Story by Randy Porter
(SNR) - The Summer Family Challenge is nearing its conclusion, but it’s never too late to find ways of loving each other, doing things together and loving Jesus as a family.
The Office of Family Life of the Diocese of Lincoln organized the family challenge which began on Pentecost, May 23, and continues through the Feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15. The challenge is a list of 33 items in the categories of pilgrimage, acts of service, prayer, and family time, to encourage families to spend intentional time together, and in prayer, this summer.
Because this is the Year of St. Joseph and also the Year of the Family, the Family Life Office wanted to challenge people in the diocese to try new things in family prayer time. There are prizes for various levels of accomplishment of the tasks. They include a hand-lettered, printable Mother Teresa quote emailed to you, courtesy of Lauren Bassinger, and a Holy Family icon, courtesy of HolyArt.
“It may be too late to do all the challenge components, but you could do one last hurrah,” said organizer Marilyn Klein of the Family Life Office. “You might not be able to complete the entire challenge, but you could still do parts of it. Or, use it later for Advent, Lent or other liturgical seasons as a template or ideas for your family.”
The link to the list of challenge events is www.lincolndiocese.org/family/summer-challenge. Forms with completed challenges need to be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or mailed to the Family Life Office no later than Aug. 25. Prizes will be awarded in September.
The Family Life Office won’t know how many people participated until they turn in completed forms, said Klein, who helps with marriage ministry and events coordination. She’s been with the office nearly three years.
“For our family, it has been fun to explore different churches and have a reminder to try new types of prayer and experiences together,” said the member of St. Teresa Parish in Lincoln. “I think the beauty of this is it’s a fun challenge to remind you to be experiencing new and beautiful things as a family.”
Family life is not always a walk in the park, but it is always good, Klein said. “If we can find ways to make it more fun and better, then we are doing what Jesus is asking us to do as families. It allows us to experience the goodness that He desires for family life” and to evangelize with our families, she explained.
“I desire so much that married couples would experience greater unity in their marriages and that their unity would flow into their family life,” she said. “I think having fun together, experiencing new things, praying together and serving others together are all important and effective ways of doing that. If there were things that you didn’t get done, you can still keep doing the challenge on your own.”
Family life is sometimes chaotic and hard, and if this summer season wasn’t your best, there’s always time to try again, Klein said. Her family planned to go to the church in Anselmo, but had sick children and didn’t go. However, now they know it’s there and can go a different time.
“I would just encourage families to find things they enjoy doing together,” she said. “When people see families who are together and enjoy being together, that is a powerful witness.”
Mary Hengen and her husband George, members of St. Mary Church in Nebraska City, are participating in the challenge.
“It’s been going really good,” Mary Hengen said. “We did all eight of the pilgrimages.”
While she and George have completed various other challenges such as prayers, activities and service, their favorite one by far was their pilgrimage to the 14-acre Trinity Heights, an inspirational sacred destination in Sioux City, Iowa. It features two dozen shrines, memorial garden spots and quiet corners for prayer and reflection.
Pilgrimage destination
“You just can’t believe what they have there and wonder why many of us have never heard of it before,” Hengen said. “Everyone one should go to it. It is just wonderful.”
Because they experience difficulty walking considerable distances, a volunteer offered to give them a guided tour in a cart and told them the history of Trinity Heights. Formerly Trinity College and high school, a priest had a vision for the holy place. Later, he raised the money from graduates who bought the land and still fund the destination.
The sculptures were most impressive, she said. Two magnificent, 30-foot statues anchor Trinity Heights on each end — the Immaculate Heart of Mary Queen of Peace and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. An impressive, life-size wooden carving of the Last Supper is located in St. Joseph’s Center across from the Marian Center Gift Shop.
Trinity Heights’ newest sculpture is of Pope John Paul II, Hengen said.
Accepting challenges together
Various families accepted the Summer Family Challenge offered by the Office of Family Life of the Diocese of Lincoln. One of them, for example, found new ways to spend time together in prayer because of the challenge.
Craig and Kari Westmore and their five children, members of St. Peter Parish in Lincoln, also enjoyed that time together. The children are Nora, 7, Miriam, 5, Simon, 4, Finnian, 2, and Amelia, nearly 5 months.
The Westmore family has completed more than 20 of the challenge activities, but there’s time to do more.
After learning of the challenge, Craig and Kari thought the list looked fun and they made a tentative schedule on a calendar, Craig Westmore said. Plans included making a small vacation in conjunction with pilgrimages.
“We were all pretty well impressed with the pilgrimages we made,” he said. “We liked the Cathedral of the Sandhills at Anselmo where we prayed.”
The family did a really good job praying the stations of the cross at the Cloisters on the Platte, he said. All the destinations were amazing and the family talked about the various visual displays at each location.
They were not disappointed when they returned to Trinity Heights although they had been once before, Westmore said. There were some changes, and it was one of the most fun pilgrimages.
The trip also created the opportunity for fellowship. The family met a couple visiting the shrines. They spent time together talking about their faith.
Also, Craig said, the pilgrimages made him realize there are more locations to visit for prayer, reflection and fun.
One activity, family movie night, presented a particular challenge, he explained. How do you find a movie appropriate for children the ages of those in his family? You work around it.
“The challenge has definitely brought us more together, although we try to do a good job of family activities, anyway,” Westmore said. “The challenge gave us new places to go, new goals to set and new activities to do.”
Also, it’s important to realize a great deal of Catholic work is done by volunteers, he said. He hopes Summer Family Challenge participants and others show appreciation for those people who help us grow in faith, to do more pilgrimages and prayer.
The challenge has opened his eyes to search for other sacred sites along the way when traveling, Westmore said. “Please keep doing it,” he said about activities such as the family challenge.
To have fun on trips and with activities beats watching Saturday morning television cartoons, he said.
