 2018 Alumni Golf Tournament The Field Club of Omaha
DOROTHY’S CORNER Hello fellow Alumni! I am a 1961 graduate of Lourdes Central Catholic and a 30 year veteran of the St. Bernard’s/Lourdes Alumni Association. The years have brought many great experiences including award winning theatrical productions, state champion sports teams, nationally rated academic decathlon teams and thousands of well-rounded graduates. Though the faces of the faculty, staff and students are always changing, the one constant has always been the Christ-centered education our school provides. The Lourdes’ Family is as strong as ever and planning for the long-term success of our school. I am excited to see what the future holds. Dorothy (Heng) Funke, Class of 1961
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Alumni Association Advisory Committee Our Alumni know what a great gift Dorothy Funke has been to our Alumni Association and our school community. Dorothy has spearheaded alumni activities and dutifully kept track of what is happening in the lives of our alumni for 30 years! Dorothy has moved into a new role as Historian for our Alumni Association and continues to keep track of births, deaths, marriages, and what our alumni are up to. With this change, we have also formed an Alumni Association Advisory Committee. The committee is working to create fun events for alumni and acts as a liaison between Lourdes Central Catholic and its alumni.
Alumni Advisory Committee members: Father Mark Cyza (School President), Dorothy (Heng) Funke, Monica (Turner) Welsh, Ann (Able) Beccard, JoAnn (Kreifels) Krog, Lindsay (Mayberry) Krog, Brooke Chaney (Special Projects Director, Lourdes Central Catholic). Not pictured Julia (Liesemeyer) White, Debbie (Lollmann) Bruggeman.
Phone A Thon/Annual Appeal
Stay “in-the-know” with these great Knights resources. www.lourdescentralcatholic.org Our website is the ultimate source for Lourdes information! From the website you can find links to these great tools to help keep you connected to school and your student. R School Calendar Check the website for the current school calendar. It’s continuously updated & includes all LCC activities. Use the “Notify Me” feature to sign up for email and/ or text message updates when changes are made to the calendar. Follow us on Social Media Facebook at Lourdes Central Catholic School Twitter @lourdesknights Instagram at lourdescentralcatholic Not on social media? Follow updates on your cell phone! Text follow @lourdesknights to 404-04
Over many years, with wonderful and persistent help from Dorothy Heng Funk ’61, Lourdes has conducted an Annual Alumni phone a thon effort. Thanks to many funds were collected in support of the school and our young people. To Dorothy and all of you have contributed to this in the past we say THANK YOU. Your generous stewardship and many prayers has allowed our Lourdes Central Catholic family to thrive in its mission to pass the faith on to future generations. Last year Lourdes started our “Faith, Family and Future” Annual Appeal. We have combined this together with the past Alumni appeal from Dorothy. Our effort was to reach out to all Alumni friends and family of Lourdes in our effort to support students with financial needs, pay our teachers a just wage and balance our budget. The results we amazing with more than $200,000 raised. We will be running our second annual appeal this January and pray that all will again supporting this most important program.
STAY UP TO DATE! Send us your email address and stay up to date on the most current activities and updates! Email Brooke at brooke-chaney@cdolinc.net!
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Campus Ministry At LCC all high school students have the opportunity to be a part of T4:12 Campus Ministry. They are actively involved in adoration, bible studies, nursing home visits, and friendship group at the Nebraska Center for the of Children who are Blind and Visually Impaired. Through Campus Ministry we also offer service projects, confessions, masses in the school chapel, and religious speakers. T4:12 works to increase the faith life of the school and make love visible! We are blessed to have wonderful priests and sisters in our school who not only teach our students but provide a great example and faith to our students, faculty, and staff. Lourdes Campus Ministry engages all aspects of the lives of our students, faculty and staff. It encourages all to actively participate in their church, family, and society using prayer and service.
(L to R) Fr. James Morin, Fr. Jerel Scholl, Fr. Mark Cyza, Fr. Michael Ventre
Religious Vocations Lourdes Central Catholic is proud of our Alumni in religious vocations. Please keep them in your prayers! Sister Catherine Durr ‘46 Sister Camilla Ann Verrett ‘53 Sister Veronica Volkmer ‘53 Fr. Michael Volkmer ‘58 Sister Patricia Rhoten ‘62 Sister Phyllis Stowell ‘64 Sister Elizabeth Moyer ‘69 Fr. John Cooper ‘69 Sister Diana Rawlings ‘70 Sister Cecilia Mills ‘93 Fr. Steven Mills ‘01 Sister Mary Cecilia Mills ‘93 professed her perpetual vows in 2003 with School Sisters of Christ the King. She is currently the Principal at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Lincoln and assists the School Sisters of Christ the King in a variety of ways.
the House Sacristan, preparing all of the liturgies and as a member of the Vespers Schola, in which our Seminarian Schola chants the Psalms for Evening Prayer every Sunday in our main chapel, Immaculate Conception. Brian shares a “special thank you to the Lourdes family for all of your prayers! Please be assured of my prayers for you as well. God Bless.” Michael Katalenich ’12 is currently a Novice in the Order of Preachers. Br. Michael is in Denver, CO for one year of Novitiate for the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), praying and studying the history, spirituality, and life of the Order to prepare for simple vows next August.
