SEEK24 Bound!

The contingent from Southwest Minnesota State University, including the seminarians from the Diocese of New Ulm, are headed to St. Louis for the SEEK24 Conference.  The travelers received a beautiful blessing from Father Tony before they boarded the bus headed for St. Louis.

The traveling has been filled with time to get to know each other better, while sharing in Morning Prayer, the Rosary, and Evening Prayer.  We made a stop at everyone's favorite (Steak n Shake) for supper, before finally arriving in St. Louis.  It was an exceptional start to a week that will be filled with promise.

  

Grab and Go Lunches

 For the final Tuesday and Thursday of the semester, we offered "Grab and Go" lunches from 12:30p-1:30p.  We had a number of students who came in for cold cut sandwiches, chips, fruit and homemade goodies.  It is hard to believe the semester has wrapped up already.  Next stop, SEEK24!

Spa Night

 When you get to the end of the semester, who doesn't need to have a little self-care time?  From face masks to sugar scrubs, with a healthy helping of snacks and sparkling juice, we are bringing the end of the semester to a close in fine fashion!

Light Up The Night: Nativity!

 Our local hospice (Prairie Home Hospice) has an annual "Light Up the Night" fundraiser.  It runs from the weekend after Thanksgiving through the weekend before Christmas.  Holy Redeemer sponsors the live Nativity.  This year, our Catholic Stangs took an evening to cover  the Nativity.  It was a brisk night, but the costumes allowed for good bundling up underneath them!

We are grateful for Abbey, Luci, Olivia and Stephen for their assistance!

November and December Birthdays Celebrated!

 We had a special request for ice cream cake to celebrate our November and December birthdays.  We were able to find a peppermint ice cream cake (with all the chocolatey goodness) at Dairy Queen.  Happiest of birthdays to all of our November and December birthdays, especially Father Tony and Luci (the cake requester!)

Catholicism 101: Advent

 Father Tony was able to lead our last Catholicism 101 for the semester as we headed into Finals' Week!  We had a good opportunity to learn more about Advent and preparing our hearts for the arrival of the Lord.  The largest group of students to join us this semester made for great conversation!  

Belgian Cookie Making

 Gerri Labat joined us to teach us the fine art of Belgian Cookie making.  We also learned how the right Belgian Cookie iron makes all the difference in the world in making cookies the correct thickness.  Many of our students had never seen a Belgian cookie, much less tasted one!  Thank you to Gerri (and Fr. Denny) for their time and expertise!

December First Saturday Retreat

 With all of the crazy schedule conflicts, our goal of having a retreat each First Saturday actually happened on a First Saturday!  We join with the parish community for Mass, Rosary and Reconciliation.  We had a great turnout of students who took a morning away from the busyness of preparing for finals with some time with each other, and more importantly, with the Lord.  Included in our morning was a group prayer for the health of Father Tony.

Our theme this month was "Evangelization".  We had a wonderful opportunity to come together to see what the Lord is calling us to do as we serve as His hands and feet to our campus!

Decorating at the CRC

 Not only do our students help with decorating at Hill Street Place, they handle the majority of the decorating for the Campus Religious Center.  Each year, it looks a little different, but always a beautiful reminder of what the season is really about, as we prepare our surroundings to welcome the Lord into our hearts as the infant Jesus.

Decorating at Hill Street Place

One of the more enjoyable holiday traditions the Catholic 'Stangs have is spending an afternoon at Hill Street Place, helping with decorating for Christmas.  With the weather being as beautiful as it has been, this year we were able to help with outdoor decorations for the first time.  Thank you to Jane and all those who live at Hill Street Place for welcoming us to their home!  (also, thanks to Jane for all of the photos!)

Thanksgiving at the CRC

 One of our biggest outreach traditions at the Campus Religious Center is the annual Thanksgiving Dinner (To Go!) for our campus community.  We were blessed with the opportunity to give a presentation to the a class of International Students new to our campus this semester as well as to have a connection with the Men's Basketball team.  We set a new record of 78 meals served to students on campus!

Our special "Thank YOU" to all of the parishioners of Holy Redeemer who support this effort through their cash donations, turkeys, and time.  This would be an insurmountable task if we didn't have the community support to make it happen.  We were also gifted with the hands and feet of a family who celebrated their Thanksgiving on Wednesday who came to help with the finalization of the meal prep as well as packaging the meals to go out, and the clean up of the event.