SABBATH MASSES

(STARTING MAY 31ST)

Sunday:

8 a.m.

10 a.m.

5 p.m.

654 South 86th Street Omaha, Nebraska 68114 Phone: 402-391-3606 www.ctkomaha.org ctkparish@ctkomaha.org

DAILY MASSES

Monday - Friday:

12:10 p.m.

Interested in becoming a parishioner?

Stay tuned for the next New Parishioner

Orientation. Mass for a Parish Orientation

Session. Coffee and donuts will be served.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Rectory: Phone: (402) 391-3606 Fax: (402) 391-1498

Mass Times: (402) 391-6205

Prayer Request: (402) 614-9433prayers@ctkomaha.org

Religious Education & Sacraments: (402) 391-3624

School: Phone: (402) 391-0977 Fax: (402) 391-2418

Pentecost Sunday May 31, 2020

Bulletin Submissions

Due by end of day Thursday the week prior.

Email a brief description to

ctkparish@ctkomaha.org.

WATCH MASS ONLINE

Monday - Saturday:

11:00 a.m. premiere

Sunday:

8:00 a.m. premiere

Youtube: youtube.com/ctkomaha

Facebook: facebook.com/

ctkomaha

RECTORY OFFICE HOURS

The Rectory is closed until further

notice.

Let us all continue to pray for one

another, and the Church.

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Pentecost & Sunday Masses for the Public! Our first Sunday Masses reopened to the public start TODAY, May 31st! What a providential day to come together. Today is Pentecost, the 50th day of Easter and the conclusion to the Easter Sea-son. It celebrates the gift of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, and the constitution of the Church. Upon re-ceiving the Holy Spirit, St. Peter left the comfort and security of the Upper Room and announced boldly and publicly the Kingdom of God. As the doors of grace and of the Church were opened to the world, so our church doors are reopened for the celebration of public Sunday Masses.

Schedule for Reopened Masses: For the time be-ing and until further notice we are offering the follow-ing abridged schedule of Masses open to the public:

Weekdays at 12:10 p.m. (Monday-Friday)

Saturdays at 8:15 a.m.

Sundays at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Televised Masses: We will still broadcast Masses from Christ the King on our YouTube channel—Christ the King Omaha—around 11 a.m. on weekdays and on Sunday mornings around 8 a.m.

Dispensation: The dispensation issued by Arch-bishop Lucas continues until further notice. This dis-pensation releases the faithful from the obligation to participate in Sabbath Masses and Holy Days of Obli-gation for the time being.

Congregation: No one should feel pressured to attend these reopened, public Masses. In fact, if you show any symptoms of coronavirus, please stay home out of concern for others. Moreover, we encour-age all vulnerable people due to age or underlying health concerns to continue to stay at home to safe-guard their health and that of their loved ones.

Entering and Exiting: To limit shared contact with door handles, etc., and to make best use of our lim-ited supply of greeters, there are only 3 points of entry into the church for Masses: 1. The northwest door to the parking lot; 2. the northeast door across from the Rectory entrance; and 3. the southern wooden doors will all be propped open by our greeters be-fore Mass. When Mass is over, we encourage people to stagger their departure, observe the 6 feet rule be-tween them, and use ANY of the 7 doors to exit.

Masks: While not required, we strongly encourage all those in attendance to wear masks during the ser-vice, with the exception of receiving Holy Communion.

Clean Hands: Please thoroughly wash your hands with soap before coming to Mass and after Mass. Moreover, hand sanitizer stations are available at the

From Fr. Cook

3 main entrances.

Seating: Please sit in any pew EXCEPT the off-limits pews with the photos of parishioners in them. Members within the same household may sit next to each other but please use the markers on the backs of the pews to apply 6 foot distancing between people of different households.

Simple Music: Leading scientists, physicians and the Church recommend restrictions on singing for the time being because of its propensity to spread germs. The Mass parts will not be sung and additional music will be instrumental or sung only by the cantor. Moreo-ver, we have necessarily removed all the hymn books and missalettes from the pews and will not be passing out liturgy guides. If you like to read the readings for the Mass, we encourage you to bring your personal copy of The Word Among Us or Magnificat or use the Sunday readings found in our weekly bulletin.

