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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On behalf of our entire Parish family, I welcome all of
you to our community this weekend, as we celebrate our Patroness, St. Maria
Goretti, with our annual Italian Festival! We are all so happy that you are
here with us. This is one of my favorite weekends of the entire year!
I’d like to thank Greg and Kim Stanley and Kevin and Abby
Kovacs for Co-Chairing this year’s Festival. Quite obviously, it is a huge
undertaking, and Greg and Kim, and Kevin and Abby did an OUTSTANDING job!!!
Thank You!!! I’d also like to thank all of the Committee Chairs, the Festival
All-Stars, for their hard work and commitment. Unfortunately, there are so many
of you and space in this column is limited, so I won’t even start naming names
here, but please know that we would not have been able to have the Italian
Festival without YOU and all your hard work! Thank You also!!! And it takes an
army of volunteers to make the Festival happen. I’d like to thank each person
who volunteered their time yesterday to help out. Hundreds of you stepped
forward and gave of your time and energy to set-up the Festival, to run it, and
then again to take everything down, clean up, and put everything away. The
Italian Festival brings us together as a community and unites us in our
celebration of our Patroness. And finally, thanks also to all of those who
attended the Festival. Based on the pre-sale of tickets, it is looking like we
are going to have another record crowd. We are so glad that so many of our
family and friends came out to join us. We hope and pray that everybody had a
good time. And hey, it’s time now to mark your calendars for next year’s
Italian Festival to make sure that you can join us again. The 2010 St. Maria
Goretti Italian Festival will take place on Saturday, July 10th,
2010.
You will also notice this weekend that we’ve got new SMG
Praise Books. The new songbooks, which include many new songs, additional music
lines, and a new, expanded format, are the masterpiece of Toni MacDonald-Hinkley.
I’d like to thank Toni today for all of her hard work, time, and effort. The
new books are wonderful and a great improvement over what we had before. Most
of us have no idea how much work goes into compiling a music book. The
licensing alone takes hundreds of hours and contacts. In 2009, to include any
part of a song in a book, without the proper permission and licensing, can mean
that a parish can be sued by the publisher, and everything that the parish has
and has built up, is put in danger. Toni has done all of this for us. Assisted
by our Music Director, Leslie Franzen, and Deacon Steve, Toni has set the new
standard for parish songbooks! The next time you see Toni, please make sure
that you say ‘thank you’. Hopefully, the new songbooks will serve us well for
long time. You can help us out with this by taking care of the books and hymnal
in the pew. Before you leave Mass, please make sure that all of the books are
in their proper place in the holders on the back of the pews. If you see a
songbook or hymnal on the floor, pick it up and put back where it belongs. We
all have a responsibility to take care of our Church and its property, and be
good stewards of our resources.
This past Thursday, on July 9th,
the Eli Lilly Endowment announced their 2009 recipients of their Indiana Clergy
Renewal Grants. As many of you already know, a committee of folks from St.
Maria Goretti had applied for a sabbatical grant for me, last winter. Part of
the application process demanded that input be given from several different
groups and organizations from within the Parish. Several of you were asked your
opinion and asked for your support. The good news from this past Thursday is
that the Lilly Endowment has given me and St. Maria Goretti one of their renewal
Grants. From September 1st,
2010 until December 7th,
2010, I will be studying and working with Franciscans in Assisi, Italy. While I
am there, special programs and opportunities on Franciscan spirituality will
also be going on here. Quite obviously, we will need another priest before
then. The Diocese is aware of this and has promised to take care of us. There
are still many details to work out, but we have quite a bit of time before
then. I would like to thank the committee who worked so hard on the grant
proposal: Tim and Connie Anderson, Pat and Deb Biddlecombe, Bill and Sheryl
Clifford, John Dolan, Steve and Jen Downing, Tim and Deb Perry, and Jim and
Joann Wack. This great opportunity for me and for our Parish family, and it is
only happening because of all of your hard work and perseverance!
These are great days. We have been very blessed! Have a
great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
“He who can no longer listen to his brother will soon no longer
be listening to God either.”
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