By Natalie Bender
for the Register
St. Mary Parish in Ashland held a “Familia Evening” Feb. 4, an opportunity for parishioners, to spend time together as a family, listen to a speaker, and pray together.
Familia—Latin for “family” —is a faith-formation initiative developed at St. Mary Parish in 2024, with the goal of supporting and strengthening families within their parish community. The program was developed through the collaboration of pastor Father Robert Matya, the five-member parish evangelization team, and the CCD coordinator. Together, the team identified the unique challenges facing modern families and the urgent need to intentionally invest in their spiritual formation.
Father Mayta emphasized the importance of holding Familia events as “a way to encourage families to stick together” and to continue with their faith through grade school, high school and college. As the family is often tested in modern culture, Familia seeks to actively respond by equipping families with encouragement, truth, and authentic encounters with the faith.
In the past year, “Familia” opportunities included a presentation by Nebraska volleyball player Rebekah Allick, a Catholic parenting panel, and a praise and worship night with Eucharistic Adoration.
The Feb. 4 event was planned with a special emphasis on those families with children enrolled in the parish CCD program. The evening took the place of the typical weekly CCD night.
The event began with dinner and an activity in the parish hall. Then participants gathered for a presentation in the church by Reed Malleck. Malleck, a native of St. Joseph Parish in York, is currently a FOCUS missionary. While a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Malleck was a golfer for the Cornhuskers, and he won the 2024 National Amateur Golf Championship. At the conclusion of his talk, the CCD students were able to meet Malleck for autographs and photos.
Malleck began his presentation by reading Luke 5:1-11, which describes the call of Simon Peter to “put out into the deep.” The apostle put his nets back into the water and they were so filled with the Lord’s abundance that they broke.
Malleck explained that for him, golf was where he put his “nets” – as fishing was Peter’s focus before the call of the Lord, golf was what Malleck believed was going to be the thing to satisfy him.
While in college at UNL, he said he began to realize something was missing from his life and golf wasn’t fulfilling what he thought it would. It wasn’t a quick process. He joined a Bible study when invited by a FOCUS missionary, but didn’t immediately change his perspective and his behaviors.
Still, he said, the first Bible study was “a way that Jesus used to get me to know him better.”
He was later invited into another Bible study, and then to go on a mission trip to Mexico City, his “moment where Jesus said to put your net into the deep.” That experience, and further prayer broke all of the “nets” of what he thought he wanted.
“What Jesus wants to do is fill us up,” Malleck told the families. “He wants to break our nets and fill our boats so abundantly.”
Malleck ended his presentation encouraging the listeners to keep Jesus in their boat “because at some point, he’s going to take your nets and break them, and it’s going to be the greatest thing.”
SNR photos | Natalie Bender. Click for more photos
