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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There’s just one week left until our 2007 Italian Festival!
The Band is practicing their music. The cooks are already working
on the spaghetti sauce. And the tables and chairs are ordered and
are on the way! We’ll plan on seeing you and your family next
Saturday afternoon at 4:30 PM Mass! Bring your neighbors, your
cousins, your friends, and why not invite your boss? St. Maria
Goretti is having a grand party in honor of our patroness, St. Maria
Goretti. Come and join us!
Last week, I ran out of room in my letter before I got to
congratulate Fritz and Marsha Weinkauf on the occasion of their 40th
Wedding Anniversary. Fritz and Marsha renewed their vows at the
8:00 AM Mass last Sunday. We congratulate them and their entire
family on this happy occasion. And we pray to God for them for many
more!
We continue to pray for all of our servicemen and servicewomen and
their families at home, especially those who are deployed in Iraq
and Afghanistan. These brave individuals are trying to bring peace
to a very war-torn part of our world. The violence and hatred,
especially in Iraq, is horrible. These poor people have suffered
from this kind of violence and oppression for years. We should
never have expected that this would be fixed over night. And yet, I
don’t know if we are making the situation better or worse by our
being there. The news reports sure make it sound terrible and
getting worse. What I do know is that all of the killing has got to
stop. As a pro-life Church, we’ve got to praying for an end to this
war and peaceful solutions to the problems of this region. We know
that prayer works. Our God can do incredible things. This has been
the oddest of wars because for the most part, you look around and
you wouldn’t have any idea that our country is at war. It has been
way too easy for all of us to forget that half-way around the world,
our brothers and sisters are dying and being wounded every day in
Iraq and Afghanistan. And then there’s Gaza and Darfur, and so many
other parts of our world. Good Lord, on some days, the news reports
from the streets of downtown Indianapolis sound worse than those
from the war-zones. The reality is that we live in a very violent,
very hate-filled world. It’s far too easy to forget that in little
old Westfield, Indiana. And yet, we can’t forget. We need to be
peacemakers. Jesus said that a couple of different times in His
teaching to us. What does it mean to be a peacemaker in 2007? Some
of our best diplomats and experts in international relations can’t
agree on what to do in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Darfur. So what are
we supposed to do about it? Well, first of all, we’ve got to pray
for peace, especially between nations. Secondly, we need to BE
people of peace in our own realms - in our families, in our work
places, in our schools, in our neighborhood, and yes, even in our
Parish! What could you do to be more of a peacemaker in your life?
More violence is not the answer to stopping violence. Didn’t Jesus
teach us this from the cross? This is true not only in Iraq, but
isn’t it also true in our homes, in our relationships, and even with
our enemies? Many times we make the choice of diffusing a
situation when tensions rise, or escalating those tensions with our
own tempers and anger. I suspect that all of us can do a lot more
to make the world a more peaceful place than what we realize.
Whether it is in our marriages, or in our family rooms, or in our
cars, we can all daily decide to make the world a more peaceful
place.
The best place in the entire world to become a more peaceful person
is still in our Daily Mass Chapel in front of the Holy Eucharist, in
Adoration. Have you been to Adoration lately? Have you signed up
to take one hour to grow in peace? You should, you know. All of us
should take an hour. For as lacking in peace as this world is, we
should keep that Chapel full every day all day long!
The 2007 National Catholic Pastoral Musicians Conference is being
held in Indianapolis starting tomorrow. Several Catholic churches
in the Indianapolis area have been selected for tours to showcase
our area to visitors from across the country. I’m very pleased to
share with you that St. Maria Goretti has been selected as one of
the official tour sites. Beginning tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM,
tour groups from the Conference downtown will be bused out to
Westfield to see our church. We welcome our visitors and hope that
you enjoy your stay in the Indianapolis area. Thanks for visiting
St. Maria Goretti!
Have a great week! We’ll see you at the Italian Festival next
Saturday! Come hungry!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
God so loved the world that He did NOT send a committee. He sent
His Son!
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