“Tonight, We are ALL Catholic”
Brother Knights, Families and Friends,This week we had many people tell us that they are not Catholic but still love our fish fry’s. One Methodist lady that was accompanied by a Catholic lady from Cathedral made it a point to profess her denomination to which I responded, “Tonight we are all Catholic”. The word “catholic” means “universal”, “world-wide” and “all inclusive”, and on fish Friday nights we are “all of the above”, bringing people together over good fish and great company. Towards the end of the night, one couple was leaving and Mike Szatko asked how it was, and the man said, “It would have been better if it was Lutheran”, so I turned to his wife and said, “Tonight, we are all Catholic” and then she turned and repeated it to her husband as if she seemed to agree. In between we served 477 meals, adults, kids, and comps and took in $6,400.00 for another good week.
As part of our Charity, each week we provide free meals to the homebound, and complimentary meals to the priests and nuns. This week Sister Perpetua took meals to the Sisters of Mary Queen of Mercy and Bishop Emeritus Bruskewitz and Dan Wesolowski took meals to the School Sisters of Christ the King and the homebound. One of our Protestant regulars was in line early and let a couple skip ahead and they said, “Are you sure?”, to which he replied, “It’s okay, I’m here all night”. This is both our biggest complement and our biggest obstacle as we tend to run out of seating at times. One regular family came in and their daughter immediately ran into the lounge like she knew what she was doing. As it turns out, she went to say “Hi” to Kevin Naumann, one of our bartenders. Just so happens, she is a student at Saint Joe’s where Kevin is the Principal, and he said every week she asks him if he is going to be selling pop at the fish fry.
This week I would like to pay tribute to both the Knights and Boy Scout families that work in the drive-thru. Our GK Matt Schafers and his Wife Theresa have taken this over and done a remarkable job staffing it. Theresa even went as far as to make 3×4 inch order cards for taking the orders and remarked that since she did this that they have not mixed up any orders. We all can attest that having a drive-thru get your order wrong is one of the worst things ever. As Joe Pesci said in Lethal Weapon, “They (fry) you in the drive-thru”. As I was done checking on the kids in the drive-thru food preparation station, I turned around and told one diner, “It may seem like a kiddie corral, but they are actually doing an awesome job”, and she laughed. I also snapped a picture of the hall dining crowd, my wife noticed something special in it, so see if you can find the proud grandma in “Finding Granny”.
Crusade for Christ, Die with Christ, Vivat Jesus!
Tony Schafers
FS, Fitzgerald Council 833
About Our Council
John Fitzgerald was known as the “Pioneer Catholic of Lincoln”. He was an Irish immigrant without formal schooling, worked in construction and formed his own construction company. This company played an important part in the development of the Nebraska territory. His company built most of the Burlington railroad between the Missouri river and Denver.
In 1885 he was the first president of the Irish Land League which was organized to aid the people of Ireland in their struggle for freedom and in 1889 he owned two of the largest and best managed farms in America, 8000 acres at Greenwood and 6000 acres in Gage County.
Some of Mr. Fitzgerald’s notable business accomplishments include the construction and operation of the first street car company in Lincoln, served as president of 1st National Banks of Plattsmouth and Greenwood as well as president of the Nebraska Stockyards Company and also owned and operated the West Lincoln Brick & Tile Works.
Not only was Mr. Fitzgerald a very successful businessman, he was also instrumental in planting the growth of the Catholic faith in Lincoln. He purchased a large house in Lincoln and invited Nuns from Philadelphia to operate it as a boarding and day school for young boys and girls which was at that time Lincoln’s only Catholic School.
Our Knights of Columbus Council was chartered on February 7, 1904. In recognition of John Fitzgerald’s exemplary life as a Catholic Gentlemen, the newly formed Council in 1904 proudly chose Fitzgerald as the name of their Council. John Fitzgerald was respected for his strict integrity and boundless energy by men of all shades of religious and political belief.
Information noted here was taken from “History of the City of Lincoln, Nebr” By A.B. Hayes and Sam D. Cox