Joseph Allen ‘13 is in his 4th or senior year at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. He’ll graduate in May with a degree in philosophy. Joseph is also the social chairman for St. Gregory the Great Seminary this year, and he plans Friday night activities for his brother seminarians. His apostolate is in David City this year. He observes religious classes at Fr. Steven Mills ’01 is a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas/ Newman Center in Lincoln. Fr. Mills also serves as Assistant Aquinas every Wednesday, and also visits St. Joseph’s Villa Vocation Director at the Newman Center and is a teacher at in David City to talk and pray with the elderly residents. Pius X High School. James O’Neil ‘13 graduated from St. Gregory the Great Seminary in May and is in his first year of theological Brian Wirth ‘09 is currently in his Second Theology class at the Mount St. Mary’s and is pursuing his Masters of Divinity studies at Pontifical North American College in Rome. degree and a M.A. in Moral Theology. Brian also serves as
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YOUNG ALUMNI UPDATES
Libby Fulton ‘17 is headed to Colombia over spring break on a mission trip with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students). Hayden Miller ‘17 is redshirting at UNO for the Mavericks Basketball Team. Dylan Paap ‘17 finished his first season as part of the Condordia University football team in Seward. Colton Davis ‘17 finished his first season as part of the Nebraska Wesleyan University football team. LCC Class of 2015 was well represented in the UNL Intramural Coed Basketball League and was League Champions last year. Noah Goodman, Thomas Gress, Samantha Heng, Alex Hogeland and Karley Kreifels were members on the Nebraska City All Starz. Mackenzie Stueck ‘17 graduated from the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. Aaron Mason ‘17, majoring in Film and Theater at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was cast in a segment on a Christian Broadcasting Network which aired on December 4, 2017. Aaron has also been a part of the production of a “thriller” created by six film students as their senior thesis. Marissa Galardi ‘17 had a lead role in Creighton University’s theatrical production of Three Sisters.
OTHER KNIGHT NEWS Frank Bataillon ‘44 wrote a children’s book, “Paul the Detective” and gifted a copy to every student in the Lourdes 2nd grade class. Mitch Engle ’96 is currently at the Institute Of Precision Pain Medicine. Dr. Engle has an MD and PhD. In addition to two doctorates he is double board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. Dr. Engle is a national and international speaker on Pain Dynamics and is a published and seasoned writer for multiple medical journals and textbooks. As a former fellowship director at MD Anderson in Houston, Dr. Engle is a leading expert on cancer pain.
Lynsey Rokicke ‘04 to Chris Lavangie on October 2, 2017 living in Omaha NE Derek McGinnis ‘08 to Taylor DeVorss on June 24, 2017 living in Nebraska City NE Ben Fedoris ‘10 to Cassandra Sulski on July 1, 2017 living in Roseville CA Galen Kreifels ‘10 to Justine DeBuhr June 10, 2017 living in Lincoln NE Kelsey Kreifels ’10 to Eric Older on November 4, 2017 living in Omaha NE. Madelyn Potter ‘10 to Stephen Micek on June 17, 2017 living in Papillion Sophie Daniel ‘11 to Logan Morris on April 29, 2017 living in Cozad NE Births
Kyle ’06 and Emily Stukenholtz a daughter, Piper Faith, August 8, 2017 Ryan ‘99 and Lisa (Stukenholtz) ‘00 Funke a daughter, Penelope Michelle, April 22, 2017 Tyler and Taylor (Reiff) Gude ‘11 a son Charles Patrick May 13, 2017 Nick ‘07 and Sarah Stukenholtz a daughter Edith Rose May 23, 2017 Deaths
+Les Kinnison, November 22, 2017. Survivors are his wife Janis, children Patrice (’73) Kinnison Hahn & husband Michael, Michael (’75) Kinnison and wife Lea, Craig Kinnison and wife Jennifer. +Claude Thorne, October 13, 2017. Survivors are his wife Judy Oelke ’64 Thorne, children Claudine Thorne, Paula Penney and Cyrus Thorne
+Shirley Gruber, October 2, 2017. Survivors are children Dan Gruber ’72 and fiancé Jodi, Marcia Gruber , Robin Gruber ’75 and wife Shelly, Jayme Gruber and wife Tammy +Lois Hartley Harris ‘41, May 16, 2017. Survivors are her children Dr. Catherine Harris ’71, Tom and wife Shellie Harris , Julie ’75 and husband Craig Elvers, Bill ’77 and wife Noreen Harris.
