St. Maria Goretti - Pastor's Note

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Last Monday, we really did go back into Ordinary Time following our Easter season. It’s just that these first two Sunday of Ordinary Time after Pentecost, are major Feast Days: with today’s Feast of the Holy Trinity and next Sunday’s Feast of Corpus Christi. So we won’t see green on Sunday just yet.

Our Summer Seminarian arrived this past week, and this time around we already know our “summer seminarian”. Our own Clayton Thompson is going to be working at St. Maria Goretti this summer in a number of different capacities. Clayton and his family have been involved in St. Maria Goretti from the very beginning. It’s a great honor to have one of our own as our summer seminarian. Please make Clayton feel welcome and, if you haven’t met him, introduce yourself when you get the chance. For your information, Josh Bennett, also a seminarian for our Diocese from St. Maria Goretti, is going to be serving this summer at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kokomo, Indiana. You may remember that Josh Bennett spent his summer with us two years ago. As always, we pray for Josh and Clayton and wish them well. I’m sure that we’ll also get to see some of Josh at some point this summer.

We also are very happy to announce this weekend that St. Maria Goretti now has its third seminarian in our Diocesan seminary program. Jason LaPaglia, who is graduating from Westfield High School in just a few days, will be heading off to the Josephinum College Seminary, the same place where Clayton is in formation, this fall to begin his studies and formation. Jason is the son of Ward and Cheryl LaPaglia, and the grandson of Joe and Marilyn Corbett. This is great news. Jason is a very talented young man. We are very proud of him for going to find out if God wants him to be a priest. We are very blessed. Josh, Clayton, and now Jason are great young men who could do anything they want with their lives. They seek to discover God’s will for them, and God willing, His call to the priesthood. As a Parish family, we want to support and pray for all three of our seminarians. They all three have a lot of formation yet to go. They are not priests yet. But we do want them to know that their Parish and their priests stand behind them and support them, wherever God leads them. We’re very proud of you guys for going to find out. Just think of how many more priests, and deacons, and sisters, and brothers we would have in the Church today, if more of our young people would just go and find out. Let us continue to pray for more vocations! That Elijah Cup is working! We’re witnessing the proof.

And speaking of sisters, I’m talking religious sisters here, guys. For the first time, this summer, one of St. Maria Goretti’s own young women is going to enter formation for the religious life. Heather Smith, daughter of Gordon and Mary Ann Smith, will begin her formation for the Franciscan Sisters in Ohio. Heather is also a very familiar face around St. Maria Goretti. We’ve watched this incredible young woman grow up and blossom right in front of our eyes. Heather is currently teaching religion at Guerin Catholic High School and helps out here with our Frassati Society for Young Adult Catholics. As with Josh, Clayton, and Jason, we pray for Heather, and hope that she always knows our love and support as she discerns God’s will. Heather also has a long road to go before she takes vows. We will pray for her and with her, every step of the way. The seriousness and commitment of our young people should be an inspiration to us all!

Many thanks to our Confraternity of Christian Mothers who sponsored last weekend’s Mother/Daughter retreat. It was a great morning! The talks were given by religious sisters from four different religious orders who are serving in central Indiana. It was extraordinary! Nearly fifty mothers and daughters were able to attend. I have encouraged the Confraternity of Christian Mothers to host the event again next year. It is my hope that next year we count ten times the number of people attending the retreat. It was that good!

Thanks also to Andy and Lucy Douglas and the Parish Council for sponsoring last weekend’s Ministry Fair. We need to all constantly keep looking at how God is calling us to serve in the Church.

We welcome all the Cursillistas who join us this weekend for our Ultreya. We welcome you to St. Maria Goretti and thank you for joining us for our Cursillo reunion on Saturday evening. God bless you all!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

The quickest way to learn speed reading is to get an unexpected letter from the IRS.