Receiving Holy Communion: Ministers will bring Holy Communion to you in your pews. Remain stand-ing in your pew if you wish to receive Holy Commun-ion. For those not receiving Holy Communion, please kneel or sit down immediately when the distribution commences. If you have any health considerations or reservations about receiving Holy Communion at this time, it is not a requirement.

Receiving Holy Communion on the Palm: During this exceptional time we ask everyone to consider re-ceiving the Host on the palm of their hands.

One Species: To uphold the health of others, we will not be distributing the Precious Blood until further notice.

Low-gluten Hosts: Those in need of low-gluten hosts because of allergies will either be directed to receive Communion at a special station at the head of the center aisle, either during or at the end of the dis-tritbution of Holy Communion, depending on the avail-

Public Masses are back at Christ the King!

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Ordination of Zach Tucker: Fr. Cook will cel-ebrate 21 years as a priest on June 5th and Fr. Boyd will celebrate 6 years as a priest on June 7th. In be-tween, on June 6th, we celebrate the priestly ordina-tion of our own parish son, Deacon Zach Tucker!!!

Zach Tucker, son to Patrick and Sue Tucker and a son of our parish, entered the seminarian program of the Archdiocese of Omaha in the fall of 2014. During his time as a Focus missionary to collegians, he dis-cerned his vocation to priesthood. He attended Ken-rick-Glennon Seminary for two years of pre-theology and entered the theologate program at the North American College in Rome in 2016.

Zach was ordained a transitional deacon on Thurs-day, October 3 of 2019 in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On June 6, this coming Saturday, he will be ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha. We are so humbled and excited to have a member of Christ the King accept this sacred vocation to shep-herd, sanctify and serve the people of God. It is espe-cially noteworthy because I do not believe we have had a son of the parish ordained to the priesthood since Fr. Thomas Fangman in 1992.

Because of social distancing requirements and to be able to ensure ample seating for Zach’s family, friends and guests, both Zach’s ordination Mass to the priest-hood at St. Cecilia Cathedral and his First Mass here at Christ the King will be by personal invitation only. I am sad for Zach that he is neither able to have fully open Masses for these profound moments nor any receptions of any kind because of current social dis-tancing requirements but I am thrilled that he is being

From Fr. Cook

CtK Parishioner Deacon Zach Tucker will be ordained on June 6th

ability of ministers.

Donations and Tithes: To avoid close contact, we are foregoing the use of ushers inside the church for the moment. You will find 5 designated, blue boxes at the various entrances to the church in which you can place your cash or check donations. You may also mail in your Sunday offerings; slide them under the Rectory door; click the easy-to-find link on our parish website to donate digitally; or, easiest for you, move your tithing to an Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) from your bank – a simple phone call with Rick Kucirek, our Financial Director, at (402) 391-3606 ext. 2 can help make that happen.

Liturgical Ministers: EMHC, readers and sacris-tans are assisting at Masses. If you are a mandated reader or EMHC and would like to help, please re-spond to any invitations or directions issued by our Director of Sacred Music & Liturgical Ministers, Laura Rau. EMHC, along with the clergy, are required—for the time being—to wear their own mask at least while distributing Holy Communion.

Greeters & “Germbusters”: Parish volunteers are serving as greeters to make your homecoming more hospitable. We are also recruiting parish volunteers to help disinfect all of the pews and doors before and after Masses. We have a backpack that sprays a mist of heavy duty disinfectant that dries in about 20 minutes. If you would like to be trained for either of these essential services for weekend liturgies, please contact Juli Kaftan at juliannkaftan@gmail.com.

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ordained. That is, in the end, the most important thing.

I have been working with Zach and, when restrictions more broadly lift, “Fr. Zach” will return to Christ the King in late summer or in the fall to celebrate a spe-cial Mass of Thanksgiving that will be open to the whole parish. After that Mass, we will host a grand reception for Zach in our parish and for all those who attend. It will be a chance to greet him personally, re-ceive his first blessing (which comes with an indul-gence and is able to be given throughout the first year of ordination), and to celebrate the gift of Christ’s priesthood and Zach’s “yes” to the Lord.

