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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This weekend we congratulate and pray for Deacons Dennis
Faker and Patrick Baikauskas, OP, who are being ordained priests,
and for Christopher Shocklee, who is being ordained a transitional
Deacon. As all three of these men begin their ministries, we ask
that God be with them and with all that they will come in contact
with in their work. Fr. Faker and Deacon Shocklee are being
ordained for our Diocese. Fr. Baikauskas is being ordained in our
Diocese for the Dominican Order. Deacon Shocklee, who is a son of
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, is scheduled to be ordained a priest
in June of 2009. We thank God for all the vocations to the
priesthood that He has blessed our Diocese with in recent years.
Many of the other dioceses around us are not in such good shape. We
need to all keep praying and encouraging vocations to the priesthood
for our Diocese.
Next weekend, in fact for the next two weekends, we are going
to run our Diocese’s “Answering God’s Call” Campaign. Both next
Sunday and on June 22nd,
we will be taking up a special second collection after Communion, to
help our Diocese pay for the seminary training and formation of our
candidates for the priesthood. This year more than ever, we have a
personal, vested interest in this campaign, as now three young men
from our Parish family are in formation for the Diocesan
priesthood. Josh Bennett, Clayton Thompson, and now Jason LaPaglia
are fine, young men. We are very proud of them. They are three of
the twenty-six young men that our Diocese will have studying for us
next fall. The annual cost of seminary education, formation, and
diocesan expenses to recruit vocations and maintain them, is very
high. Our Diocesan Campaign, Fruitful Harvest, used to take care of
this. Ten years ago, when we had three seminarians studying for
us, Fruitful Harvest could handle the costs easily. Being blessed
with twenty-six seminarians for next year, Fruitful Harvest is now
no longer enough. Three years ago, our Diocese started this annual
June appeal to make up the difference. As with Fruitful Harvest,
each parish is asked to contribute a pre-determined goal, based upon
number of parishioners and annual rate of giving. For 2008, St.
Maria Goretti’s goal is $23,400. In the next two weekends, in the
collection after Communion, we must come up with this money for this
campaign. First of all, it is our portion and our responsibility to
the rest of the Diocese. But if we don’t come up with these funds,
parishes are asked to make up the difference from operating funds,
which is something that St. Maria Goretti really can’t do. I would
ask you to prayerfully consider this week and next, what you and
your family might be able to do to help us reach our goal. We are
very blessed with vocations right now. Along with that blessing,
comes the responsibility to help out in the training and formation
of our future priests. Please be generous!
We have run announcements in the bulletin several times in
the last few months for individuals to volunteer to help us run the
soundboard during Mass. This was without a lot of success. I think
that all of us have realized that having an individual in back of
church at the soundboard makes a major difference in the quality of
our sound in our church. The person at the soundboard has a very
important role to play in whether or not most of us can hear what’s
going at Mass. And yet, we currently don’t have enough sound
technicians to have someone at every Mass. I am asking that anyone
who has any experience at running a soundboard or even if you don’t
have any experience, but would be willing to learn with the right
help and guidance, PLEASE consider helping out with this important
new ministry. We have some very good people who are doing it. We
just don’t have enough of them. If you might be feeling a little
called to make our Masses and prayer better, please give our Music
Director, Cathy Rund, a call. Cathy’s number is listed on the front
of the bulletin. We are aware that we have had some sound problems
in the last couple of weeks, and we are doing our best to correct
them and make sure that everyone can hear at Mass. Thanks for your
patience.
This week I leave with our 2008 T.R.U.T.H. pilgrimage to
Italy. There are thirty-one of us going this time, a nice mix of
youth and adults. Please pray for a safe trip for all of us. I
promise to pray for you and for your intentions at the tombs of the
Apostles, Peter and Paul, and at the graves of St. Francis of Assisi
and St. Maria Goretti. One of my favorite stops on the pilgrimage
has become our visit to the tomb of St. Maria Goretti. It is a very
emotional experience for me to pray at the grave of our Patroness.
I will be back on June 25th.
May God bless all of you and keep you in His peace!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
To pray is to stand at attention in the presence of the King and to
be prepared to take orders from Him.
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