Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This has been a very sad and somber week around here at St. Maria Goretti. We all mourn the loss of Karl Harford. Karl, the Ball State student who was murdered last weekend in Muncie, is the son of Tom and Livia Harford. Livia is one of the most awesome teachers in our school here. In fact, Livia is the last remaining of the original teachers from when we opened St. Maria Goretti School in the Fall of 1996. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of Karl’s family and friends. We also continue to pray for Annette and John Brannon, who mourn the loss of their daughter, Melody Ann McCullough; for Bob, Angie, and Kevin Welsh, who mourn the loss of their wife and mother, Kathy; and for Tod and Cindy Boise and their family, who mourn the loss of Tod’s father, Glen. For a parish that never has any funerals, it’s been a rough last few weeks. We have too much to pray about and to pray for.

Two weeks ago, while I was gone with our RCIA crew on their retreat, we had another false fire alarm on Sunday morning. Once again, this was caused by one of our littlest members pulling one of the alarm stations. This has happened several times now. We must all be careful with all of our little folks and do our best to keep them from pulling these stations. The pull stations are set within their reach by code because, in the event of a real fire, even a small child must be able to pull the alarm and sound a warning. It is up to us to keep an eye on our children and make sure that they are not doing this by mistake or without a clue as to what is going to happen. Unfortunately, I know from experience how much this can terrify one of these little ones when the sirens and alarms go off. I’m sure I don’t need to go into the effect this has on our local fire department. They are trained to begin to respond within seconds of the alarm being reported and are usually on their way here before we realize that it is a false alarm. We’ve got to be better about this.

Another particular concern about this issue is that we have now had so many false alarms, that when the alarm does go off, we fail to leave the building as soon as possible. This is what happened two weeks ago. With the alarm going off, many people stayed in the building, just assuming that it was a false alarm. The fire protection and security system we employ here at St. Maria Goretti is there to protect all of us. Many times, fires cannot immediately be detected by the eyes or nose. We rely on this system to keep us safe. That can’t happen if, when the alarm goes off, we just stand around waiting for somebody to shut it off. It is a bigger deal than that. Please, when any of the alarms here at St. Maria Goretti sound, exit the building as soon as possible, for everyone’s safety.

This is also probably a good time to once again remind everyone that our circular drive is one-way counterclockwise. Negotiating our drive has become somewhat more difficult due to the limitations the construction of our new church has placed on us. It is now more important than ever to ALWAYS enter and exit the campus in the correct direction. Construction traffic is not supposed to ever be on our drive. Unfortunately we have all witnessed several examples in the last few months of folks who aren’t following this. We must all be extra careful during this time of construction. I just keep telling myself over and over how nice everything is going to be once we get done. Let’s work together to make sure that nobody gets hurt in the in-between time.

How’s your Lent going? Are you still sticking with your commitments from Ash Wednesday? As we head into our third week of the season, let us recommit ourselves to doing penance and acts of kindness for Jesus. What more could you do? Have you been to daily Mass lately? Have you been to reconciliation yet? Have you done anything for the poor or those in need? Lent is a great opportunity for us. What a shame it would be to miss taking advantage of it!

This weekend is the Men’s Christ Renews His Parish weekend. We pray for the men of Team #8 who are making the weekend, and the men of Team #7 who are putting it on. Ladies, it is still not too late to sign up for the Women’s Christ Renews His Parish weekend on April 17 th & 18 th. This is retreat season. Next weekend, it is the Confirmation class’ turn. Have a great week!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited
-- until you try and sit in “their” seat at church.