November 17, 2013 Bulletin

 

w  If you haven’t yet, please pray about & respond generously to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.

(When we enter 2014, the larger “Ignite the Faith” capital campaign will begin & I’ll give a fuller explanation about that.)

 

w  This gem below was written recently by a pastor in Omaha in his bulletin.  A sin everyone everywhere should avoid.

“ Gossip:  One of the things that tears at the fabric of a parish is gossip.  People talking & pulling things down, complaining, bickering, you name it.  Gossip is like tearing open a feather pillow in a 25 mph wind — you can never retrieve all the feathers.  The negative talk does not help.  Many people in this parish give so much to make the place hum with positive activity, but a couple complaining words wipe out whatever good was done.  And it takes the wind out of the sails.  When I hear of such talk I get discouraged & my energy level is sapped.  And there is no way to respond to the gossip because, like the pillow feathers, they just get scooted along & kept in the air by others.  Gossip is another way of saying: rash judgment, detraction, calumny.  Rash judgment is assuming as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor.  Detraction, without an objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults & failings to persons who did not know them.  Calumny are remarks, contrary to the truth, that harm the reputation of others & give occasion for false judgments concerning them.  If we all held to the high principle of making sure our words never ventured into these three sins against the 8^th Commandment, we would all do a lot less talking. ”

 

w  A CENTURY STANDING  . . .  on December 1, 2013, St. Leonard will mark the hundredth anniversary of its building.  A testament to the endurance of faith.  Honoring the celebration with his presence will be the Archbishop Emeritus of Omaha, Most Rev. Elden F. Curtiss.

The following is a historical sketch from archived newspaper clippings.

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Among the pioneers who organized the Catholic faith in Nebraska were Franciscan priests of the Province of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis.  There's evidence of their presence in Madison in the 1870's, serving the spiritual needs of area German & Irish settlers.  But St. Leonard Catholic Church dates its actual parish origin to 1880 with the purchase of five acres of land for $100 (a spot near the location of the current parish cemetery).

In 1898, the current site was purchased for $1,200.  By 1903, after delays & set-backs, a limestone basement was built (which functioned as a Church) & a school started.  Since the Franciscans expanded their ministry to California, the priestly care of St. Leonard transferred to the Diocese of Omaha in 1910.  The first full-time resident pastor, a diocesan priest named Edward Stephen Muenich, arrived the same year.

A.D. W 1913.  The Pope was Pius X.  The U.S. President was Woodrow Wilson.  It was a year between two notable tragedies: RMS Titanic & World War I.

At a cost of $75,000 for bricks, lumber & spikes, construction of the new (upper) Church began with the laying of a cornerstone -- a cube of Vermont marble -- on May 8, 1913.  Work was completed for dedication on December 4 of the same year.  The architect was Jacob M. Nachtigall of Omaha.

Faith caused oxen to haul & human muscles to mortar the materials that shape what is now St. Leonard Catholic Church: 110 feet tall & one century old.  Quite an achievement.  The hard work of laborers & the sacrifice of parishioners way back then have endured.  Could they have imagined their investment lasting this long, the 21^st Century?  Rough mathematics, this building has glorified God with well over 40,000 Masses.

Thanks be to God.