By Lisa Schulte
The Catholic Voice
April 2, 2004

 

Kim Kozelichki reads with power and grace when she lectors at St. Gerald Parish in Ralston. Her face illuminates with emotion.

 

“When I’m up there, I feel the Spirit within me,” she told The Catholic Voice. “I’m feeling inspired and hopefully I’m inspiring my fellow parishioners.”

 

To many people, the 33-year-old is an inspiration because she has remained active despite having multiple sclerosis.

That’s why Kozelichki was one of 11 disabled persons who were recognized by the Archdiocesan Committee for Persons with Disabilities for their faith and parish involvement.

 

Kozelichki and the other recipients were presented 2004 “Open Wide the Doors” awards during parish liturgies last month. The other winners were: Chrissie Ann Baney, St. John, Omaha; Jeffrey Bloechle, St. Philip Neri, Omaha; Marcia Bredar, St. Leo, Omaha; Joseph Gawerecki, Mary Our Queen, Omaha; Matt Gibbons, St. Margaret Mary, Omaha; Shelly Gray, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Omaha; Joseph O’Kane, Holy Name, Omaha; Jerry Reznicek, Holy Name, Omaha; Karen Reynolds, Countryside Community Church, Omaha; and Joe Wherry, St. Patrick, Elkhorn.

 

No holding back

 

 

Kozelichki, who was diagnosed with MS in 1997, hasn’t let her disease limit her contributions to her parish.

 

“When I thought about lectoring, I thought, ‘I can do this. I can read. I can talk out loud,’” she said. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

 

Besides being a lector, Kozelichki is a member of the human needs committee and has been active in the young adult group for five years, where she has organized volunteers to serve meals at the Ronald McDonald House. She also volunteers regularly for different parish activities, including working with the youth, the elderly and the Sudanese community.

“From my disease, I know that people need comfort,” she said. “I just like making others happy and giving them comfort.”

 

That same giving spirit is what drives Holy Name parishioner Jerry Reznicek to continue to be involved at the Omaha church despite suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease that requires him to be on constant oxygen.

 

A member of Holy Name for more than 40 years, Reznicek has dedicated his energies to keeping Holy Name School open and the students educated with Christian morals and values.

He started the tuition assistance program and has worked tirelessly on three fund-raisers – Calendar Club, St. Patrick’s Day party and the annual golf tournament – for the school and parish.

 

“I love Holy Name. I want to keep that school open,” he said, choked up with emotion. “That was the whole motivation for me – the school. Catholic education is the most important thing I can think of.”

 

Although he has had to step down from leadership roles at the parish – which have included running the Special Events Office and membership on the finance committee, Home and School Board and the parish council – Reznicek, 74, continues to help keep the financial records for the fund-raisers from his home.

“We have some great people at Holy Name,” he said. “The people that run the fund-raisers now are doing a terrific job and carrying on the tradition of Holy Name.”

 

Time and talent

 

Just as Reznicek uses his skills to give to his parish, so has Shelly Gray, a member of St. Elizabeth Anne Parish in Omaha. Blind since birth, she has been involved in music ministry since 1995. She is a cantor and plays the guitar at Sunday Masses and special liturgies, and was a member of the Life Teen band for seven years.

 

Gray, 46, began playing the guitar and writing music at the age of 15 and won her first song-writing contest when she was 16. Since then, she said, she has felt God calling her to minister to his people through music.

 

“I love the Lord and I want to bring him to people,” said Gray, who is also involved in perpetual adoration, the pro-life committee and the Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) at the parish. She’s also a core team member for the Archdiocesan Committee for Peoples with Disabilities.

 

“I’m blessed to be as involved as I am,” she said.

 

Marcia Bredar feels the same way.

 

Since 1985, she has devoted her time to serving the community at St. Leo Parish in Omaha, as well as the Archdiocese of Omaha. Bredar, who is confined to a wheelchair because of polio as a child, is an advocate for people with disabilities. She chairs the Archdiocesan Committee for People with Disabilities.

 

“It’s important for people to realize that people with disabilities can be active contributors to their parish,” she told The Catholic Voice.

 

“Persons with disabilities have gifts to give the church. They may not be very obvious, but they do have them,” she said. “They should be encouraged to participate.”

 

Bredar leads by example in many ways. She has done hospital ministry, served as the president of the parish council, worked on numerous capital campaigns, and volunteered as an RCIA facilitator for four years. Along with serving as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, she is on the board at New Cassel Retirement Center and teaches religious education to second-graders.

 

Even as a young person, Bredar was on the parish council at St. Cecilia Cathedral as the first high school representative, and was the parish’s first high school delegate for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

 

“I just believe in giving back,” the 51-year-old said. “I just pray for the strength to get through whatever I face.”

 

The Catholic Church has come a long way with the inclusion of disabled people, she said, but it still has a long way to go.

 

“It’s an awareness issue and you can’t bring it up enough,” she said. “Don’t underestimate the abilities of people with disabilities to contribute to the church because I think you’ll be surprised.”