As summer winds down and we begin to look ahead to a new school year, we’d like to share some of the exciting things that will be coming up for adults and children in our family of parishes.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll outline both the “what” and the “why” – the calendar of programs and experiences that will be offered, as well as the reasons behind them.

 

To start, there are a few new developments in the faith formation programming in our family of parishes.  First, we welcome Kelly Peklo as the new Director of Religious Education at Mary Our Queen.  Kelly will be working part-time to support students and their families, with the assistance of Cassie Baker, who is continuing to serve as the Religious Ed Secretary.  In addition to a solid background in education and faith formation, Kelly has served in a variety of volunteer roles at Mary Our Queen over the past decade.  She has led Alpha in both parish and community settings, hosts a small discipleship group weekly, volunteers at MOQ school, and was elected to the school board.  Kelly is one of 5 MOQ parishioners who completed training to become a facilitator for the Called and Gifted program, which helps people to identify their spiritual gifts and understand how God is inviting them to serve.  Kelly has not only completed the Archdiocesan Mentorship program (which equips people to accompany others on their journey of faith), but has been assisting archdiocesan staff in refining the program and training lay leaders from parishes around the metro.  We are very blessed to have Kelly on staff at MOQ!

 

Here is Kelly’s own personal introduction:

My husband Danny and I have been parishioners at Mary Our Queen for the past almost 10 years.  We are both Omaha natives and have four kids.  Sophia (17) and Sylvia (16) are at Skutt Catholic and Jack (10) and Jocelyn (8) will be in 5th and 3rd grade at MOQ next year.  We live in the Prairie Lane neighborhood and truly love this community.  

 

I started my professional career as a high school teacher for 8 years, served as an 8th grade catechist at another parish for 2 years and am currently in Corporate Learning & Development at Charles Schwab (formerly TD Ameritrade).  I have worked in various learning/training/education roles for the past 17 years.  I have also been very involved with the Archdiocese of Omaha’s Mentorship Program for the past 4 years, so I am extremely excited to help with our Religious Education program.

 

As Kelly steps into this role, she and other staff from MOQ and SJV will be working together as a team to provide faith formation opportunities to all ages.  We look forward to sharing more with you over the next few weeks.

 

God bless,

Jodi Meyer