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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We had our last of the three Holy Name Society Lenten Fish
Fries this past Friday night. This year, all three of them were huge
successes! I’d like to congratulate the Holy Name Society and thank all of the
guys who worked so hard this year on these dinners. You know, most of us just
show up between 5:00 and 8:00 PM and have some wonderful fish. The Holy Name
guys were getting here at 3:00 PM, working the preparations, and then staying
here until 10:00 or 11:00 PM getting things cleaned up and put back together.
The Fish Fries take an enormous army of volunteers to put them on. Thanks to
everyone who volunteered and helped out. My hat is off to the Holy Name
Society. They are a fantastic group of men! Every adult male who belongs to
the Parish, is automatically registered in the Holy Name Society. It is my
sincere hope that more and more of our adult guys will get involved in this very
special organization and lend a hand. The Holy Name Society serves as the
official men’s club for the Parish, and it has as its goals to lead the men of
our Parish family to greater prayer, to greater service, and to build community
here at St. Maria Goretti. They do an outstanding job at this. The Holy Name
Society’s next event is the Easter Egg Hunt for the children that will take
place on Holy Saturday morning, at 10:00 AM. I’d also like to thank the high
school students from T.R.U.T.H., our high school youth group, and the high
school guys from the Temple Knights of the Holy Eucharist, both of which helped
the Holy Name Society out, with the serving of the meals for the Fish Fries,
most especially the take-out orders. And lastly, but certainly not least, I do
thank everyone who supported the Fish Fries this year. They sure brought a lot
of us together on Friday nights, from both inside and outside of the community.
This week is a little quieter around here than usual, as
St. Maria Goretti School goes on Spring Break. The Catholic schools never take
off Holy Week for Spring Break, so we are going to be off this week, when our
public school counterparts are taking off next week. Please be aware that daily
Mass for this Tuesday, will be at 5:30 PM in the evening, instead of 8:00 AM, as
it usually is when school is session.
In the last several weeks, we have once again experienced a
surge in new membership registrations. We do welcome all of our new brothers
and sisters to our Parish family! This does remind all of us of how important
it is for us to be welcoming and hospitable at Mass, including before and after
all our Masses, and at all of our events. If you are sitting next to someone
that you don’t know, then before or after Mass introduce yourself and your
family and say ‘hello!’. We used to be really good at this when we were still
having Mass in the Parish Hall. I think that it is time for all of us to return
to our roots, and get out of ourselves to meet some of our new fellow
parishioners. Don’t be bashful. After all, we’re all Catholic, aren’t we? And
how many bad Catholics have you met at Mass lately? Bad Catholics are typically
NOT the ones who are coming to Mass on Sunday with us. Say ‘hello!’ Introduce
yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been here for fourteen years or for
fourteen minutes, we’re all part of the same family. Sometimes that ‘hello’ or
handshake can make all the difference in the world. We can always be a much
friendlier community. We’ve just all got to want to be better!
As we enter into these final two weeks of Lent, I’d also
like to remind you of how important Eucharistic adoration is to our final
preparations for Easter. There is no better time than these next two weeks, to
stop in the Adoration Chapel and spend some time with our Lord. He waits there
for you to stop in and spend some time with Him. The late Mother Teresa, now
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, used to say that the most valuable thing that we can
do with our time in this world, is to spend it with Jesus in Eucharistic
Adoration. Think about that! How difficult would it be for you to stop in and
spend a half-an-hour? Nothing is going to make our Holy Week holier. Nothing
is going to get us ready to renew our Baptismal promises on Easter better. Make
some time for Eucharistic adoration this week and next week. You’ll be glad
that you did!
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday. We will gather for all of our
Masses in the Church Narthex, the gathering area, for the blessing of the palms
and the procession into church. Unless you are physically unable to do so, it
is expected that all of us will walk in the procession next week, to begin our
Palm Sunday Masses. Until then, have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Blessed are the
flexible, for they don’t get bent out of shape!
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