St. Maria Goretti - Pastor's Note

Welcome to St. Maria Goretti! This week we are very happy to welcome back all of our Parish Religious Education ( P.R.E. ) students who return to the classroom for the first time this fall. There are miracles happening in those classrooms every Sunday morning and Monday afternoon, and we all need to be proud of the good things that are going on in our religious education program.

Two weeks ago today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared as one of the guests on “Meet the Press”. I did not see the program. It was on, on Sunday morning, and I was in church all morning. I have read the transcripts, though. And it is extremely important that something be said by someone, regarding the falsehoods that were put forth as truths, by Mrs. Pelosi, on that program. Mrs. Pelosi, claiming to be “an ardent and practicing Catholic”, tried to defend her pro-Abortion, pro-death stance, by declaring that the Catholic Church is not clear on its teaching of when life begins, or on its teaching about Abortion. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Not now, not ever! Mrs. Pelosi led viewers to believe that the Catholic Church’s solidly anti- Abortion and Pro-Life stance was something that the modern Church invented in “the last five or six years”. This simply is NOT true. Mrs. Pelosi is twisting the facts to justify her own die-hard support of Abortion, and her complete dismissal of what her professed Church says about this sin. EVERY CATHOLIC in this country should be outraged that any Catholic politician could go on national television and make such a statement! Mrs. Pelosi’s bishop in California, and every other bishop in this country should demand an admission of error and an apology. It is exactly things like this that make us, as the Church, look so incredibly stupid to others, especially non-believers. It is time that Catholic politicians either start standing up for what we believe as a Church, or stop calling themselves “Catholic” when its convenient and when they want to raise money or get votes. And the U.S. Bishops have to start facing these wayward sons and daughters of the Church, who are doing more damage that we know. The teaching on Abortion and the Catholic Church’s respect for life in all of its stages has always been clear, and it has never been more clear than right now. Abortion is murder. It is a sin against the Fifth Commandment, and a sin against the most innocent, and defenseless of the living. All human beings, not just the Catholic Church, have a moral obligation to oppose Abortion on demand and to stand up for innocent life, those who can’t fight for themselves. In our culture of death, we must all be solidly behind this teaching. And that includes when we go to the voting booth. No Catholic can vote for any candidate, no matter what religion they profess, who is pro-Abortion. We’ve got some tough choices this fall. All of us do. We’ve got to educate ourselves. In 2008, you can’t be a Catholic and NOT know what that means and entails. We have a responsibility to know.

All of this makes for a very important opening weekend for our religious education program. The adult Bible study also began last Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. And the RCIA Pre-Catechumenate session are in full-swing on Monday evening at 7:00 PM. What are YOU doing to learn more about your Faith? We can drop our kids off at PRE every week, but that’s not going to help us as adults know our Faith better. And far too many of us DON’T know what we believe and WHY we believe it. Nancy Pelosi is not alone. We’ve got to learn our Faith. Today, what you don’t know, can cost you your soul. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance can get all of us into a lot of trouble with our Lord. Come to Bible Study or RCIA. Read a good book on our Faith. Study the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Help your children learn their religious studies for PRE. There are so many things we can do, so many opportunities right here that we can take advantage of, to grow our Faith. Nancy Pelosi is a tragedy for our entire Church. Either she really didn’t know what the Church teaches. Or deep down she really knows, but chose to pervert the facts to fit her agenda. Either way you go, the “Meet the Press” interview was a sad day for the Catholic Church in the United States. I pray for Mrs. Pelosi. May God’s love AND truth speak to her heart.

Oh, these are busy day! There’s so much going on, and more starting up all the time. Have a great week! See what you can learn about your Faith in the next seven days!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Opportunities are never lost. Someone will always take the ones we miss.