ROCKsolid blog

Volunteers for Stations!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:36:00 +0000

Help present the Passion and Death of our Lord on Good Friday. Youth in 6th - 12th grades are needed to volunteer as actors (no speaking parts), lectors (you DO get to speak), servers, music, and as greeters and ushers.

We'd love to have you be a part of this year's presentation of the Living Stations. Sign up online!

Randomly Selected Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:51:00 +0000

We have a randomly selected winner for each round. And their prizes are pretty random as well!

Round 1 Winner gets....

and that winner is: Linda Lewis!!! Confirmation student, extraordinaire!

Round 2 Winner gets....

A stack of temporary tattoos that say "Til Death do us part." Yep...these were giveaways at mine and Mark's wedding. :)

And this winner is....The Woods!

Thanks to our ROCKsolid volunteers who helped create questions, and also to the makers of the game "Cranium." :)

Thanks for playing, everyone!!!

The Round 2 Winner is....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:46:00 +0000

Wait for it....

The Mehls!

Congrats, you win a batch of homemade shortbread cookies! I know it's not Fr. Kastl's cake, but I'll make 'em good, I promise...

Stay tuned for our Randomly selected winners of all the participants!

And, to end the night of online Trivia, Esther Loustaunau, one of our wonderful volunteers has a reflection for us:

** Has this ever happened to you? the doorbell rings, and when you answer it, your heart drops because you have just opened the door to someone you don't like very much. It's not that you actively dislike this person, it's more that your personalities don't match, and the relationship takes a lot of work on your end. Your first instinct is to act as if you're too busy to talk, even though you aren't. You know you should be more friendly but you don't want to. In Hebrews, we read about mutual love...the very thing that Jesus commanded at the Last Supper, when He told his disciples, "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" So how do we do it? Especially in situations like the one I just described? Trying to muster up the right amount of good will may work for a bit, but we will eventually lose our energy. And we sense, too, that being completely honest and telling our "friend" to leave us alone is hurtful and wrong. In the end we simply don't have what it takes to put these words into practice. And that is exactly what God want's us to know!! The love that Jesus commanded and that Hebrews explains to us is a love that can come to us only as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Jesus told us that it is easy to love people who treat us well, but it takes divine intervention to find the courage and strength to love people who are different from us, who have mistreated us, or who just rub us the wrong way! Do these words challenge you? GOOD!! let that challenge move you to look for the Lord more fully!!!!! Tell him that you need his LOVE!!!! - Esther Loustaunau

Round 2, 7 - 7:45pm

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Win This!

On your mark...get set....GO!!!

1) How many species of Zebra are there?

2) What crop is shown growing in this field?

3) What are "Easter duties"?

4) Who is the author of the book “Eragon?”

5) Katharine Hepburn won a Best Actress Oscar for this 1967 film; her co-star, Spencer Tracy, died shortly after filming. What was the film?

6) True or False: Beethoven’s speculative writings on future recording technology greatly influenced the design of the modern CD.

7) According to the Harry Potter books, what does RAB stand for?

8) Identify or give examples of who is:

Church Militant

Church Suffering

Church Triumphant

9) In the construction of a typical home, wall studs are spaced how far apart?

a - 12 inches

b - 16 inches

c - 24 inches

d - 36 inches

10) Where does the name "Mass" come from?.

11) True or False: In Scrabble, the letter “F” is worth 3 points

12) This Catholic man not only coached the Packers and played for them; he also invented them, founding the team in 1919 while working for a packing company that paid for the uniforms – hence, their nickname. The team joined the NFL in 1921. For his contributions to the sport, he was inducted into the National Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, in recognition for leading the team to six championships. Who is he?

13) True or False: In 1992 VP Dan Quayle made headlines when he misspelled potato on an episode of Murphy Brown.

14) Marble is which type of rock?

a - volcanic

b - metamorphic

c - sedimentary

d - igneous

15) Who played Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek TV series?

End of Round 2.

And the winner is....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:48:00 +0000

Mr. Oh!

Congrats! You win Fr. Kastl's chocolate cake!

ROUND 2 begins at 7pm! Play another round to win Candice's Shortbread cookies!

As you prepare for Round 2, a little educational entertainment...provided by 3 of our Confirmation Students!