Deacon Zach does not yet know where he will be as-signed in the Archdiocese beginning on July 1st so spiritual bouquets, cards and gifts to celebrate Zach’s ordination may be sent to Zach via his parents’ home address:

Fr. Zach Tucker 448 South 88th Street Omaha, NE 68114

Thank you for your support and encouragement for this fine young man. He, like so many during this pan-demic, have suffered the loss of the full joy of cele-brating special occasions so, please, let’s do all we can to encourage him, thank him and pray for him.

Church Sound System & Video: Our church sound system speakers began to act funny during a wedding on May 23. Even with repairs, both speakers have now gone out but we have put up tem-porary speakers. The broken power supply parts have been sent for replacements. This is a time, however, for us to address the acoustics and sound system in the church.

In my five years here, I have had recurring complaints about the inability to hear in the church. We have tweaked the sound system and at times had to repair it but I believe the problem not only lies within our ap-proximately fifteen year old technology but even more with the acoustics of the church. It isn’t a matter of just adjusting the volume. There is an echo in the church that garbles the sound and I am unsure if the location of the speaker arrays are ideal. Moreover, there are no speakers in the sanctuary for the altar servers or concelebrants to hear anything happening in the Mass. New sound systems are not only digital but they can directly tie into many existing hearing aids for people or come with sellable hearing units. An acoustician can also survey and map the actual sound in the space to determine the optimal location for speakers, volume, and the installation of any sound absorbing materials to cut back on echoes.

I have waited on acting on this because I know an acoustician and sound system and installation can run around $100,000 and for my first 3 years here I worked hard to eliminate our existing debt. Then I was hopeful that we might one day pursue a campaign to assist with our Ed Trust and some capital improve-ments, including the sound system, but the Corona-virus has put a halt on such plans. We have to bite the bullet and address this. If we cannot be heard and understood in church, our central mission as a parish is curtailed.

Moreover, if the Coronavirus has shown us anything it’s that people are on digital platforms and that many of our homebound parishioners greatly appreciate watching their own parish’s Masses online. We do not have built-in cameras in the church to livestream or record Masses. Fr. Boyd and I have had to do all this manually these past two months. Aware that the virus and the fear it brings will not disappear anytime soon, and acknowledging the great good of connecting with our homebound and seniors, now is also the time for us to move forward and to install some permanent, discrete cameras in the church to record Masses. We need to keep our presence in the digital world and technology is a wonderful aid to proclaiming the Gos-pel and connecting people, especially in these social distancing days. Another benefit of installing such cameras is the ability to livestream and/or record wed-dings, funerals, and school and Religious Education

From Fr. Cook

The statue of the Blessed Mother outside of our Adoration Chapel

wears her crown for the last day of May today

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Masses for the sake of friends and family who cannot attend.

Cameras are smaller and more adept than they used to be but they, and especially their installation and editing equipment, can be costly. Again, I feel we must move on this now to maintain the quality and connection so much of the parish has experienced through our YouTube Masses.

If you appreciate this endeavor to improve the sound in our church and to make broadcasting Masses a permanent fixture of our parish, would you consider making a special donation to this express purpose? I know there are members of our parish who have been extraordinarily blessed by God who could completely fund these improvements. Will you help us fulfill the most fundamental part of our mission as a parish: To proclaim the Word of God? Please contact me if you would like to learn more about the project specifics and discuss possible donations.

Meet Our New Catholics! Meet the 10 candi-dates and fellow parishioners who are becoming Catholic Christians today on the Pentecost Vigil, May 30! We are so grateful for their courage and witness to the Faith. Many thanks to Deacon Randy Park, Brandon Harvey, and to their sponsors for helping them come to this point and life-changing decision. Hear from them in their own words about their lives, hopes, and reasons for joining the Catholic Church.

Darren Groh: I moved to Omaha from New Jersey about two years ago for a job offer. I am getting mar-ried at Christ the King on June 20, 2020 and I've been attending mass here for a little over a year. Although I was raised Methodist, my mother's side of the family

From Fr. Cook

is Catholic. I became more interested in the Catholic Church through my interest in medieval history.

My Confirmation Saint is Saint Cosmas. I am a pathologist and Saint Cosmas can be regarded as an early laboratory physician who was martyred for his faith.

