Friday, December 10th, Father-Son Christmas Party
Our annual Christmas party was again a great success. Holy Name members and their sons, son-in-laws and grandsons celebrated Mass, had a great dinner, received attendance prizes and played some games including ping pong and Wii. We had ~100 attendees again this year.
Sunday, December 5th, Holy Name Communion Breakfast
Our annual Communion Breakfast was a great event again this year. Deacon Bob Orr and his minions - Chris Diel, Dave Orr & Paul Giljum Jr., treated us to omeletes to order. Our guest speaker was Father JJ Mueller, who is currently a professor at St. Louis University. Father talked about the connection of the Old Testament with the New and how it relates to the church today.
The Holy Name was pleased to provide Monsignor Norb with an end of the year donation to the SMMA tuition fund.
Thursday, November 11th
Our Deacon Bob Orr and HNS member Chris Konkel talked about our parish Needs & Services organization. We appreciate their commitment to help our parishioners.
October Meeting, Thursday, October 14th
Our October meeting was our annual new members meeting and we had several new members in attendance.
We were honored to have SMMA Youth Minister Betsy Paszkiewicz and several of the teens from the youth group speak at our meeting. The big youth event in November will be the Luke 18 retreat, which will involve about 65 eighth graders and 90 high schoolers. This is a very powerful retreat, where teens share their thoughts and experiences about God's role in their lives.
We were again fortunate to have the opportunity to present the Father Scheer Religious Vocations Scholarship to parishioner Tom Vordtriede. Tom is now a first year Theologian and wears the collar. So this marks the halfway point between four years of college and four years of theology, with the last year being a deacon. Tom is assigned to assist at St. Ferdinands parish and will be attending the Institute of Priestly Formation next summer at Creighton University.
September Meeting, Thursday, Sept 9th
Deacon Bob Orr and new Holy Name member Chris Konkel talked about the many facets of the SMMA Needs and Services organization. These include transportation, the Martha's serving food after funerals, working with SVDP, working with the ladies who run the bingo at Nazareth, Legion of Mary and providing cards for those who are hospitalized.
August Meeting, Thursday, August 12th
We were privileged to have Sister Valerie Stringer at our August meeting. Sr. Valerie is a recipient of the SMMA Holy Name Father Scheer Religious Vocations Scholarship. Sr. Valerie is a member of the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church in Spokane, Washington. One of the missions of this order is to spread joyful evangelization. They help & teach in Catholic schools as well as have a vibrant daily life with Latin Mass, the Rosary, Gregorian chant and other forms of music. Sister Valerie is currently a postulate, soon to become a novice, entering the novitiate. She continues to take a variety of courses, including some practical classes and Catechism.
Annual Dick Mankus Memorial Baseball Game
Grizzlies - Thursday, July 8th
In place of our July meeting we again went to watch the Grizzlies. Holy Name members, their family members, and the parish priests & deacons attended the game. As always it was a good time. Thanks to Deacon Bob Orr & Dave Orr for coordinating the tickets.
June Meeting, Thursday, June 10th
The Holy Name Society was proud to present the Pro-Life Committee and the St. Vincent DePaul Society each with a check for their portion of Fish Fry proceeds. Ray Kalbac accepted the check on behalf of the Pro-Life Committee and gave a talk about all the parish and archdiocesan Pro-Life events. More participation is requested. Pro-Life shares in the proceeds from the first Friday fish frys.
Jon Mueller accepted the check on behalf of the St. Vincent DePaul Society and Jon also gave a presentation of the workings of the SVDP in our parish. Times continue to be tough so any contribution is much appreciated. SVDP shares in the proceeds from the Lenten fish frys.
Annual Church Tour
Thursday, May 13th
We had a group of 25 members travel to St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Church for a tour and Mass. The church is 150 years old and has a tremendous amout of history. This church has the first shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The church was severely damaged by a fire caused by a lighting strike in August 2007. It has been beautifully restored. Msgr. Leach celebrated Mass after our tour.
Father/Daughter Valentine's Party
Saturday, February 13th
We had a great event at our annual Valentine's Party. It started with 4:30PM Mass in church, & party afterwards in the parish center.
Holy Name members along with their daughters, granddaughters and daughter-in-laws attended, and we had about 125 attendees. DJ Caroline provided the music and there was quite a bit of dancing. All ladies & girls received an attendance prize. Dinner and drinks were provided.
January meeting, Thurs, Jan 14th
We had a great meeting in January, discussing many upcoming events of the parish and organizations. First Friday fish frys continue to be successful and we are gearing up for the "monster" fish frys of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, 2/17, and every Friday in Lent, concluding with Good Friday on April 2nd. Our guests for this meeting were from the new W.I.N. organization, Women's Inspiration Network. Their president, Teresa Kovarik, spoke about the goals of the organization. They are an organization with three main goals - spiritual, community service and social. Each of their meetings will alternate between these themes. We wish much success to the new women's organization and hope to participate in parish activities with them. The Holy Name donated $500 to WIN for their initial startup efforts. The meeting concluded with three different chilies prepared by chefs - Al VanLeuven, Frank Connor & Norb Ladd. There was not a drop left.