ROUND 1 Answers:

B, Baseball

Michael

5, 050

A, James Monroe

Gabriel

False, there are 14

Shirley Temple

Tobit

C, Connecting Rod

Pointillism

God Saves

Lotso

True

1 Hour

Bob Dylan

Round 1, 6 - 6:45

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:03:00 +0000

Win this!

1) What was this man’s occupation?

a -playwright

b -baseball player

c -female impersonator

d -politician

2) What angel does battle with the devil?

3) What is the sum of the whole numbers from 1 to 100?

4) Which US president presided over the “Era of Good Feeling?”

a -James Monroe

b -Bill Clinton

c -Franklin Roosevelt

d -Calvin Coolidge

5) What angel announced to Mary she was to conceive Jesus through the Holy Spirit?

6) True or False: There are 16 lines in a sonnet.

7) Judy Garland almost lost her part in The Wizard of Oz when nervous MGM executives tried to borrow a more bankable child star. Who almost played Dorothy?

8) In what book of the bible does the angel Raphael appear?

9) What connects each piston in an engine to the crankshaft?

a -rocker shaft

b -camshaft

c -connecting rod

d -push rod

10) Artist Georges Seurat was known for creating paintings using small dabs of color. What is this technique called?

11) What does the name "Jesus" mean?

12) What is the name of the antagonist Bear in Toy Story 3?

13) True or False: When playing Monopoly, the odds of landing on Illinois Avenue are greater than the odds of landing on Boardwalk.

14) How long are we supposed to fast before receiving Eucharist?

15) Robert Zimmerman is known to most fans as:

a -Bob Dylan

b -Robert Smith

c -Bob Marley

d -Danny Elfman

End of Round 1.

Are you ready? 5 minutes to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:57:00 +0000

Get ready! Round 1 of Trivia will post at 6pm. Answer as many of the questions correctly as you can and post all of your answers as 1 comment. (Don't worry, they will be hidden until the game is over!)

The 1st person to get all (or the most) correct will win that Round, and win a prize!
All answers to Round 1 of Trivia must be received by 6:45pm. The Round 1 winner will be announced at 6:45pm!

Round 2 of Trivia will post at 7pm, and all answers to that round must be recieved by 7:45pm. Round 2 winner will be posted at 7:45pm!

There will also be randomly selected participants that could also win a prize just for playing!

Yes, googling is allowed! It's a "find the info the fastest race!" Get ready to have fun! And go spread the word some more....or are you too scared someone else might win your Chocolate Cake?

SNOWED-IN TRIVIA BEGINS AT 6PM!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:47:00 +0000

Want to Win this?

Or This?

You can TONIGHT!
In less than an hour, we begin our Cabin-fever cure: a Snowed-In Trivia contest! Anyone can participate, so spread the word and come back here to prove your smarts!

Round 1 begins at 6:00pm, with the winner posted at 6:45pm
Round 2 begins at 7:00pm, with the winner posted at 7:45pm

There will also be additional "door prizes" just for participating.

See you back here at 6:00pm!

Snowed-in Trivia Night!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:27:00 +0000

If ROCKsolid is cancelled this Wednesday evening and you find yourself snowed-in with cabin fever, check back in for our online event to play Trivia and win prizes!

Between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday night, February 9, we'll have a St. Mary's-wide online Trivia event, complete with prizes!

Spread the word, and begin flexing your brains (and googling muscles), and meet us back here at 6pm Sharp on Wednesday!

God, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Well those are 3 words I didn't think I'd ever be saying together. But I've learned that God, Sex, and the Meaning of Life have everything to do with one another.

I grew up through 12 years of Catholic School, and sex was barely talked about in any of our Religion classes...that was mostly left for the Science room. However, what my understanding from talking about morality in Religion was simply...don't 'do it' til you're married cause it's wrong!

Nothing against any of the wonderful teachers that I had back then, but I wasn't exactly instilled with a sense of wonder and awe about how amazingly beautiful the Church's understanding of marriage and sex actually is - or that they had anything to do with God, and the Church.

I was a kid who was pretty fine with waiting til I was married, so when I was 22, I wasn't exactly that interested in a book my roomate encouraged me to read called "The Good News about Sex and Marriage;" I thought I knew what the Church taught, and was fine with it...I didn't want to read anything that told me to "stay chaste."

