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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings! Welcome to St. Maria Goretti! I’d like to thank everyone who helped
me celebrate my 49th
Birthday last weekend. Your cards, nice words, prayers, gifts, and many kind
gestures made it one of the best birthdays yet! Once again I am reminded that I
am one of the most blessed priests anywhere in the Church. Thank you! A
special thanks to all of our school children and PRE students that made cards.
I’m telling you, I think that several of you have great futures ahead with
Hallmark, because your cards were so much better than anything I can ever find
at the card store! Good job guys! We have some real artists coming up in this
Parish! Oh, and to the fifth grader who drew the picture of me in the pink
vestment…it was so nice of you to be thinking about the Third Sunday of Advent
already!
“This
is the last weekend of the month, and as we try to do every last weekend of the
month…” You’ve heard me say this dozens, if not hundreds of times. Well, it is
the last weekend of the month again. And you’re going to hear me or Fr. Dale
say those words again at Mass today, as we take up our monthly collection for
our HELP Committee and those in need in our own area. I wanted to take time
this week to thank everyone who has been so incredibly generous to our HELP
Committee and Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry. All of yours continued support of
our efforts to help those in need, has been amazing! Each month, working
together as a Parish family, we have been able consistently come up with the
funds to keep our Pantry open and keep our ministry to those in need going. In
the past twelve months, giving to the monthly HELP collection has actually
increased. Your monthly donations of food items to keep the Pantry stocked have
also gone up. The reality is that the past year has not been an easy one for
anybody financially. And yet in the middle of everything, you have always
remembered that there are those who have it worse off than us. Thank you for
your selflessness and generosity! You guys are truly amazing! Next weekend, we
will once again be doing a brown bag Sunday, to prepare the Shepherd’s Gate Food
Pantry for the Thanksgiving and Christmas onslaughts. It is my sincere hope
that once again, everybody will help out, and do what they can, to help our
brothers and sisters in need. For those of you who are new to our community,
next Sunday, after all our Masses, brown bags will be passed out with a list of
food items stapled to the bag. All of us will take a bag, fill it with the
items listed on the paper stapled to the bag, and bring it back to church, the
Parish office, or the school office. It’s brilliantly simple really. And yet
in one big effort, we will take care of the Pantry for both Thanksgiving and
Christmas this year. I would again like to thank all of the wonderful people
who work so hard to make our HELP Committee and Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry work
all year long: Jerry and Kendra Geis, Tom and Suzanne Oliger, Ron and Kathy
Pelletier, Mike and Ann Brown, and Ken and Peggy Norus. Thanks guys! Your
efforts make all of us better. May we never forget to be generous, most
especially to the poor, for when we are, we become more like our Lord.
The
past year has been a difficult financially for many people. We still have many
out of work. Our Angel Employment Network continues to soldier on, striving to
help everyone find a job. Let us not forget to keep this important effort in
our prayers. Again, we remind you that the Angel Employment Network needs not
only people who are looking for work, but also parishioners who can help our
brothers and sisters out with skills, ideas, and connections. If you have
skills in coaching for interviews or resume writing, we need you too! If you
can help out, or you need additional information on the Angel Employment
Network, or you have job opportunities that you know about for the Network,
please contact the incredible Mr. Bill Lilegdon, who heads up this effort for
us. No matter how tough things have been, we know that there are always those
who have it much worse than what we do.
This
past year has made all of us re-evaluate many things in our lives. Hopefully,
it is all leading us to a simpler lifestyle, a back to basics. The truth is
that so many of us have so complicated our lives that they are virtually
unrecognizable any more. The St. Philip Neri Oratorio is taking up The Simple
Life as their theme for the coming year. Their first session is coming up
soon. Don’t miss it. This week, we welcome parenting expert Kirk Martin to St.
Maria Goretti. Tuesday evening, he will be talking to parents about starting to
make their homes stress-free. The Celebrate Calm workshop begins at 7:00 PM in
the Church. It is time for all of us to simplify things and make our lives more
what Christ intended them to be.
Have
a great week! We’ll see you soon.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Hot head and
cold hearts never solved anything.
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