Meet Micah Fleck

Piano lessons help Rice woman stay in tune with her faith

Her fingers dance gracefully across the ivory keys as she sits down to play a well-known hymn at her home parish of St. Elizabeth in Brennyville. There, at the piano, Micah Fleck blends her love of music with her love for the Catholic faith.

Micah Fleck helps Becca Wojciechowski, 9, learn a new song during a piano lesson March 30. (Photo by Dianne Towalski/The Visitor)

Each week she plays the piano at Mass there and at St. Joseph Parish in Morrill.

Fleck, 21, is a quiet, humble and gentle spirit, according to her friends and family, with a vibrant light that shines through her kind smile. She began playing the piano when she was in second grade and has had a variety of teachers along the way. Now, she is passing on what she’s learned to others, including her two younger sisters Josiah, 13, and Zephaniah, 10, and Becca Wojciechowski, 9, who also attends the Brennyville parish.

“I like that Micah teaches me piano and she’s nice and pretty,” Becca said.

Becca’s mother, Liz Wojciechowski, nominated Fleck for The Visitor’s monthly Youth and Young Adult award. Fleck is the April recipient.

Micah Fleck poses in St. Elizabeth Church, Brennyville. (Photo by Dianne Towalski/The Visitor)

“Micah is a very selfless young lady who offers up much for others,” Liz wrote in her nomination letter. “She also spends much volunteer time helping to decorate and set up each and every week and month for the special church holidays, Mass intentions and feasts.

“Micah has also graciously and patiently been helping my young daughter learn to play piano in our parish,” Liz added. “She gives up an hour of her time every Friday to sit with my daughter and kindly instruct her. Micah would never take credit for all the good and help that she offers to our parish and its parishioners. She is completely humble and does all her good deeds with pure love.”

Although she gives much of her time to the church, Fleck also studies nursing at St. Cloud Technical and Community College.

“I like to help people,” said Fleck, who lives in Rice. “In the catechism, it says that nurses do the corporal works of mercy and I like that idea.”

Fleck has a special devotion to St. Faustina and Divine Mercy so she thinks of her work in nursing as both a vocation and a ministry.

“I love Divine Mercy and St. Faustina. She taught that when something happens that you don’t like, it happens for a reason, not just for nothing,” Fleck said.

Her faith has helped her through many challenges in life, and one piece of advice she would share with other young adults is to attend eucharistic adoration.

“Whenever I feel far away from God, I’ve found that the best thing to do is to go to adoration and just sit quietly,” she said. “I think that adoration is the best way to really connect with God.”

More about Micah

Age: 21

Hometown: Rice

Current parish: St. Elizabeth in Brennyville

School: St. Cloud Technical and Community College

Book on your bedside: “The Lord of the Rings”

Movie you could watch over and over: “The Wizard of Oz”

A saint who inspires you: St. Faustina

Favorite app: Sorry, I don’t have a cell phone

A prayer you love: Divine Mercy

In your spare time, you can be found: Reading

A pizza isn’t perfect unless it has: Green olives

Favorite Bible verse or story: The story of Esther, for sure.

You couldn’t drive by which restaurant without stopping: Chinese food!

Your favorite thing about being Catholic is: Offering it up.

Let your voice be heard

Q: What is one accomplishment you are most proud of?

A: Being a godmother.

Q: What is one gift you think you bring to the church?

A: I play the piano at Mass.

Q: What is one gift the church could give you?

A: My church could stay open. There are a lot of whispers about my parish and St. Joseph in Morrill, another church I love and go to every week, being shut down because of the priest shortage. These churches are home to so many people and have such rich history that it would be a horrible mistake to shut them down.

Q: If you had the opportunity to talk with Pope Francis, what would you tell him?

A: Nothing, I would just ask him to bless my family and me.

 


Nominate someone!

To nominate a youth or young adult — ages 15-39 — for the YAYA awards, visit www.stcloudvisitor.org and click on the “YAYA Awards” button to fill out the nomination form. Or call 320-251-3022 to have a form mailed to you.

YAYA nominees should be enthusiastic about their Catholic faith, set a good example for their peers, and be active in their parish.

Each month, a panel from The Visitor will select a winner, who will be featured in the print edition and online.

 

Author: Kristi Anderson

Kristi Anderson is the editor of The Central Minnesota Catholic Magazine for the Diocese of St. Cloud.

Leave a Reply

*