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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Feast of Pentecost! Today as we celebrate the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the beginning of the Church,
we conclude our Easter season. It has been a glorious seven weeks, and God has
done so much good in our lives. We welcomed our new brothers and sisters from
RCIA and RCIC into the Church at the Easter Vigil. We celebrated First Communion
on the first Saturday in May. We welcomed Bishop Higi back to our Parish for
the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 14th.
And there have been dozens of infant Baptisms and several weddings, since our
celebration of Easter 2009. We have been so blessed by our God Who loves us so
much! May the good blessings continue as we head into Ordinary Time!
This afternoon, a special Jubilee Mass will be held at
2:00 PM at our Cathedral in Lafayette for Bishop William Higi. The entire
Diocese is invited to the Mass and reception following it. It is my sincere
hope that as many of you as possible will be able to attend this Mass. Bishop
Higi celebrates his 50th
Anniversary of Ordination to the priesthood and his 25th
Anniversary of his ordination and installation as bishop of the Diocese of
Lafayette-in-Indiana. This is a big day for him and for our entire Diocese.
Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to read the special, 56-page souvenir jubilee
booklet that was included in last week’s
Catholic Moment.
His 25-year episcopacy is the longest in the history of our Diocese. And as we
await news from Rome of his successor, it is most appropriate that we show our
gratitude and appreciation to this man who has given so much to our Church.
Please keep him in your prayers today and in these next few months.
This coming week, the annual Diocesan Priests Convocation
is taking place in Brown County. Both Fr. Dale and I will be going to down to
spend some of the week with Bishop Higi and our brother priests. Between our
two schedules, it looks like we will only have to have a Communion Service on
Tuesday evening, June 2nd,
in place of our regular 5:30 PM Mass. Please pray for all of the priests of our
Diocese as they gather this week.
Next weekend, we will have our Diocesan Ordination on
Saturday, June 6th, at
11:00 AM at our Cathedral in Lafayette. Deacon Chris Shocklee is our lone
ordination to the priesthood this year. But we’re also ordaining four young
men, Andrew DeKeyser, David Huemmer, Adam Mauman, and Mark Walter, to the
transitional diaconate, which means a year from now, we’ll be getting four new
priests! Please keep all of these men in your prayers and may we continue to
pray that God will bless our Diocese with many more vocations to the
priesthood! Our own seminarian, Josh Bennett, will become a transitional deacon
at next year’s ordinations. This Friday evening at 8:00 PM, Josh officially
declares candidacy for Holy Orders, at a Vespers service taking place at the
Cathedral. Mark your calendars now for Saturday, June 5th,
2010, as the first son of St. Maria Goretti Parish becomes a Deacon in
preparation for becoming a priest in 2011. This is really getting exciting!
Way to go, Josh! We’re very proud of you!
Because of Ordinations taking place in Lafayette next
Saturday, there will NOT be any Confessions next Saturday, June 6th,
morning or afternoon, here at St. Maria Goretti. We apologize for any
inconvenience, but it will allow both Fr. Dale and myself to attend the
Ordination Mass.
We are continuing to gear up for Vacation Bible Camp that
is being hosted here from June 8th
thru the 12th. Dozens of
volunteers are already at work creating a wonderful week for our children.
Thanks to everybody who are working so hard to put this on this year. It’s
going to be a great week for the kids!
Don’t forget to keep praying for the baby that you
spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion. Our prayers are very powerful
and they work! What a neat effort to keep Respect for Life real and close to
our hearts and minds!
Have an awesome week! Thank you for all that you do for
our Parish family!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can
invent.
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