The Catholic Church has a rich and unique history which I first admired and now love. As I grow in the Faith, I hope to learn more, pray more, and get in-volved in parish activities.

The Weiss Family: It has been a special journey for our family to go through RCIA together. The expe-rience of growing in our faith together and discovering God’s love brought us closer. We are excited to re-ceive the sacraments together.

Josh and Kim Weiss and their children Ben, Sarah, and Luke

Darren Groh

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Taylor Hayes: My confirmation saint that I have chosen for myself is Saint John Paul II. He wrote this beautiful message that I really enjoy:

Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to wel-come Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man’. He alone knows it.

The first sentence is really empowering and humbling to me as a convert into the Catholic faith. Being a con-vert can be scary at times because it is something so new and different, but like Saint John Paul II wrote, “do not be afraid’’. I am accepting Christ and his pow-er and I am no longer afraid of my journey with Christ.

The aspect of the Catholic Faith that I really do admire is prayer. Growing up I prayed, but never knew why or to who. As I am becoming strong in my faith, I realize that there is no wrong way to pray, but to know that when I pray now I am talking directly to God. I close my eyes and envision him and talk with him about my struggles, passions, and to know that I hear him and can’t wait to talk to him again. This is something that I feel I can continue to grow better at, but really love about the Catholic Faith.

Hannah Linnemeyer: My name is Hannah Linne-meyer and I grew up in Indianola, Iowa. My parents, Brian and Kelli still live in Indianola and I have an old-er sister, Gracie, who lives in Des Moines with her

From Fr. Cook

Taylor Hayes with her fiancé Drew Deras

husband, Louis. I am engaged to Nick Weiland and our wedding is coming up in July! I work both my mom and sister doing Interior design. My hobbies include traveling, cooking and anything that gets me outside - hiking, running, etc.

My fiancés Catholic faith first attracted me to begin my journey. I've always admired how the Catholic faith has been a foundation for his family and a constant source of unity for them. I look forward to the day when we start a family and can share that faith and create that bond together.

I chose St. Martha as my confirmation saint. Being the patron Saint of cooks and servants, she hosted Jesus for dinner many times. While this was a demonstration of her love she also found herself getting caught up in the minutia of cooking and serving rather than being present and listening. This was a story that resonated with me having those similar types of moments and in the larger sense of trying to stay present and listen to Jesus, as well.

Hannah Linnemeyer

Dalton Clark

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Dalton Clark: My name is Dalton Clark and I am 22 years old. My family consists of my Dad (Dan Clark), Mom (Julie Clark), sister and her husband (Taylor & Austin Brown), sister and her husband (Madison & Christopher Camcam), myself, and my younger broth-er (Duncan Clark).

I come from a protestant upbringing and am very ex-cited to share the fullness of the faith. I went to Iowa Western Community College where I got my Associ-ate Degree in Criminal Justice and was on the wres-tling team. I now work for a family owned security company, Clark International.

My Confirmation Saint is Saint Michael the Archangel. I chose St. Michael because I try to lead my life with a warrior's mindset. Being a protector is part of who I am. Dating from our Jewish ancestry, St. Michael has been thought of as the "Prince-Protector," or the guardian of the church. That isn't something I take lightly. I believe that not just under physi-cal prosecution but also in our everyday lives it is our job as Catholics to defend the Church and all that she represents.

What stands out most throughout my RCIA journey is the vast depth of the Church. There is never an end to learning more about the faith. I want to dive deeper into the lives of the saints and their journeys, as well as continue to improve my prayer life.

Rachel Stearnes: I grew up in rural Nebraska and was raised Lutheran. I am a family physician and have worked in Council Bluffs for 13 years. My hus-band and our 5 children have been parishioners at Christ the King for the last 9 years. I had been consid-ering RCIA for a few years and recently decided it was time for me to get to know Jesus intimately.

I very much enjoyed getting to know my fellow RCIA friends and sharing curiosities and viewpoints. Weekly

From Fr. Cook

Mass and daily prayer with our children is currently a part of our life. I am looking forward to the Eucharist and asking Jesus’s guidance each time I receive this sacrament. I’m also hopeful to become an example for our children with the knowledge gained through RCIA.

