|
 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Welcome to our celebration of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in
Ordinary Time! We are very glad that you are here to pray with us. We
especially welcome all our visitors and new families who join us this weekend!
I have two pressing matters to bring to your attention today:
First of all, the Men’s Christ Renews His Parish weekend
is next
weekend. The Women’s Christ Renews His Parish weekend is coming up in just
three weeks, on Oct. 10th
& 11th. We are still
looking for both men and women of the Parish who have not yet made a Christ
Renews His Parish weekend, to attend these fall weekends this year. Knowing
full-well that the best and most meaningful invitations to attend a Christ
Renews His Parish weekend come from someone that you know, I am asking every one
from the Parish who has already attended a Christ Renews His Parish weekend, to
join me in becoming a recruiter for these fall weekends. All of us must keep
this important effort in our prayers. And all of us need to be inviting
everyone who hasn’t made a weekend yet to do so this time around. Who could you
invite? Obviously, if you are reading this and you haven’t yet made a Christ
Renews His Parish weekend, we are looking for you! Christ Renews His Parish has
made such a great difference in this Parish family! Literally hundreds of
people here at St. Maria Goretti have had their Faith renewed and rejuvenated by
attending a Christ Renews His Parish weekend. The weekends have brought us
together unlike anything else in our Parish’s experience. Now could very well
be YOUR time. I am certain that God has individuals who are reading this right
now, that He wants on these weekends this fall. If you are one of them, please
call Kevin Krasavage at 919-2551 for information on the Men’s weekend, or call
Amy Miller at 816-2547 or Janelle Keller at (513) 310-5073. God will not stop
bothering you if He really wants you to make a Christ Renews His Parish weekend
this time around. Have you ever read that story of Jonah in the Old Testament
about someone else who was trying to avoid what God wanted him to do? Our God
is relentless! Don’t end up in the belly of a big fish! Call and sign up for
Christ Renews His Parish today! We need you now, especially guys! I offer a
special challenge to all of our new brothers and sisters who have registered at
our Parish in the last six months. In the last six months, our Parish has
gotten dozens of new families. We are so happy that you are here with us!
There is no better way of getting involved or of getting to know your new Parish
than by making a Christ Renews His Parish weekend. Think about it. Pray about
it. And give us a call! You’ll be glad that you did!
Secondly, this past week we have already started shooting
the photographs for our new Parish Pictorial Directory. We have had hundreds of
families and individuals sign-up to have their pictures taken and several were
able to get in this past week. Our Parish family currently has over 1400
families on its roster! We are still looking for literally hundreds of our own
families to take the time to sign-up for their appointments to have their
picture taken. It is a good deal. Everybody who has their picture taken will
be given a free 8X10 copy of their portrait, along with a free Parish Pictorial
Directory. Even more importantly, your picture will be included in the
Directory which will become the major source of our getting to know each other
and of our working together to build the Kingdom of God. Why should you take
the time, get dressed up, and come in and have your picture taken? You should
do it because you are a member of this Parish family, this community of Faith,
and because your picture needs to be in this book! As we get bigger and bigger,
it is going to take more efforts on all of our part to get to know each other
and learn each other’s names. These Parish Pictorial Directories help us all
out so much, in getting to know each other. It is so awesome to be able to look
somebody up in the Directory and to know exactly who you are thinking of! To
not have your picture taken is to cut yourself and your family out of the life
of this Parish community. Please don’t do this. Many parishes have quit doing
pictorial directories because they are so much work. And they are! Thank God
for Marilyn and Joe Corbett, Helen Brown, and Bridget Burns who are heading up
this effort for us this time around! But all the work and effort is worth it!
These directories are THAT valuable in helping us to get to know each other and
build community! If you have not yet signed up for your photo session, PLEASE
go on-line and do so today. The company is prepared to give us more dates for
pictures, but they will not do so until we fill-up the dates that we currently
have. We’ve got a big, growing, Parish community. We should all be very proud
of that. That also means that we are all going to have to work together to stay
a solid community. Come on in and get your picture taken. You’ll be glad that
you did!
Next weekend is a big weekend around here. Please
keep all of us and all of our events in your prayers!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
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