Minutes of Serra Club Meeting

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Members present: Leon Gentrup & Beth Gentrup, Nancy Rice, Marianne Wright, Kathleen OBrien, Cathy Berlage, Pat & Jerry Schmit, Dave and
Mary Lux, and Linda Kerkman. Guest: Katie Lux ( Dave Luxs mom) & Diane Leffler ( mother of seminarians Taylor & Spencer) from West Point

The meeting was opened by President Linda Kerkman. The meeting began with Serra Vocation Prayer
Programs
: The speaker, Father Matt Niggemeyer, spoke on his vocation story. His story began when he was Catholic Grade School but
fade when he entered High School at Omaha Burke. His main focus was doing lighting for plays & concerts until a Casting Crown
Concert question and he questioned himself Why am I Catholic. He started to read the Catechism, attended retreat which he got a
sense of beautiful peace from. This peace lead him to a Steubenville weekend where he encounter God who showed him 2 images
during adoration. One was of him as a lawyer with a wife & family, the other was him as a Priest. His face in the first image was sad and
his eyes showed no joy but in the second image his face & eyes were radiating joy. He still was not convinced. At Mass he started to
negotiate with God and asked him for a sign. The next day in a small group the guy next to him said I need to be a Priest There was
his sign. This began Father Matts journey to call the Vocations Office and the rest was history. 4 Years at Conception Abbey and 4
Years in Rome.
Father was asked what ways can Serrans help.. his answer was for us to pray for young men that being a Priest is a manly thing to do.
The fathers need to spiritually gender their children and to take Catholic Fatherhood seriously.
Secretary:
The minutes of the previous meeting were read & approved and can be found on the website.
Norfolkareaserra.weebly.com
Treasurer
Kathleen OBrien shared
Treasurers Report for August:
Opening balance $5,316.39
Income: Dues received $402.00
Final balance $5,718.39 now
Reports of vice presidents:
Communication:
Kathy Steffensmeier, not present
Vocations: Need to step up our Fostering of vocations. Linda talked about acquiring Priest & Nun kits for the kindergarten classes. Also
birthday cards sent out to seminarians. Mary Lux will contact the vocations office for the names and birthdates
Membership: Develop an Orientation for new members. Linda will talk to Father Ross concerning the letter his is sending to area
Priests concerning suggestions for new members.
Programs:
Information Night & Orientation were brought up as possible programs to pursue
Old Business:
We will ask the Omaha Serra club to put a link to our website on their webpage.
New Business:
Topic Night - we will not have a Topic night this year. Will revisit this subject in March concerning who will put it together and get a

date on the calendar.

Priest Appreciation Dinner

- November 12th. Leon will contact the Knights of Columbus Hall to check on the date, Gail Hansen
knows about the dinner and will be catering but no price has been set. Mary Lux will create and send out the invites. Leon & Beth will
take the reservations for the dinner. Will work on more of the details next meeting.
Goals for 2015 - 2016 - Membership - Funding - Bylaws - Linda suggested that we clean up the current bylaws to fit our clubs need.
A board will be formed to help clear things up and will be presented to the group at a later date.
Funding Proposals - Father Ross is sending a letter Pastor to Pastor asking for support for our Club. Linda will follow up with him on
this matter. We also talked about doing our Split the Pot at the Appreciation dinner to help cover our expenses such as stamps and
invites.
Priesthood Sunday - Mary Lux brought up that Cheryl Cahoy from the Parish Office had asked her about Priesthood Sunday and
what we had done. She is putting together ideas. We agreed as a group that we would be happy to help her.
Chaplains comments
: Fr. Ross was not present. Dave Lux had just received word that Deacon Pribnows wife Mary had passed away
that evening so the group prayed a Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be for the repose of her soul.
Next Meeting:
October 15th
. Food schedule
: October: Linda Kerkman / Marianne Wright, December: Kristi Steffen and Beth and Leon Gentrup
The meeting was closed with Prayer for the Perseverance of Vocations.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Gentrup