Southern Nebraska Register
The eight parishes of the Crete Deanery recently held a 40 hours’ devotion event to celebrate the national Eucharistic revival.
The event was hosted by the Crete Deanery Council of Catholic Women (DCCW).
Between March 8 and 10, parishes in the deanery hosted adoration in the churches at designated times. The parishes in the deanery – a geographical region of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln – are: Sacred Heart Church in Crete, St. James in Cortland, St. Mary in Denton, St. Stephen in Exeter, St. Joseph in Friend, St. Wenceslaus in Milligan, St. Joseph in Tobias, St. Wenceslaus in Wilber. The Cor Mariae Schoenstatt Shrine in Crete also participated. At least 200 people participated.
A closing event was held at Sacred Heart Church in Crete March 10, featuring guest preacher Father Angelus Montgomery, CFR.
Father Angelus Montgomery grew up in Lincoln and graduated from Pius X High School before entering the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (“CFRs”) in 2009. He took final vows in 2014, and was ordained a priest in 2018. He and his brother Father Innocent, also a priest with the CFRs, first encountered the friars when they went to New York City to help with a kids’ summer camp with the Missionaries of Charity.
Father Angelus now serves as the community’s vocation director at St. Joseph Friary in Harlem, N.Y. Along with his duties in helping young men in their discernment, he is involved with the community’s outreach to the poor and vulnerable, and is co-host – with Father Innocent – of the “Poco a Poco” (“Little by Little”) podcast, produced by the CFRs.
Donna Havlat, president of the Crete DCCW, said the event was inspired by Trudy Burenheide, president of the Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Burenheide encouraged parishes and deaneries to do something to mark the Eucharistic Revival happening throughout the U.S.
“This is the second year we’ve been having adoration in Crete with our high school students each month to promote the Eucharistic Revival,” Havlat explained. But she thought it would be beneficial to do something more.
“When I first held a meeting with the other PCCW presidents and spirituality commission chairs,” she said, “our spiritual advisor, Father (Robert) Barnhill, suggested the 40 hours devotion as a way to involve all parishioners.
“We divided the hours between parishes, and I was very grateful for the help PCCW members and our priests gave us in promoting the event,” she said.
The parishes and priests stepped up in tangible ways. St. Mary Parish in Denton held the overnight hours on Friday. Sacred Heart has an adoration group, Sociedad de Adoracion Nocturna (Nocturnal Adoration Society), who covered the overnight hours on Saturday. Adoration hours during Sunday morning Masses were held at the Schoenstatt Shrine outside Crete.
Two FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionaries provided meditation music on Sunday. Havlat and her husband Brad, Thai Nguyen and Carla Fitz led the singing of the Divine Mercy Chaplet with alternate decades in English and Spanish. Father Christopher Stoley, pastor of Sacred Heart, translated Father Angelus’ message in Spanish via headsets for those who chose to use them.
“Most of the priests from the deanery were able to attend and heard confessions,” Havlat said.
Ann Jansky, a member of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Milligan who attended, appreciated the experience.
“It was an uplifting, spiritual event – perfect timing for the middle of Lent,” she said.
Havlat felt it was providential that Father Angelus could speak for the event. Father Angelus is the brother of Havlat’s daughter-in-law, Katie Havlat. Father Angelus happened to be in Nebraska visiting family this month, making him available for the talk.
Father Stoley was also familiar with Father Angelus and grateful he could be present. The two entered the seminary together and were classmates for two years before Father Angelus moved to New York to join the CFRs.
“It had been several years since I had seen or spoken to him,” Father Stoley said, “so I was pretty excited to hear from him. We didn’t have a lot of time to catch up, but the little time we shared was a treasure.”
Father Stoley called the entire 40 hours event a “great success.” He pointed out that polls show that 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, “and I can believe it,” he said.
“So, having the idea (for this event)… come from the people themselves was exciting, and I immediately said, “Let’s do it.’”
He and the other priests of the deanery left the planning in the hands of the CCW and “they did not disappoint,” he said.
Sacred Heart is the largest parish in the deanery, so hosted the culminating event.
“The church has an official capacity of 250 people, and a little over 200 people showed up,” Father Stoley described, “pretty evenly split” between English and Spanish speakers. He said most attendees stayed for the entire 2.5-hour adoration period, “and the confessionals were never empty.”
“There was a new fire I had never seen before in the people who came from my own parish,” he said, “and deep devotion was equally evident in those who came from around the deanery.”
Afterward, Father Stoley said, “Everyone I talked to… congratulated us for such a beautiful devotion and conclusion, and those who attended were moved by the whole experience. We had a little social afterward and everyone was abuzz with excitement. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.”
“Jesus is alive and well in Crete, Nebraska,” Father Stoley concluded. “There is still a long way to go, but Christ will conquer, and this event was a major boost in his reign.”
