Since Fr. Sandquist will be at our chapel with four seminarians for a work day, we will have mass on Saturday, Feb. 1st, at 8 am.
Afterward we will eat breakfast, take down Christmas decorations, and have choir and server practice.
Then the work projects will begin, which will include installing double doors on the chapel entrance from the hallway so that we may have the Blessed Sacrament reserved on our altar and finishing sheetrock projects in the confessional, priest’s office, and cry room.
A SUNDAY MORNING LOW MASS
Fr. Sandquist will offer Mass for us at 10 am this Sunday to accommodate his travel schedule to the CMRI priests’ meeting. Father will hear confessions beginning at 9:30. We will return to the regular schedule the following Sunday: Confessions at 1, Mass at 1:30.
A SUNDAY AFTERNOON HIGH MASS
Four CMRI seminarians will be visiting our chapel on Feb. 1-2. On Saturday they will assist us with chapel work projects, and on Sunday they will sing, so we will be able to have a High Mass for the Feast of the Presentation/Candlemas.
Are you considering sending a boy to camp this summer but want to know more about what the campers do and why they should go? Well, you’re in luck. This post about last summer’s camp is for you. *UPDATE* A link to the registration form has been added to the bottom of this post.
“The whole point of boys’ camp is to show them that they can have fun and still be good Catholics,” explained Fr. Timothy Geckle, CMRI. “We want them to see that being Catholic is not only about ‘No, you can’t do this or that!’”
Every day was packed with activities dear to most boys’ hearts, but the scavenger hunt stood out as one of the most challenging and thrilling of all. It was comprised of numerous trials to earn the next “clue” which involved answering a catechism question. Whether it was shooting a balloon out of the air with an Airsoft gun to drop the question down to earth, or squirming through a dark pipe to retrieve it, or diving into a pool to snatch it from the bottom, each challenge kindled the Catholic imagination as well as involved the whole body. Bravo!
“We had a great group this year—not a bad apple in the bunch,” Fr. Geckle said of the 2018 campers. “We got compliments on them everywhere we went. This was the first time we rented a swimming pool, and afterward the manager said that our boys were so well-behaved, they were welcome to come back anytime.”
Fathers Borja, Philip Marie, and Geckle planned and oversaw the camp that was hosted by the Mater Dei seminarians.
Registration is open for the 2019 camp which runs Monday, July 22, through Friday, July 26th. To register, please fill out this registration form and mail it, along with the $100 registration fee, to the seminary by June 30 . Please make checks payable to: Mater Dei Seminary.
Last Sunday two Congregation Mater Dei Sisters traveled to us from Omaha to teach catechism before mass. They brought two lovely young ladies from Mater Dei Academy with them who joined the sisters in choir. Such sweet pure voices! We were blessed once again also with the presence of seminarian Carlos Zepeda, who served at the altar.
Afterward we had cake and socializing to celebrate our one-year anniversary as Our Lady of Fatima Mission Chapel, under the pastoral care of the CMRI. Our chapel blossomed from the former St. John Fisher chapel in Tulsa when it was abandoned without warning by the SSPX last year.
There is much to celebrate! Not only have we procured our own property, Fr. Geckle told us that the Sisters are planning to come to us every third Sunday to teach catechism! Deo gratias! And Bishop Pivarunas has twice generously sent us seminarians to help remodel our church. In those two visits, they helped put down the flooring, modify the pews, and put up new sheetrock. We feel so loved and cared for. Thank you, Bishop Pivarunas!
Deo Gratias!
Fr. Geckle made the momentous announcement this past Sunday that it would be our last mass in our temporary setting in Tulsa.
On Sunday, September 9, we will have mass in our very own church–same time as usual: 1:00 confessions, 1:30 mass.
The one-acre property is on Oklahoma Hwy. 28-A, off of historic Route 66 near Chelsea, OK. It is also easily accessible from Interstate 44 (Will Rogers Turnpike), Adair exit. It can be found on a GPS under its former name, Good Hope Church. Or if you navigate by landmarks, look for the giant totem pole!
This new location is why we have chosen “4statesfatimachapel” as our url. Northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma are within reasonable driving distances for those determined Catholics who are holding fast to the true Faith as it was practiced at the time of Pope Pius XII.
On the other hand, with its rural location 45 minutes from downtown Tulsa, it might be the place you’ve been looking for to raise a large family in the country with easy access to Sunday mass and other Catholic families. Real estate prices are reasonable, and plenty of family recreation opportunities are nearby.
We have a work party scheduled for this Saturday to take up the carpet, install laminate flooring, shorten the pews, and get the altar and confessional set up. We’ll be placing the altar on the wall facing the road.
Father is bringing some seminarians to help, and we will be serving lunch under our wonderful pavilion. There is a hall with a kitchen, but the kitchen will need to be gutted before we can use it because a pipe burst in the wall behind all the appliances. The property has been vacant for about two years, so there is much repair, maintenance, and clean-up to do in addition to Catholic beautification projects inside and out. But we’re so excited to get started and begin enjoying Catholic community.
We hope that our good news encourages our friends to persevere. May God bless each and everyone of you. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Our Lady of Fatima Mission Chapel 