However, after reading the 1st chapter just to appease my roomate, I was amazed at what I hadn't ever learned about Sex and Marriage. Christopher West, the author of that book, introduced readers to what is called "Theology of the Body:" teachings based on a series of talks given by Pope John Paul the II.

Theology of the Body is amazing...it's not simply a "do this, don't do this" approach to talking about sex, but instead it talks about our bodies, sex, marriage, children, in a way that not only makes you EXCITED about living a chaste life, but also helps you understand how our bodies, marriage, sex, and children can teach us about God, the Trinity, the Church, and the Sacraments.

I finished the book and really did say, "Oh...so THAT'S the meaning of life...I get it!"

So, I am soooo excited that this year at St. Mary's, we're going to be offering a 12-week session for High School Youth: "Theology of the Body for Teens." Monday evenings, starting in December, from 6-8pm, we'll tackle this hot topic!

Parents (of any age youth) are invited to take part in a Session designed to help you undertand a little bit more about Theology of the Body, and about the Teen sessions that we'll be doing. Join us on Sunday, Nov. 14, 11:30am, OR on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 6pm. RSVP to Candice so that we can provide the correct amount of materials and refreshments.

Trunk or Treat, Smell my Feet!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:17:00 +0000

It's that time of year again! Trunk or Treat at Saint Mary's! It's a fun time to gather the Parish, show off our Costumes and enjoy an evening of safe Trick or Treating from our Parishioners who have brought their front porches to us! There will be vehicles parked all over the West Lot decorated for Halloween, with Parishioners passing our goodies, games to play, and lots of friendly faces.

Wednesday, October 27, from 6:30-8pm

Donations accepted at the gate benefit the ROCKsolid ministries!

All individuals, families, or Parish/School groups are invited to help make Trunk or Treat amazing by decorating a vehicle and passing out candy. Be in the West Lot no later than 6:15pm on Wednesday, ready to pass out candy! Remember, there are prizes for the best trunks, so feel free to get creative!

If you're a ROCKsolid youth, we would love for you and your family to decorate a vehicle and pass out candy. If your family can't do it*, join us from 6-8pm and help set-up, work the gate, manage the voting, or run some games for the little ones. We'll even give you pizza, like a regular ROCKsolid Wednesday night!

*If you come without your family to help as a ROCKsolid volunteer, you are expected to help where you are assigned throughout the evening. Don't worry, you'll have time to see all the trunks and will get plenty of candy, but it is not simply free time!

Rootbeer Float, anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:12:00 +0000

Stay for just 10 minutes after any Mass this weekend to sip on a Rootbeer Float, meet ROCKsolid volunteers and other families that will be involved this year, play a quick, goofy game, and have a chance to register for ROCKsolid or sign up to Volunteer with the program.

Hope to see you there!

Free Riverwalk Concert by Matt Maher

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:54:00 +0000

I LOVE Matt Maher's music! He is an awesome Catholic who is an amazing and inspiring musician. He's bigger than ever in the Christian music scene, and he He's playing a concert at the Riverwalk in Jenks this Monday. You shouldn't miss it! 8pm, Monday evening! Round up your family and friends to enjoy an amazing concert!

Check out Matt and his music here:

http://www.mattmahermusic.com

Incredible Pizza!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:02:00 +0000

Join us on Wednesday evening, August 11th for a "ROCKout" night with all 6th-12th grade youth. Mass will be celebrated in the chapel at St. Mary's with Fr. Kastl at 6pm, and then for those that want to join us - meet us at Incredible Pizza to eat and play from 7pm - 8:30pm! $10.00 gets you dinner and a game card. RSVP to Candice if you'll be coming!

Rock Paper Scissors

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:50:00 +0000

In case you missed it - we had an awesome end of the year ROCKsolid party in May...that not only had a birthday-cake eating contest, but a "bungee run," ice cream sundaes, grilled burgers and dogs, and an impromptu talent show! But that's not all - it also was when we held our 4th annual ROCK PAPER SCISSORS Tournament...which ends with 1 RPS champion each year. This year our champion of battle was Mason Rauner...who got his name added to the official Tournament Champions Plaque and wins a cash prize as well. Cool, huh?

