Irene Manning
The Robson Ranch Catholic Club met on Tuesday, September 12, in the lovely home of John and Mary Goodpaster. The meeting was opened with a prayer. Prayers were said for members, friends and family who were in need of prayer. Prayers were also said for the victims of both hurricanes in Florida and Texas.
Marge Lane gave an update on the Christmas Gift Bag Collection for Our Daily Bread, handing out a list of the items that are to be included in the gift bags. The items were to be put in clear gallon size Ziploc bags. The bags are to be turned in anytime before or at the November 14 Catholic Club meeting. The goal is to collect 300 gift bags to be distributed during Our Daily Bread’s annual Christmas Celebration.
Our guest speaker was Father Kyle Walterscheid who was introduced by the president of the Catholic Club, Mr. John Goodpaster. Father Kyle explained how they first started the Campus Ministry for UNT at the request of Bishop Van and that their mass and ministry was held at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, which was very close to the two universities. Immaculate Conception built a new church that was some distance from the universities, which meant they needed to find a new location. They are now located at 1303 Eagle Drive here in Denton. In the beginning they were a campus ministry but are now St. John Paul II Parish. They started out with about 75 students and have grown in five years to 225 students. The parish also has about 75 couples taking part in worship and the many activities that are part of the parish life, which now includes a development director. Father said the chapel, which is only about 1,800 square feet, is bursting at the seams. They are planning on building a new facility, hopefully by next fall, that would provide all the room that they would need for worship, activities and offices, all of which are badly needed at this time. Jenny Pelzel came from Franciscan University to head the Campus Ministry program at UNT.
Father Kyle informed the group that he had made arrangements to have a bus load leave on September 23 for the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City to attend the Beatification Mass for Fr. Stanley Rother who had been murdered in Guatemala. If he becomes a saint he would be the first priest to become a saint in the United States. It turned out to be a very interesting and spiritual evening.
The evening ended with fellowship and enjoying the many goodies that had been brought by some of the members.