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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The temperatures outside have cooled down considerably this
week. Fresh, locally-grown apples have started appearing at area
grocery stores. And Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations are
already out and for sale at area stores. I think we’re seeing the
beginnings of Fall this week. What an awesome time of the year!
Enjoy it all.
Next Saturday is the John Michael Talbot concert at St. Maria
Goretti. The concert begins at 7:00 PM. We are very proud and
honored to welcome this accomplished Catholic musician to our
Parish. As I write this letter this week, they tell me that all
1500 tickets for the concert are now gone. If you have tickets, and
know that you will be unable to use them, please return any tickets
that you don’t need to the Parish office. Requests for tickets
continue to come in every day. I’d like to express my thanks to
Melissa Miller and Deacon Steve, and their entire committee who are
responsible for bringing John Michael Talbot to St. Maria Goretti
and for putting on the concert event. It has been a huge amount of
work for several people now for several months. Thanks to everyone
who has had a hand in making this happen! Next Saturday evening
will be a really special night for our Parish and our community.
Hopefully, we’ll see you here on Saturday night.
We are preparing to host the Fall 2007 St. Maria Goretti
Christ Renews His Parish weekends in the next few weeks. We’ve
already had our pulpit announcements at all our Masses a few weeks
ago. And there are still a few openings for both the Men’s and the
Women’s Fall weekends. The Men’s Weekend is this month, on
September 29th
& 30th.
And the Women’s Fall weekend is a week later, on Oct. 6th
& 7th.
As always, the openings to me are indicators that there are brothers
and sisters out there who are supposed to be on these two weekends,
but who haven’t been asked yet by the right person. And so I’m
asking all of you who have already “made” a Christ Renews His Parish
weekend to join me in becoming recruiters for these Fall weekends.
The time may not be right for everybody, but I assure you that there
are still several people out there who are supposed to be on these
weekends. Maybe as you read this, YOU are one of those people!
That’s right, I’m talking to YOU! What are YOU waiting for? You
know, our goal is to eventually get every adult at St. Maria Goretti
to make a Christ Renews His Parish weekend. You can go now or you
can go later. The choice is yours. But we do want EVERYBODY to
make one of these weekends at some point while they are here at St.
Maria Goretti. Could this be your time?
I went on Christ Renews His Parish Men’s Team #1 back in the
Fall of 2000. The weekend was given to us by a “seed” team made up
of men who had done the weekend down at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. I
went expecting your average, Catholic men’s retreat. After all, I
had been on dozens of retreats before, some of them good and some of
them not so good. What happened that weekend was so much more than
just a retreat! I did become even closer to God, and this was after
13 years of being a priest. But it was more than that. Bonds were
formed. A community developed. The Church became “Church”. Christ
Renews His Parish did bring a whole new rejuvenation to my life. By
listening to the stories and experiences of others right around me,
I learned many new things about myself and about our God. On that
weekend, I became a “Christ Renew His Parish” priest and I knew that
from the very beginning, that St. Maria Goretti Parish was going to
be a “Christ Renews His Parish” Parish. In seven years, the
weekends have changed countless lives right here. As we begin our
eighth year of the process, with two weekends each year for the men,
and two each year for the women, I have no doubt that God will
continue to do incredible things through this process. But
individuals have to take that first step of signing up for the
process. Nobody can “make” you make one of these weekends. You’ve
got to say ‘yes’ to the invitation. I know that there are people
reading these words RIGHT NOW who are supposed to be making these
up-coming weekends this Fall. Don’t be afraid. Give the weekend
a try. Call the invitations coordinators listed in this bulletin
and sign up today! You will be glad that you did! And if you
aren’t or can’t do it this Fall, when are YOU going to make a Christ
Renews His Parish weekend? We’re not going to stop asking.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Do we rule our bodies or do our bodies rule us?
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