Elizabeth Brase ‘01 teaches at St. Andrew’s Catholic School in Tecumseh, Nebraska
+Susan Heng ’85, June 19, 2017. Survivors are her son Dylan, parents Leo and Sonja Heng, siblings Steve ’75 and wife Beth, Tom ’77 and wife Karen, Chris ’78 and wife Cindi, Joe ’80 and wife Laurie, Deborah ’89 Durr and husband Kevin. She was preceded in death by her brother Matt Heng ’82 in 1985,
Ellen Wulf ‘12 A 2016 graduate of Wayne State College, Lourdes welcomes Ellen as one of it’s science teachers. Ms. Wulf teaches chemistry, physics, and physical science in the high school and earth science in the middle school. Marriages
+Richard Oelke’1960 May 3, 2017. Survivors are his wife Joyce, children Shawna Larson and husband Doug, Shelly Carlson and husband Carey, Meisa Arnold-Gillette and Husband Eric, Richard Jr.. sister Judy Oelke ’64 Thorne and husband Claude.
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+Sister Mary Durr OSU ‘1936 April 21, 2017. Survivors are her sisters, Sister Catherine Durr CSJ ’46 and Aurelia Durr ‘49 Inkret +Tim Shirley August 1 2017. Survivors are his mother Pat Lutz ‘56 +Jill Catlin August 3, 2014. Survivors are her children Allysyn Molzahn’83 Paap and husband John ’84 , Mark Molzahn, Johnathan Molzahn, Catherine Catllin, Elaine Chapman and Brian Chapman +Eugene Schnitzer ’60 August 11, 2017. survivors are his wife Juanita, children Theresa (Schnitzer) ’85 Heye and husband David, Eugene Schnitzer Jr. ’86 and wife Susanne Kaiser ’86 Schnitzer, Kimberly Schnitzer ‘91 and significant other Christopher Tremblay, and Sarah Schnitzer and significant other Amanda Seus
LCC kicked off the school year with a Back to School Bash, mass, and living rosary. Our first all school mass for Kindergarten-12th Grade was held at the Grotto. One Act District Champions Football Team District Champions Undefeated Junior High Football Team High School Marching Band won 3rd place in AppleJack parade competition Students raised $1,000 for hurricane relief in Hugs for Houston effort Three Students selected to All-State Band & Choir
Knights President’s Circle Established The President’s Circle was established this fall as a strategic think tank to provide expertise and recommendations to the President’s office at Lourdes Central Catholic School. The group is comprised of a diverse number of Lourdes patrons, community members, parents, alumni and pastors and will explore strategic issues related to the school’s long term strategic planning including finances, endowments, capital needs, enrollment, academics, marketing, and diocesan relationships.
While not binding, the President of Lourdes intends to give great consideration to the member’s collective wisdom and advice as the school moves forward in achieving our mission to provide a powerful spiritual and academic experience to Catholic youth for generations to come.
Escape to the Tropics at this year’s Lourdes Event! We would love to see our alumni at the Lourdes Event! Grab your classmates and reserve a table. The Lourdes Event is our annual fundraiser that supports the goals and operations of Lourdes Central Catholic School. The Event is a fun evening that starts with mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, followed by a social hour and silent auction, and dinner and grand auction at Lourdes. We also welcome donations for the silent or live auction! We appreciate any item large or small, vacations, weekend getaways, tickets to sporting events or concerts, etc. If you have a gift you would like to donate, please contact Brooke Chaney at 402-873-6154 or brooke-chaney@cdolinc.net.
Stations of the Cross During a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Fr. Cyza had the opportunity to visit the garden of Gethsemane. This garden contains very ancient olive trees that local Christians believe were alive when Jesus experienced his agony there. Fr. Cyza was inspired to obtain handcarved olive wood Stations of the Cross for our school chapel. By having this connection with the Holy Land, we hope to give our students a tangible reminder of the roots of our faith and a visible sign of God’s love for us. Donations may be made in memory of a special person, alumni class or individuals family. Help us continue to connect our students to their faith with your donation toward the purchase of these beautiful Stations of the Cross. For more information contact Patrice Wulf at patrice-wulf@cdolinc.net.
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Alumni Updates Have you moved? Do you have news? Would you like to receive the Alumni Newsletter via email? Let us know by filling out the information below and returning it to the school at the address shown above or by emailing Brooke Chaney at brooke-chaney@cdolinc.net. Alumnus Name: ____________________________________________________________ Alumnus Maiden Name: ____________________________Graduation Year: ___________ Address: __________________________________________________________________ Telephone: ________________________ Email: _________________________________ News:
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