Omaha, NE - Fr. "Lee" Lubbers was 80 years old. From 1965 to 1993 he was on the faculty of Creighton University, teaching history of art and sculpture and becoming director of the Creighton Satellite Network and founder of SCOLA. He remained director of SCOLA when the facility moved to McClelland, IA and in 1997 he also became promoter of the Chinese apostolate in the United States.

He was the also the founder of FLIO - a free language immersion program (flio.org). SCOLA and FLIO were signs of his strong commitment to dialogue among people across the world. This article about SCOLA attests to this vision

Lee was one of the most creative Jesuits in the Society of Jesus. He was given an honorary doctorate by Creighton University and by Marquette University. He will be deeply missed by the community at Holy Family Parish, which he served for many years. Lee was also a faithful and beloved member of a CLC (Christian Life Community).

Lee had donated his body to the Creighton University Medical Center. On Monday, June 30th, there will be a memorial service at 6:00 p.m. in St. John's Church, followed by a memorial Mass at 7:00 p.m., followed by a reception in Lower St. John's.

Omaha, NE - The Free Language Immersion Operation (FLIO) received notification today from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that its application for nonprofit status has been approved. FLIO is officially a 501(c)(3) corporation with a date of inception of February 9, 2007 - the date of its incorporation in the State of Nebraska.

Lee Lubbers, S.J., Founder and President of FLIO said that the nonprofit status will allow for immediate applications for grants and programs requiring the designation. He said, "FLIO can now pursue funding activities in multiple directions - government, corporate, education and private sources. All areas that have a vested interest in developing critically needed bi-lingual speakers are free to join FLIO's quest for greater global understanding."

The mission of FLIO is to send U.S. citizens to foreign countries to immerse them in learning the language and culture of the host country. This is a solution to a long-standing situation where education, business and government have not been able to deliver because, to perform well, a bi-lingual speaker must be immersed in the language for an extended period of time.

The need for language speakers has never been greater in the United States. Less than 20% of the population can speak another language and, due to lack of demand, 90% of schools are teaching only two languages - Spanish and French. The U.S. is at a tremendous disadvantage in trade, diplomacy and competitiveness because it has so few citizens who can function at the higher levels of the State Department scale and who understand the related cultural issues. FLIO currently has applications pending for assignment. "There is no shortage of U.S. citizens willing to travel and commit themselves to living, learning and working in far-away lands. We are just one grant away from sending first group of Flios to their chosen futures" Lubbers said.