I have chosen Saint Monica, the saint of patience in hopes that she will guide me to slow down and be present. Thank you to Father Cook, Father Boyd, Deacon Randy, Joan Stearnes, Brandon Harvey, my family and the Langan family for all of your care.

Confessions: In addition to individual appoint-ments with our priests, we will offer confession in the church from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. on today, May 31, June 6 and on June 13 & 14. We will issue information about any further opportunities for reconciliation and any corresponding directions through our parish Flocknote emails, Facebook posts and parish website.

Annual GAP Fund 2019-2020 Success! As with most independent schools, Christ the King’s tuition does not cover the entire cost of educating each child. Christ the King relies on support from the Educational Trust and the parish through tithing to cover the difference or “GAP.” The 2019-2020 Annual GAP Fund raised $58,500 which exceeded last year. We thank our many generous parishioners who helped make this happen.

Rachel Stearnes with her husband Dave and their children

Thanks to our exceptional Christ the King School teachers!

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FIRST READING (Acts 2:1-11)

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation un-der heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speak-ing Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cy-rene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34)

R. (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD, my God, you are great indeed! How manifold are your works, O Lord! the earth is full of your creatures;

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD be glad in his works! Pleasing to him be my theme; I will be glad in the LORD.

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. If you take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.

Sunday Mass Readings for Today

SECOND READING (1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13)

Brothers and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each indi-vidual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

GOSPEL (Jn 20:19-23)

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are re-tained.”

Pentecost by El Greco

Parish Support

Budgeted for the week ending May 24th* $31,500

Support received $26,540

Variance-positive/(negative) $(4,960

Fiscal Year 7/1/2019—6/30/2020

Budgeted Year-to-date $1,612,000

Year to date support $1,614,159

Variance-positive/(negative)* $2,159

(Through April 30, 2020)

*Includes Online Giving from the parish website of $3,904.

*Includes Omaha Gives donations of $3,795

on Wednesday May 20th.

Mass Intentions

“†” indicates deceased “Intention of” indicates living.

June 1 - Monday

8:15 † Fran Ambrose

12:10 † Antonio Pane

June 2 - Tuesday

8:15 † Marguerite Stejskal

12:10 † Jean and Nick Schechinger

June 3 - Wednesday

8:15 † Deceased Members of the Thomas Fraher Family

12:10 † Gary Sondyj

June 4 - Thursday

8:15 † Dewaine Alcorn

12:10 † Julie Boyce

June 5 - Friday

8:15 † Randy Ross

12:10 † For those enrolled in the Masses of Perpetual

Memory at Christ the King Parish

June 6 - Saturday

8:15 Intentions of William G. Cook

Mass for Sunday, June 7

5:00 For the People

† Ernie and Mary Claire Ringel

June 7 - Sunday

The Most Holy Trinity

8:00 † Dolores and Charles Ancona

10:00 † Eileen Hagerty Irvine

12:00 † Reid Von Tersch

5:00 For the People

SPICE 2020 - Celebrating 40 Years of the Ed Trust

Greetings Fellow Parishioners!

As has been previously announced, we are unable to host our beloved SPICE event this year due to the coronavirus

pandemic. While we won’t be able to come together in person, it is still important we raise the much-needed funds for

the Educational Trust. A big thank you to our supporters who have already responded so generously!

The Educational Trust began 40 years ago in 1980 when eleven visionary families came together and each donated

$200 for the endowment. Then in 1986, the first Ed Trust Dinner was held which was very simple without a theme, raffle,

auction, or decorations. The Trust annually provides funding to cover school operating expenses, tuition assistance and

scholarships. The proceeds from the annual SPICE event typically provide approximately 50% of this annual Trust

support, with the balance of annual support coming from investment income and appreciation. With the current financial

markets taking a hit due to the pandemic, it is critical we continue to provide this important support this year, even

without a corresponding event.

Please do what our parish forefathers did 40 years ago and support you parish and our wonderful school. If you’d like to

participate, please see the sponsorship form on the opposite page that can be completed and returned to the rectory

with any donation amount. Please prayerfully consider what you can give, and know that any amount helps. We thank

you in advance for your continued support of our great parish!