The plaque reads:

"Be it known throughout all of Christendom that through bravery in the face of all odds, perseverance in the face of extreme adveristy, skill unknown to mortal man and sheer dumb luck, the following people have attained the coveted status of exalted Rock Paper Scissors Champion. ...May God have mercy on our souls."

Don't miss it...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:56:00 +0000

What do goats, squeezy cheese, the Food Bank of Oklahoma, and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha have in common? Come find out at our ROCKsolid week of Vacation Bible School!

We'll be doing service and fun activities all week as we visit a small Dairy Farm, see Therapy Dogs in action, volunteer at the Food Bank, check out our St. Mary's Community Garden - and have a blast doing crazy games and learning about some cool Saints. We'll end it all with Friday's Mass, picnic, and Field Day!

Don't miss out - you can still sign up!

High School - feel left out? You shouldn't! We need you as well! Volunteer to be a Team Captain with the Middle School Youth and you'll have just as much fun!

Hope to see you in a couple of weeks!

Aren't I too old for VBS?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:14:00 +0000

So - why should you, as a Middle School youth, sign up for VBS? Because it's designed to be fun just for you!

You'll experience hang out time in the Loft, off-campus service projects, ridiculous and funny games for prizes, and we'll even have a field day that includes a foam pit. Yes, that's right, you heard me...er...read me...a foam pit.

Be sure to sign up for this really fun week soon - the more the merrier!

Confirmed!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:10:00 +0000

Congratulations to those that were Anointed and Sealed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit last night. Please continue to pray for the following that received the Sacrament of Confirmation at our Parish on Sunday April 25th:

Mary Allen
Daniel Bisett, III
Faith Cook
Michael Daubney
Briann DeMarco
Elizabeth Douglas
Sarah Duffy
Taylor Duke
Erin Edmiston
Samuel Gawey
Casey Griffin
Alexandra Griffin
Thomas Hart
Veronica Hassink
Nathan Irvin
William LaFortune, Jr.
Evan Little
Joshua Loustaunau
Grant Marcoux
Phillip Moran
Paul Roberts
Christina Senger
Parker Sinko
Katherine Skonezny
Payton Stockstill
Madison Susmilch
Abigail Theban
Briggs Westby
Allison Woodworth

Good Friday Stations of the Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:11:00 +0000

All of our youth did a fantastic job with presenting the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday!

Thanks to Patty O'Meilia for helping to organize and direct this year's Stations.
Thanks to Esther Loustaunau for helping during practices and to her husband, Francisco, for making such a cool crown of thorns.
Thanks to Eric Sack for taking such wonderful pictures! (See all of the photos he took)
Thanks to Parishioner Joe Curry for letting our guard "press him into service" as Simon of Cyrene.
Thanks to Mark Steichen for leading the music.
Thanks to all of our Actors, Readers, Singers, Servers, and our leader, Dcn. Bender!

Summer Camp!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:09:00 +0000

Looking for a great Camp Experience this Summer? Have you heard about The Pines Catholic Camp in Big Sandy, TX? It looks like a blast! In fact, Fr. Kastl and I were so jealous of those ages 7-17 that can go as campers, that we've asked for a chance to go check it out for ourselves for a few days in July. Maybe we'll see you there?

And now for Chris...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:53:00 +0000

So...hopefully you've heard about this YouthStock thing already. But here is one more plug for this awesome event:

I wanted to give you a taste of Chris Padgett...the keynote speaker/musician for YouthStock 2010. He is an amazing speaker and musician, and along with causing you to crack up laughing, he has the ability to talk about faith in a way that is awesome, personal, and meaningful to those who listen.

Check out Chris's latest Music Video, "I'm in Love," and then watch his video reflection on what the song and video are all about.

See more about Chris here: http://www.chris-padgett.com/

Below is one of my favorite videos that shows the funny side of Chris. He and fellow Catholic speaker/musician, Bob Rice, perform their song (a story of conversion from "hand motion sickness") for a room full of Youth Directors.

Filioque

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:57:00 +0000

"Filioque" is a Latin word meaning, "and (from) the Son," and is part of our Nicene Creed. It refers to the part where we say the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son - emphasizing the equal divinity of all 3 persons of the Trinity. This word is somewhat famous as a contributing factor to the Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity.

