St. Maria Goretti - Pastor's Note

Happy Labor Day Weekend! This last fling of summer is always somewhat bittersweet, as we come to an end of all of our summer activities, and as we begin our transition to fall. This is the weekend for one more cookout, one more get together with family and friends, and one more, beautiful, long afternoon in the sun doing your favorite activity. Enjoy it all! Our Parish Office and School Office are both closed on Monday for the long weekend. And Daily Mass on Monday will be at 9:00 AM on our holiday schedule.

This year I’d like to recognize and thank all of those who “labor” here at St. Maria Goretti. We are most blessed with a wonderful Parish and School staff that spend their days working tirelessly for our Faith family. All of them work long hours and for much less than “market value” of what they could be making some place else. And all of them could easily find other places to work, yet they CHOOSE to minister here for all of us. Their names are listed on the front of the bulletin each week, but far too often, we fail to say ‘thank you’ for all that they do for us. On this Labor Day weekend, “THANK YOU!”

It is also a good time to say ‘thank you’ to the literal hundreds of you who volunteer in so many different capacities to make our Parish active and thriving. Some of you put in so many hours here, that you could qualify as full-time employees. From our very beginning twelve years ago, this entire Parish has realized that the only way to make St. Maria Goretti a parish that belongs to ALL OF US, is for all of us to get involved, and do our part, and share our gifts and talents with the community. This is every bit as true and as needed in 2007 as it was in 1995. Thanks to all of our volunteers! From Sport’s Ministry, to the HELP Committee and Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry, from the Spring Fling to the Italian Festival, from the Religious Education Council to the Music Ministry, it takes an army of people, all of us really, to keep St. Maria Goretti moving and growing strong.

This weekend is also a good time for all of us to ask ourselves what we can do to help out. The days of being Catholic and only sitting in church for one hour on Sunday are over. Thank God! We need to be active and involved Catholics seven days a week. Every single one of us should have AT LEAST ONE ministry that we are involved. What’s yours? How are YOU helping out? It’s time to get involved. Catechists are still needed for P.R.E., Parish Religious Education, which begins next weekend. We’re still looking for people who would be willing to drive some of our older parishioners to Mass on Sunday. All of our youth programs are still in need of volunteers to help out. We are looking for families and individuals at our 4:30 PM Saturday evening Mass to take the Elijah Cup. WE NEED EVERYBODY! What are you going to do this year to help out at your Parish? Maybe you need to take a good hard look at that list of ministries across the page here in the bulletin, and find something that fits your gifts and talents. Some of the ministries take a lot of time, and some of them take a lot less time than you might think. But all of us can do something! You shouldn’t just be a name on a roster here at St. Maria Goretti. We need YOU. We want YOU to get involved and to find your place to help out and serve. God needs you. What? Are you going to tell God that you’re too busy to help out and lend a hand? Yeah, I’d like to hear that conversation. God, the Giver of all time, knows exactly how much time we have and what we should be doing with our time to build up His Kingdom. Someday, He’s going to ask us about our work. He’s not going to be concerned about how much money we made, but I think He’s really going to care about what we did to build His Kingdom. Come on. Find something. Use your gifts and talents. You’ll be amazed at what God can do if you just cooperate.

We are now just three weeks away from the John Michael Talbot concert at St. Maria Goretti on the evening of Saturday, September 22^nd. We are very excited to welcome this gifted musician who has had such an influence on our liturgical music. I hope that you will come and join us for the concert. Tickets are available at the Parish office. The tickets are free, but you must have one to get into the concert that evening. A free-will offering will be taken up during the concert to help pay for the event. We were convinced that doing things this way would enable as many of us as possible to get to experience John Michael Talbot in concert that evening. Please plan now to come and join us for a wonderful evening of extraordinary music right in our own church!

Have a wonderful weekend and a great week!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Everything flows and nothing stays. You can’t step twice into the same river.