St. Maria Goretti - Pastor's Note

This week for the first time, we are going to begin to hear and read about our Diocese’s 2008 Fruitful Harvest Campaign that is getting ready to kick-off. In the next two months, all of us are going to be asked to make a financial pledge to this campaign. In addition, to continue to help us to pay down our debt on the new church, and to pave the way for future projects here at St. Maria Goretti, our Parish family is once again “dove-tailing” onto the Diocesan campaign. This saves us all kinds of money, energy, and time, as the Diocese manages our campaign for us, and we as a Parish get closer and closer to being debt-free. I thought we’d spend a little time this week, on what’s happening, and why it is so important to our community.

First of all, we are still not done with Fruitful Harvest 2006. Our pledges run until the end of December 2008. Our new pledges that we are getting ready to make in the next few weeks, won’t begin until January 2009. The new campaign will run all through 2009 and 2010, concluding in December of 2010. Because we as a Parish family run our campaign in conjunction with what the Diocese is doing, we are slightly out of sync with the Diocesan time table. Most of the Diocese has already completed Fruitful Harvest 2006, and that’s why we’re moving on to a new campaign. Because of the extraordinary nature of what St. Maria Goretti is trying to do, we have until December to pay off our 2006 pledges.

At the same time, as we finish one campaign, we are already starting another. In the next two years, St. Maria Goretti must work together to raise $2.2 million dollars. This includes just over $400,000 that is our portion of the Diocese’s campaign. It is very important for all of us to know, that unlike most other dioceses around the country, our Diocese does NOT tax its parishes income. Some dioceses, including some of our neighboring dioceses, not only have a tax, but they also have an annual campaign, to pay the diocesan bills. Thank God our Diocese has a better idea! This helps St. Maria Goretti out immensely. The Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana must function in order for us to be Catholic Church, and we have a moral obligation to pay for our part of making that happen. That’s what Fruitful Harvest is all about. Bishop Higi began Fruitful Harvest when he became bishop back in 1984. This bi-annual campaign has done remarkable things to help us as Church. The truth is, that by “dove-tailing” or piggy-backing- on to the Diocese’s campaigns, we have been able to build St. Maria Goretti Parish. It has been a blessing for us and saved us thousands of dollars. As many of you know, last month the Bishop submitted his letter of retirement to the Vatican, as he is required to do, when he turns 75 years of age. We wait for Rome’s acceptance of the Bishop’s retirement. And then we will wait some more for the Vatican to name a new bishop. These days, many similar sized dioceses are waiting up to two years for their new bishops to be named. We’re going to have to be patient. We still have to be Church in the meantime. We do owe a great debt of gratitude to Bishop Higi for his vision and insight in helping us to keep the Church strong in our Diocese. Things could be very different. We have been blessed!

As for our portion of the campaign, we’ve got to pull down our debt. This campaign won’t reduce our debt completely, but it should knock it down well below $2 million. And that will allow us to start planning the building of the connector building and the expansion of our school to three classrooms per grade. We’re getting closer guys. As in the past, the key here is for us to work together to make this happen. We are going to need EVERYBODY’S help to raise $2.2 million. There are more of us than ever before! We can do this! We’re going to need EVERY FAMILY and EVERY PERSON to do what they can to help out. Remember, it’s not about equal gifts, but it is about equal sacrifice! If you’re going to belong to this Parish family, we’re going to need you to step up and do your part, whatever your part may be. The debt from the building of the new church is like a weight around the neck of our young Parish. We’ve got to take care of this as soon as possible.

Please think and pray about all of this. You will be hearing much more in the coming weeks. We can do this together! Great things are happening. The Kingdom is being built right in front of our eyes!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Have your tools ready. God will find you work.