|
Dear Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
Today
we celebrate another Feast Day that we don’t normally get to celebrate all
together on Sunday. Today is the Feast Day of the Dedication of the Basilica of
St. John the Lateran in Rome. This important church has great significance for
all of us, as the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Rome. It is Pope Benedict’s
church in Rome and has long played an important role in our Church’s and our
Faith’s history. We’re not really celebrating a building today, as much as we
are the Faith, the love, and the commitment of the people who built it and have
put it to good use down through the centuries.
Today
we are also hosting the first of our Commitment Weekends for our Fruitful
Harvest / “Angels in Action” campaign. Today, after all of our Masses, we will
all get our opportunity to make our pledge towards this new Campaign, which will
run for the next two years, from January of 2009 until December of 2010. We
have a pledge card for each and every St. Maria Goretti family that MUST be
filled out for our Diocese. PLEASE take the time today to stop by the tables in
the church narthex, and fill out your pledge card! In the next few weeks, we
must contact every family for their pledge and their help with this campaign.
We are a big Parish! And as it is, this campaign has enlisted the help of
dozens of volunteers to help us to reach our goal. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANYBODY’S
JOB ANY HARDER! We need everybody’s pledge and we need everybody’s help to get
this job done. Take the time TODAY to stop by the tables and fill out your
family card. We will also have the opportunity next weekend to make our
pledges.
This weekend, following a very brief homily from Fr. Dale or myself, we have
invited Dr. Elaine Cox to give our campaign witness. Elaine and her husband,
Dr. David Cox, and their children Conner, Keenan, and Carson have been members
of St. Maria Goretti from the very beginning. They have been active and
supportive in just about every way! Dave and Elaine are co-chairing this
campaign with Jon and Jane Schackmuth. I’d like to thank Dave and Elaine and
John and Jane for all their hard work to get us to this weekend. And I really
think that you are going to enjoy Elaine’s witness at our Masses this weekend.
On
a completely different note, last week I received and accepted the resignation
of our part-time Music Director, Cathy Rund. Cathy has been our Music Director
since 2001. We greatly appreciate all that this very talented lady has done for
our Parish family. We will plan on a more formal ‘thank you’ for later on. For
now, immediately St. Maria Goretti will begin accepting résumés for Cathy’s
replacement. Cathy will stay on until December 30th,
to get us through Advent and Christmas. Let us all begin praying now that God
will send us just the right person. Our liturgical music is very important to
all of us as Catholic Christians. Music makes a big difference in our prayer
together. We are looking for someone to help us continue and grow the excellent
tradition that Cathy helped us start. More details on the position and a
complete job description are available from the Parish Office.
Changing topics AGAIN, last weekend, several of you left Mass to go out to your
cars, only to find that some individuals had placed election flyers on your
vehicles. Please be aware that these individuals did this WITHOUT St. Maria
Goretti Parish’s permission or authorization. This is NEVER a good idea. And
doing this usually ends up with lots of angry people and flyers blowing all
around our parking lot. My understanding is that three individuals were not
from our Parish, and that they actually had the police called on them at one of
the other local parishes. Here, we had tried for months, following the U.S.
Bishop’s guidelines, to talk about the moral issues that we’re important in this
past week’s election. We did so never mentioning, endorsing, or condemning any
particular candidate or party, but sticking with the important issues for the
Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the flyers distributed in the parking lot did
name candidates and their particular positions. Again, this was clearly out of
our control, and should never have happened. The next time we have a similar
experience, we’ll simply call the police too. I do apologize. It should not
have happened.
Wow, lots of news for a November Sunday! Have a great week. Let us keep each
other in our prayers!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
When you help
someone up a hill, you’re that much closer to the top yourself.
|