Right here in Tulsa, there is a band that has named themselves after this famous word, and this band is who will be providing some of the music, along with Keynote speaker Chris Padgett (http://www.chris-padgett.com/), at YouthStock 2010, coming up on April 9th.

Here is a short video of them having fun playing an acoustic version of one of their new songs, "Victorious."

"I don't have any food."

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:05:00 +0000

These were the words I heard today, said in a voice slightly shaky from trying to hold back tears.

They were said by a man coming into the Office Annex to ask for help today, but this was no unique situation. Every single day, at least a few, if not many, women, men, and children come here to St. Mary's to ask for help...whether it's for food, or bus tokens so that they can get to a doctor's appointment, or help with paying a few bills so that they can continue to live in their apartment.

And these people ARE helped. Hilary Elias, our Justice and Peace coordinator, meets and talks with them, and if we have the resources to help them, we do. Some receive assistance to pay an overdue bill, or receive bus tokens to get where they need to go, or some go home with a bag full of groceries to get them by for just a little bit.

The groceries come from donations of our parish community. Have you noticed the barrels in the Vestibule of the Church? They are an opportunity for you to respond to our brothers and sisters in Christ that come to our door at St. Mary's and say simply..."I don't have any food."

Great Scot!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Alex and Carl take their heritage seriously. They came to ROCKsolid on Wednesday in Kilts of their official clan Tartans. Lookin' good guys. It's too bad Mazzio's doesn't make Haggis pizza.

I think their appreciation for their cultural heritage is beautiful. And for me, the kilts called to mind a quote (attributed to Scotsman William Wallace) that I think is a great one for Lent:

"Every man dies, but not every man really lives."

Let us ask Christ to live within us today, so that we might REALLY live in him.

The Pizza Tax

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:48:00 +0000

So I heard on the radio this morning that researchers suggested that a tax on foods like pizza and soda could help cut down obesity in the US. The research shows that when people have to pay more, they eat less, and therefore, will gain less weight.

"What?!, everyone yells....tax our pizza! How dare you! We should be able to eat whatever we want without anyone telling us otherwise!"

While I don't know how I really feel about a "pizza tax," I think that this can help us think about our faith. No seriously, stick with me...

The researchers aren't saying that pizza and soda are inherently BAD. If you eat a piece of pizza for lunch, you're probably not going to keel over right then. But unhealthy foods eaten in excess can lead to obesity - which causes a whole host of problems that are REALLY bad for our bodies...and can even kill us.

In order to keep people from going down this road, we try to teach about the food pyramid, and healthy eating, and have nutrition facts on our labels...but when we're really hungry, the average joe still might have trouble reaching for what is actually healthy.

So, since we pizza-lovers out there have such a hard time making that decision for ourselves, the researchers are suggesting that maybe having rules that make us pay more for the junky foods could help us make healthier decisions.

This is where I see our faith! It goes right along with the whole idea of CONVERSION. The fact is...a higher tax MIGHT help some people eat less of the bad foods...but if the tax were ever lifted, a lot of those folks might go right back to eating too much of the junk. Until we really decide for ourselves that we DESIRE to be healthy...we will go right on eating pizza and soda unless something stops us...like a tax, or rules, or even laws.

In the Old Testament, you can read about a lot of Rules and Laws set down for the Jewish People. The laws were for how to live, how to worship, how to marry, how to eat! Why were these laws there? To help keep the Jewish People from sinning, so that they could live out their calling as the People of God. I mean....Moses goes up the mountain for like 5 minutes and they are already constucting an idol of gold! Obviously...they had a hard time always making the decisions that kept them spiritually healthy. So in order to help them be God's Chosen People, they were given the law. If they just followed the laws, then they would be much less likely to sin.

Jesus, though, calls us to something even more. He calls us not just to follow the rules because they are rules...but he calls us to true CONVERSION. He challenges us to change our very hearts, and to make them hearts that belong to God. In doing this...Christ's own desires become OUR desires. We become "spiritually healthy" people...who no longer need to be told to love others, love God, be faithful, and not to sin, as we will desire to do so!

When we lack those desires, we need rules to help us make the right decisions...but we will be at our best, whether it's our physical body, or spiritual life, when our hearts are converted to desire a healthy existence...more than that 2nd slice of pizza.