April 21, 2020
To: All Saints, Holy Family and St. Rose of Lima Parishioners Fr: Fr. Keiter Re: Perpetual Adoration in All Our Churches
Dear Parishioners and Parish Families:
Happy Easter! You have heard me say many times how we as Parishes and as the Catholic Church must not be in maintenance mode but rather our future depends upon us being mission focused. Regardless of what is going on in the world and our lives like this virus stuff we still must lean into being mission focused and not in maintenance mode.
Last week, I listened to a webinar and the presenter asked with regards to Parish Offices, Parish Staff, Pastors, Priests etc., “Do people encounter a ‘Nuclear Power Plant’ of Prayer when they come into our offices or into the presence of those people who work in our Parishes and Churches?” That really struck me, not just for our parish staff and myself but also for all of us as Our Catholic Family of Parishes. When people encounter us, do they encounter in us a ‘Nuclear Power Plant’ of Prayer?
You see, to be missionary, we necessarily need a personal relationship with Jesus. A personal relationship requires us to have a daily and intentional prayer life. This particular and unique time we are all experiencing is giving us an unprecedented opportunity to focus on this.
That being said, I am setting forth two challenges that we start now and carry on into the future. So I am challenging all of us not just now but into perpetuity. It is my hope that future generations will still be practicing these two challenges I am putting before us. Here’s the First Challenge.
We currently have 4 of our 7 Churches that prior to this virus outbreak had Eucharistic Exposition and Adoration during the day. I would like to begin Adoration in all 7 of our Churches from 6 AM to 10 PM Monday thru Saturday. Each of our Churches would have it 1 day per week: Sacred Heart – Monday, Ss. Peter and Paul – Tuesday, Immaculate Conception and St. Rose of Lima – Wednesday, St. Boniface – Thursday, St. John the Baptist – Friday, St. Joseph – Saturday. I would like to begin with Adoration without Exposition until I know all the hours are covered, so our Lord is never alone. Once all the hours are covered and preferably by 3 or more persons so in case someone is sick or gone the hour on that day is still covered, then I would like to switch and maintain each of these days as Adoration with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. I would like to begin the Adoration without Exposition right away and as soon as a particular Church has all its hours covered we will switch over to Adoration with Exposition. There are some logistics required for this. We will need a
All Saints Holy Family St. Rose of Lima 303 Omaha Street 106 W. 889 Road 1316 W. 5th Street
Fordyce, NE 68736 Hartington, NE 68739 Crofton, NE 68730 402.357.3506 402.357.2454 402.388.4814 Page 2
Deacon, an Acolyte or an Extra Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion to have the 6 AM hour and the 9 PM hour so as to begin Exposition and Repose the Blessed Sacrament at 10 PM. When we get back to normal times with our morning Masses, the Priest will repose the Blessed Sacrament prior to Mass and then begin exposition again at the conclusion of Mass. This would also happen with Funeral Masses if it fell on the Day of Adoration at a particular Church.
We are going to have to work together to accomplish this task. I challenge everyone to think outside the box. As Our Catholic Family of Parishes we need to fill all these hours in all our Churches. Choose the day and hour that works best for you. Don’t limit yourself to “your” Church. Together this is an opportunity for us in Northeast Nebraska to live out that we are a ‘Nuclear Power Plant’ of Prayer.
You can sign up for a particular day and hour at one of Churches by going to our website – www.ourcatholicfamily.org and click on Adoration on our landing page. You can also sign up for a particular day and hour at one of our Churches by contacting one of the following parishioners:
Mondays at Sacred Heart – Judy Verschoor (402) 357-2240 or [email protected] Tuesdays at Ss. Peter and Paul – Judy Verschoor (402) 357-2240 or [email protected] Wednesdays at Immaculate Conception - Judy Verschoor (402) 357-2240 or [email protected] Wednesdays at St. Rose of Lima – Gerri Schumacher (402) 388-4645 Thursdays at St. Boniface – Ruth Steffen – (402) 360-2495 or [email protected] Fridays at St. John the Baptist – Donna Potts – (402) 357-3728 or [email protected] Saturdays at St. Joseph – Jolene Steffen – (402) 357-3740 or (402) 841-5628 or [email protected]
Please consider spending 1 hour with our Lord once a week in our Churches. Help us be that ‘Nuclear Power Plant’ of Prayer!
Wait a minute! I said I had 2 challenges. Here is my second challenge and this could be done during your Holy Hour if you sign up for one but everyone at home or anywhere can also accomplish it. Just like the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” I would like to propose, “Scripture Helps Save the Soul!” I am not talking about Sola Scriptura! We know that Jesus is our Savior, but He is also the Word made Flesh. So you can’t read Scripture and not encounter our Lord. So my challenge is this. Let’s all commit to reading from our Bibles at least 5 minutes per day. We all can find 5 minutes. I understand that many people feel intimidated by Scripture so I want to help you along in this journey and challenge. Let’s all begin reading from Acts of the Apostles. We will begin together on Monday, April 27th. You are your own accountability partner unless you ask someone to be your accountability partner in this challenge, which would be great. I want us all to create the habit in our lives and in the lives of our families to read from our Bibles daily because Jesus wants us to encounter Him daily in Sacred Scripture just like Jesus wants us to encounter Him and His love for us in the Eucharist.
Let’s Do This! Let’s knock these two challenges out of the park! Let’s be mission focused!
With sincere Prayers and Thanksgiving for you,
Fr. Keiter
Fr. Keiter