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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This weekend we welcome the Columban Fathers to our
Parish family, for our annual Mission Appeal. Please make
Father feel welcome here at St. Maria Goretti. May this weekend
be a chance for all of us to do something to support the
Missions, especially through our prayer and our generosity.
We are now making our final preparations for the
securing of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Later this month, all
of us will need a security Pass Card to enter into the Blessed
Sacrament Chapel. This is a massive effort that is being done
to protect the Eucharist. We live in an area where there are
known Satanic groups. We know, that for these Satanic cults to
have a “black” mass, they must first obtain an actual
consecrated host. This is why all of us need to be extremely
vigilant at Mass, when people try and walk away with the
Eucharist. All of us should be consuming the Body of Christ,
immediately after we receive It. Other than the Extraordinary
Ministers of Holy Communion who are taking the Eucharist to the
sick after Mass, nobody else should be taking the Eucharist out
of church. We have always tried to be very careful about this
at all of our Masses. Now, we must also protect our Blessed
Sacrament Chapel. The new key Pass Card system will allow any
and all of us to enter and to pray in front of the Blessed
Sacrament in Adoration, and will also keep out people that may
very well be going into the Chapel to harm or to do sacrilege to
the Eucharist. Unfortunately, if we want to keep enjoying the
great blessing of Eucharist Adoration, this what we are going to
have to do, to keep the Sacrament protected. I am concerned
about the individual who might want to just stop in the chapel
and pray in a time of need or distress. Without a key Pass
Card, they will need to stop in the Parish Office and get a key
Pass Card. This is why it would be best if all of us had our
own Pass Card, even if we only used it once in awhile, or in
emergency situation. Individuals in the Blessed Sacrament
Chapel should not be letting others in when the doors are
locked. Everyone will need to get their own key Pass Card. The
doors of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel will be unlocked thirty
minutes before Mass begins, on both sides. If the only time
that you are ever in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel is for daily
Mass, you will not need to have a key Pass Card to get in, but
again, we are recommending that all Parishioners get a card for
whenever you may need to go into the Chapel and pray. Next
weekend, the new key Pass Cards will be available in the church
narthex after ALL of our Sunday Masses. Please take the time to
stop by and pick up one for yourself next weekend. You don’t
know when you might really need to get into that chapel.
This security concern is another reminder to all of us
of just how much we really need
a separate, designated, chapel for Eucharistic Adoration. The
daily Mass Chapel was not intended to be the long-term location
of Eucharistic Adoration. The permanent Blessed Sacrament
Chapel, where we will be able to have Eucharistic Adoration 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, is planned for the southeast corner
of our church in the base of the bell tower. We must keep
moving towards this goal. Ask anybody who’s tried praying in
the current chapel when something is going on in church, and
they will tell you how very hard it is. I was praying in the
chapel last week at the same time that a music practice was
going on in the main sanctuary, and it about drove me crazy. We
need this place of prayer. And we need to keep it a place of
prayer!
Next weekend we begin our annual “Answering God’s Call”
campaign for our Diocesan seminarians. We have the next two
weekends to raise the $18,900 that is St. Maria Goretti’s 2007
goal. Please pray about this, this week, and prayerfully
discern what you and your family will be able to do to help us
and our seminarians out this year. We are going to need
everybody’s help and generosity!
I’d like to thank the Holy Name Society, the Altar
Rosary Society, the St. Philip Neri Oratorio, and the Silver
Angels for once again sponsoring our End-of-the-School-Year
Summer Bash, this past Friday evening. Everybody seemed to
really have a good time. And do we have great cooks in the
Parish, or what? All of the food was delicious!
Have a great week! We’re a little short on priests
again this week because of the Priest’s Convocation that is
taking place down in Brown County. Please check the daily Mass
and Confession schedules for changes. God bless!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
God does not believe in atheists, therefore atheists don’t
exist.
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