Tag Archives: St. Mary Spokane

Training to be Cathletes

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We are in the midst of that very special week that always comes around during the latter half of June: Catholic Summer Camp!

This year the theme at St. Mary is Cathletics: Training to be Champions of Christ. The goal of this year’s camp is to focus on the Commandments, Beatitudes, and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. As you can imagine, Sloan is working hard to be the best Cathlete that she can.

The theme for this year’s Catholic Summer Camp at St. Mary is Cathletics.

Because it just wouldn’t be right otherwise, this year’s Cathletics theme is playing off the Olympics. Walk in the gym and you will see the six rings everywhere. There is even an Olympics-inspired photo backdrop available.

Sloan wearing her Catholic Summer Camp “Cathletics” t-shirt.

But the Olympics angle was executed to perfection on Sunday evening. That was when the “opening ceremony” was held. Mass was said at 5 p.m. and then all campers and families converged in the gym for a pizza dinner followed by the parade of nations. The parade took the form of camp volunteers marching around the gym holding portraits of saints from all around the world. Then the really cool part occurred. Kevin Schultz, the 8th grade teacher at St. Mary Catholic School, constructed a gigantic monstrance that doubles as an Olympic cauldron. To conclude the opening ceremony on Sunday night, a “torch bearer” (aka random parent) performed the honor of “lighting” the monstrance/cauldron (the “flame” is fan-powered orange paper).

This monstrance was constructed by St. Mary Catholic School teacher Kevin Schultz.

The flame has shined brightly ever since. Over the past three days, Sloan and her fellow campers have made crafts, learned songs, danced their hearts out, watched skits, played games, and—most importantly—ate snacks. Oh wait, that has not been the most important part. Rather, it has been nurturing their relationship with God and becoming more familiar with the graces he has given us.

Volunteers parade around the gym with photos of the saints during the opening ceremony for the St. Mary Cathletics Catholic Summer Camp.

Perhaps the only aspect of camp that is more on fire than the cauldron itself is the enthusiasm of Marie Bricher. She is once again leading the week as she never ceases to amaze me by her creativity, attention to detail, gift for teaching, and love of Jesus. Thanks for all you do, Marie!

Please pray for the campers and volunteers as they finish out the last two days of camp. For the most of us not attending the St. Mary Catholic Summer Camp, we can still train to be champions of Christ. Don’t Blink.

Butting Heads

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On Monday, Sid received a phone call while at work. It was St. Mary calling to relay the news that Sloan had suffered a minor injury. While at PE, her class was playing a game and she collided with one of her classmates. They literally butted heads.

Sloan had a little accident at school earlier this week.

Both kindergarteners were sent to the office for ice. As both girls held packs to their wounds, Sloan with a noticeable bump on the left part of her forehead, the calls were made to parents. As this occurred, Sloan and her classmate chalked up the incident as an accident and held no ill-will toward each other.

Later that night, Sloan would basically sum up the same thing for me. After she proudly showed me her battle wound, she imparted her wisdom on me.

“We cried for a little bit but we weren’t mad because it was just an accident.”

Perhaps you have butted heads with someone in a more figurative sense recently. Or, maybe you have butted heads with an individual long ago or it has been a sustained butting of heads over the course of a long period of time. Whatever the case, wouldn’t it be great to amicably address it? Wouldn’t it be nice to use the beginning of 2023 to clear the air?

Sometimes using the example of kindergarteners just makes sense. What happened has happened. The crying/arguing stage has run its course. Now it’s time to move on. Reach out to someone during this first month of the year and make things right. Don’t Blink.

Milk Chocolate Thursday Rundown

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It is an honor to pen another Thursday Rundown and I am appreciative that you have made time for my ramblings. In order to refrain from wasting more of your precious time, let’s get started with tonight’s five topics…

Preparing For A Big Softball Game – Before last night, it had been a really long time since I last played softball. But on Wednesday evening, I made a return to the diamond. Sidney and I joined members of our Young Adult Catholic group and other St. Mary parishioners for a softball practice. We are preparing for an Aug. 6 game against a team comprised of Spokane LDS members. Call it “Catholics vs. Mormons” if you want, but this is such a cool opportunity for two groups from the Spokane faith community to come together for some competition, fellowship, and food (yay for the post game cookout!). Thanks to our Young Adult Catholic group friends, Hailey and Brian, for organizing all of this!

On Wednesday night, we practiced at the St. Mary ball fields. It had been a long time since I last swung a bat.

Soda Update – Back in February, I told the story of the four obscure Coca-Cola machines tucked away on a side street in a very industrial area of Spokane. I revealed that 12 oz cans were only $.25 and 20 oz bottles a mere $.50. I pass the machines every single day and there is always a Coca-Cola employee refilling them. Last week I stopped to purchase a couple sodas while the worker was in the middle of the replenishing process. I took the opportunity to ask him how much business the machines typically do. He told me that they combine to dispense 70-80 cases of soda PER DAY. Do the math and that equates to approximately 2,000 beverages. Not bad for a quartet of basically hidden machines.

I pass these four Coke vending machines every day. It is insane how many people go out of their way to use these machines on a daily basis.

Hot Hot Hot – We are on the second day of 100+ degree temperatures that will likely stretch through Sunday. Not going to lie, it is hot! But I am thankful that our extreme heat hasn’t been as constant and relentless as some areas of the country this season. Also, Sidney is still amazed that during the evening as the sun starts to set, we actually get relief as temperatures cool dramatically. For example, after a scorching day on Tuesday, the four of us went to the local high school track. While I got some exercise and the children played, Sid could comfortably sit on a camping chair and read her book. Oh how I love summer nights in the Pacific Northwest.

On Tuesday night, the four of us went to the East Valley High School track in Spokane Valley after the sun started to go down and temperatures cooled.

National Milk Chocolate Day – I have written blog posts about chocolate chips, hot chocolate, and chocolate cake. But I have never dedicated a post strictly to milk chocolate before. You would think that on National Milk Chocolate Day I would get with the program and finally draft that post, right? Wrong. Sorry not sorry, but I am a dark chocolate guy.

Today is National Milk Chocolate Day!

Thank You Note Gun Jumping – I am concerned with the lost art of writing thank you notes. However, what was described in a recent Miss Manners column seems a little overzealous. The person seeking advice wrote that at a recent children’s birthday party, the attendees received a thank you note upon departure. The contents of the note thanked the family for attending and for the gift (a presumption that they brought a gift). Although this bizarre practice is better than no thank you note at all, I think we should end it. Please make sure to write your gratitude cards post-celebration so you can actually personalize it with what you did (or didn’t) receive.

Wait to write your thank you note until you can actually identify what you are thanking them for.

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I hope everyone has a safe and fun final weekend in July. If there is ever anything you want me to address in this blog, please let me know. Don’t Blink.