by Katie Patrick
With the summer heat finally taking a break Friday, July 11, the Catholic Social Services (CSS) team headed to Denton—a small town west of Lincoln—for our third annual summer retreat.
Similar to our 2024 Lenten retreat at St. John the Baptist Church in Prague, we explored a new town and community in our diocese. Father Craig Doty and several members of St. Mary Parish in Denton welcomed us that morning for a day of prayer, community, food, and a whole lot of laughter.
Based on last year’s feedback, many expressed a desire to get to know each other better. With CSS staff spread across 24,000 square miles—serving from Auburn to Imperial—we don’t often get to gather in one place making our annual retreat all the more valuable.
So this year, all our SWOTs, Big Rocks, and SMART goals were completed ahead of time.
I’ll admit that work comes easier than play for me, so I called in reinforcements. Lori Beals of St. Teresa Parish in Lincoln teamed up with Gail Braunsroth of St. Mary in Denton to craft one of the most creative, adventurous, and silly scavenger hunts I’ve ever been involved in.
A few days prior to the retreat, CSS staff were divided into eight teams. Team names included: Hope Hunters, Team 8 is Great, Denton Discoverers, Denton Detourists, the Good Life Gang, Hope Seekers, the Brainy Bunch, and Where the Clues Runza Deep.
On the morning of the retreat after a brief welcome and an explanation of the rules for the scavenger hunt, the teams were off!
Inspired by Exodus 20:1-17, the first challenge tested the memory of the Ten Commandments under pressure. Then, Matthew 7:6 set the tone for a tossing game—pearls and swine thrown into a box in the correct biblical order. Musical talents were on display in the third challenge from Psalm 78:25, where teams recorded themselves singing Panis Angelicus with Andrea Bocelli.
The fourth, a fish-throwing game echoing John 21:11, challenged teams to land “fish” in a frying pan from 10 paces. Next, with 1 Corinthians 3:9 as their guide, teams raced to match fun facts to their co-workers, highlighting just how well—or not—they knew each other. Finally, John 18:10 inspired a hilarious video re-enactment of Peter severing the ear of the high priest’s servant. Each challenge brought laughter, connection, and newly discovered talents!
After the teams wrapped up the scavenger hunt, they competed for extra points in a friendly game of “Whose Fact is That?” Prior to the retreat, staff submitted interesting facts about themselves. Teams had to guess who bartended in Ireland, juggled in PE class, was attacked by a rooster as a child, solved the Rubik’s Cube in under 25 seconds, delivered their baby en route to the hospital, and was proposed to with a Taco Bell sauce packet that read, Will You Marry Me? This part of the day brought so many laughs and I can surely say that we all remain amazed and entertained by the experiences of our fellow team members.
Afterward, Father Doty celebrated Mass and announced our new patron saint for the year: St. Teresa of Calcutta, chosen by staff, voted for her radical love and service to the poorest of the poor. We finished the day with lunch and prizes were distributed to the teams while we watched the winning videos from the scavenger hunt.
It’s no doubt that Lori and Gail raised the bar with this year’s scavenger hunt, so if you have any fun ideas for next summer… send them my way!
St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!
