ROBERT GOLKA, AN ENGINEER BY TRADE, and his wife, Patricia, built their house in 1963. They had a 1-year-old, Ronald, and a newborn, John.

                In Grand Island, Neb., they built a classic rancher: three bedrooms, the kitchen, dining room and living room on the main floor; two bedrooms in the basement — 1,350 square feet total. During the next three-plus decades in this tidy vessel, the Golkas raised 10 children. For a time under that roof there were Mom, Dad, six boys, four girls, and two bathrooms, one of which had a shower.

                “Mornings were interesting,” John said.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Beginning April 12, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church in Briargate, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., Monday through Friday. That amounts to 65 hours of adoration per week.

It’s a big change for St. Gabriel, which, until now, has reserved adoration to 10 hours on one day each week. The big change is possible, however, because St. Gabriel has opened a big building addition, and that expansion includes an adoration chapel.

COLORADO SPRINGS. The ushers wore yellow safety vests. The pews had bucket seats and license plates. Above the altar was a tent; behind it was Pikes Peak. The homily could be heard at 88.9 FM on the radio dial.

COLORADO SPRINGS. About one of every 500 people in El Paso County claims to be of Vietnamese heritage, according to the Census Bureau. That amounts to fewer than 1,400 people, and for the Catholics among them who want to celebrate Mass in their native language, they have one parish in Colorado Springs from which to choose: Vietnamese Holy Martyrs.

It was natural, then, that Salesian Sister Phuong Nguyen, born in Vietnam, educated since childhood in the United States and a newcomer to Colorado Springs, eventually would settle into a pew at Vietnamese Holy Martyrs.