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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Third Sunday of our Easter season! We continue to
celebrate and give thanks for Jesus’ resurrection and the new life that He
offers to each one of us! This is a great time. Let us rejoice and be glad!
The 2009 St. Maria Goretti Spring Fling is now in the
history book. This past Friday night’s event drew nearly 350 people out to the
Ritz-Charles for dinner, the silent and live auctions, the raffles, and a great
time with lots of great people. I offer my most heart-felt gratitude and
appreciation to Chris and Shari McGrath and David and Stephanie Kaser for
co-chairing this year’s event. Chairing the Spring Fling is one of the most
challenging and most time-consuming ministries at St. Maria Goretti. Our entire
Parish family owes a great debt of gratitude to Chris and Shari and David and
Stephanie. They and all their committee chairs and members have invested
hundreds of hours in putting on this event for our Parish family. I thank ALL
OF YOU! I offer a special note of thanks to Chris and Shari McGrath. We have
tried for years to put the Spring Fling on the two-year cycle of rotating
leadership, and this year, thanks to Chris and Shari, we actually were able to
accomplish the task. As David and Stephanie take the lead for next year’s
event, we will now have guaranteed experience and we won’t have to keep
“re-inventing” the wheel each year. Hopefully, this will make the task easier
for everybody, and not the great stress that it has been on just a couple of
people. It was a wonderful evening. For me, it’s always like going to a pep
rally for our Parish. Thanks to every one who donated and participated. We are
all aware of what a tough year this is economically. To see everybody help out
and do what they can, even in our current economic climate, was awe-inspiring!
Thanks to everybody!
St. Maria Goretti is once again sponsoring a liturgical
ministry day for ALL of our liturgical ministers. That morning of formation
will take place on Saturday, May 9th,
beginning with the 8:00 AM Mass and concluding by noon. Now is the time for all
of us to consider whether or not we might be called to be a lector, or an
Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, or a Minister of Welcome, or even a
liturgical musician. We are looking for more people for all of the ministries
of the Mass. Now is our time to discern if this might be for us or not. Both
the new and those who have been performing these ministries for our community
are asked to come and join us for this morning of formation and catechesis.
Josh Bennett, our own seminarian, is going to be giving the theological
presentation. We did this three years ago, and it seemed to be a big help to
everyone involved. And while it is a lot to ask every year, periodically it is
good for all of us to “keep up” with what’s going on and the theology of our
ministries. Please plan now to attend. We really would like to have everybody
there.
We are doing this now, because we must prepare the lists
of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for the Diocese. A lot of
Catholics don’t realize this, but to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy
Communion, you must be commissioned by the Diocese. The Diocese requires that
you are prepared for this ministry in your own Parish. The Bishop must approve
each candidate for each year. And then we are allowed to install the
Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on the Feast of Corpus Christi each
year. For this reason, the only time all year long that you can sign up to be
an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, is in late April or early May each
year. The appointment from the Bishop is only good for one year. It is parish
specific and diocese specific. St. Maria Goretti needs an army of Extraordinary
Ministers of Holy Communion to help out at our Masses. If you are being called
this year, please come and join us at the Ministry Day on May 9th.
The completely awesome Kathy Lengerich has headed up our Extraordinary Ministers
of Holy Communion ministry for the last several years. Kathy is someone else
that this Parish family owes a great debt of gratitude to, for her efforts. It
is a massive, thank-less job. And Kathy does it flawlessly. Thank you, Kathy!
Next weekend is First Communion! A special Saturday
1:00 PM Mass will be held specifically to celebrate First Communion. We are so
blessed that everybody can still make their First Communions together at one
Mass. We are rapidly approaching numbers that will make that an impossibility
in the not-too-distant future. But for now, it is nice. It is a true Parish
celebration. Please keep our second graders in your prayers this week in their
final days of preparation for the Sacrament.
Have a great week! Let us keep one another in our
prayers!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
In the world it is called
tolerance
but in hell it is called
despair.
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