Please help circulate the latest USCCB Action Alert on Title IX to websites, email lists, newsletters, social media or any other means. This message needs to reach principals, teachers, parents and parishioners as widely as possible. The deadline to submit a comment is Monday, Sept 12, 2022.

To read the letter from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or to add comments, click on this link. 

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS

Join Church of the Holy Spirit and celebrate fall with a Roast Beef Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 2 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the St. John’s gymnasium at 500 S. 18th St., Plattsmouth. This event is open to the community.

Dinner is $12/per adult person and $7 for children age 10 or younger. Cash or check accepted.

Dinner includes: Roast Beef, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, green beans, Dinner roll and Apple Crisp and Cobbler.

We hope you can join us!

Dear Parishioners,

Several years ago, due to the current social environment with respect to active shooter incidents in the work place, schools and places of worship, Father Houlihan asked if anyone on the Parish Council would be interested in attending a church security seminar.  We had a volunteer who attended the full day event held in west Omaha.  The seminar was quite eye opening, and it was recommended we develop our own program to look at general safety issues. It was also decided to look at some basic security measures that could be taken to enhance the procedures that were already in place. Father Houlihan made the decision to begin the CHS Safety and Security Team for our parish as well as St John the Baptist School, and as your new pastor, I have given the program my wholehearted endorsement!

Since the time of its inception, the team has grown to twelve individuals, including four police officers that belong to our parish. They are actively involved at each Saturday and Sunday Mass, and have developed several discrete measures to help proactively protect our parishioners from violent activity should it arise.  It was also determined that we need cameras outside the church to have enhanced situational awareness, while also serving as an anti-theft deterrent.  You probably remember that our maintenance shed was broken into a while back, and we lost some very expensive equipment.  We are also upgrading the security cameras for the school to help protect our teachers and students. Finally, we will be reviewing security procedures with Dr. Nina Beck, our new school Principal, administrative staff and teachers before school begins this fall.  As always feel free to contact me or my staff if you have any further questions.

God bless you,

Fr. Timmerman

Dear Parishioners,

I want to thank all of you who helped in any way, large or small, with the funeral services for Dane Carlson, the son of Kevin and Nadine Carlson. I know that your prayerful presence and acts of Christ-like service really meant a lot to Dane’s family.  Please continue to pray for Dane, and for the comfort and consolation of his family. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

We are also grateful to all of the wonderful volunteers who helped with the parish Rummage Sale! It is incredible to see the transformation of the school gym into a beautifully organized, temporary thrift store! Thank you to all of the donors, those who purchased some new-found treasures, and especially to the coordinators of the sale. We appreciate your hard work!

Lastly, I am grateful to see on the front of this bulletin that four of the open adoration hours were recently filled! That is a wonderful giving back to God of your time. When we talk about stewardship, it is not only about our treasure. It is a way of living, and being a good steward of one’s time includes a recognition that it ALL belongs to God! There are 168 hours in a week. Deciding to take one hour of Eucharistic adoration is basically offering back to God less than one percent of your total time (0.6%) for the week. It may not seem like a lot, but it is important time for our prayer life. Thank you for your stewardship of time! Only ten more open hours to go.

God bless you,

Fr. Timmerman

Dear Parishioners,

One of the things that I love about Holy Spirit Parish is our Perpetual Adoration Program. You cannot fully grasp all of the varied graces that can come from an apostolate that is dedicated to adoring and worshipping our Lord Jesus 24-7. From a spiritual perspective, I can think of only a few other things that can bear as much fruit as the dedicated commitment “to pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17) God is not outdone in His generosity, and that is why is it so important that we continue to be generous to Him. “Could you not watch one hour with me?” (Mark 14:34) God will continue to bless our parish and parishioners in both visible and invisible ways as we strive to stay always faithful to Him.

We currently have about 14 open hours in the schedule. We need to get those filled up with permanent adorers, so that we can truly be a “perpetual” adoration offering to the Lord. I realize that some of the open hours are difficult hours in the early morning, but those particular times are truly filled with many more graces than other hours because of the greater sacrifice entailed. Jesus knows how hard it is for you to crawl out of bed, get dressed, and drive over to church, sometimes when it is freezing cold and snowing! How heavy those bed covers can be when it feels like they are holding you down by themselves! However, your saying “Yes” to Christ, to keep watch with Him for at least one hour, is a grace-filled way of making reparation to His Sacred Heart that has been bruised by the offenses of mankind. Think of how His Sacred Heart was wounded by the tired indifference of His apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane. Perpetual Adoration during the middle of the night is the perfect way of doing what the Apostles did not do, and loving our Lord when His Sacred Heart was insulted.

I recently signed up for the midnight hour on Wednesday morning. I figured that I could not ask you to take a hard hour if I myself was not taking one. Would you please consider taking one of the open hours that are listed here in the bulletin? Of course, anyone and everyone is welcome, but I think that we really need the men of our parish that do not currently have an hour sign up for one of the early hours.

Two main reasons for that. First, men are called by God to be the spiritual leaders of their family. Husbands and fathers exercise the priesthood of their domestic church at home, and are called and tasked by God to lead their wives and children in virtue and holiness. Women have important roles as well in the church and home, but God calls men to be the leaders in faith. Secondly, it is better and more prudent to have men out and about in the early hours of the morning, God forbid something nefarious would happen. Either outside church or anywhere else. In general, they are more disposed to defending themselves, others, and even the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel if something like that should occur.

Thank you men of Holy Spirit, for prayerfully considering taking one of our open hours.

God bless you,

Fr. Timmerman, Pastor

THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who played a part to make the 2022 Spring Dinner/Auction, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” a success! The Spring Dinner committee is excited to share that this year’s event raised a total of $111,693, with $30,185 to support the church’s special project to build new confessionals. The Spring Dinner event is the parish and school’s largest annual fundraiser, and general proceeds are used to balance the school’s budget. We are truly blessed by the generous spirit and stewardship of all those who have given so much of themselves to the success of our church and school.

It is with great joy that we welcome Fr. Sean Timmerman, and Fr. Anthony Bedient to Church of the Holy Spirit and St. John the Baptist school!

Fr. Timmerman will serve as our Pastor and school’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Fr. Bedient was appointed Asst. Pastor. He will also be a teacher at our sister school Lourdes High School in Nebraska City. He retains his assignment as advocate on the diocesan tribunal.

An amazing summer camp opportunity for our youth and teens at Church of the Holy Spirit!

For more information and to learn how to register, visit https://holyspiritplattsmouth.com/totus-tuus-summer-camp/