Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Wow! What a week it has been! First, five days of a great Lenten Mission with Fr. Bob and Fr. John, and then this weekend, we welcome Dr. Scott Hahn back to St. Maria Goretti Parish. Could it get any better than this? If we’re not having a good Lent this year, something is really wrong, because so many awesome opportunities are there. As we begin our Fourth Week of Lent, may all of us commit ourselves to really drawing closer to Jesus in these next couple of weeks, in preparation for Easter.

I want to take this opportunity to thank EVERYONE who worked so hard to make our 2006 Lenten Mission a success. I know it took an army of people to pull off one of the most outreaching events that we have ever hosted. Thanks especially to Deacon Steve Miller who coordinated and organized the Mission for us. It was a great week, and I sincerely hope that you feel as spiritually renewed as I do. We have much to give thanks to God for these days.

If you are joining us this weekend for Dr. Scott Hahn’s presentations, we welcome you to St. Maria Goretti. Dr. Hahn has inspired many of us around here for several years now. We were very proud to have Dr. Hahn at St. Maria Goretti in September of 2002, as we prepared to kick-off our campaign and building project of our new church. What a great joy it is to welcome him back, and hear him speak again, inside the church that was only a dream and a vision four years ago. It is our honor to host this wonderful opportunity for everyone. May Dr. Hahn’s words and faith inspire all of us to seek Jesus’ truth more in each of our lives and in all of our communities of the Church. We have visitors with us this weekend from all over the Midwest. What a great opportunity to be together!

This weekend reminds us all of how important it is to keep growing in our Faith. The more we know, the more we understand, the richer our Faith becomes in all of our lives. Unfortunately, too many Catholics are trying to struggle by with a grade-school-level of education about our Catholic Faith. In this case, what we don’t know IS hurting us! We’ve got to read more. We’ve got to study more. We need to take advantage of adult Faith formation opportunities. One of the greatest complaints that I hear from Directors of Religious Education (D.R.E.’s) and those who work in Adult Catechesis and Evangelization, is that they spend hours working on classes and presentations, and they bring in awesome speakers and presenters, and just a hand full of folks show up for these opportunities. I find it so strange that in the Catholic Church we put so much emphasis on the religious education and formation of our children and our youth, spending so much time and money and effort on these efforts, and the whole time we neglect our own Faith formation. What have YOU done for your Faith lately? You may have your kids in a Catholic school. You may faithfully have your kids in P.R.E. or our youth groups. You may say how important your Faith is to you. But what are you DOING about keeping your own Faith growing? Pick-up a good book. Attend an adult education opportunity. Pick-up a C.D. or brochure from the new “Defending Your Faith” kiosk. Subscribe to a good Catholic magazine or newspaper. The St. Philip Neri Oratorio, the Wednesday night/ Thursday morning Bible Study, Bible Basics and Catholicism 101 on Sunday mornings, all of these are great chances to learn more about our Faith. If you’re not learning, you are not being fed. And if you are not feeding your soul with the right stuff, just like with our bodies, you’re going to be weak and sick spiritually. We can have all the opportunities in the world available to us. And yet, if we don’t take advantage of those opportunities, what difference does it make? Think about this. Pray about this. Do something about this. We’ve got a lot of Catholics who haven’t done anything to feed their Faith for a long time. And that’s a problem for all of us.

This coming Friday night is the last of the Holy Name Society’s Lenten Fish Fries. I’d like to thank all of the guys for all their hard work and efforts. A lot of people have really enjoyed the dinners on Friday nights. It sure has made eating fish on Fridays during Lent very easy.

Next weekend will be the first weekend of Spring Break. If you are going to be traveling, have a safe trip wherever you may be going. May all of us remember that it is still Lent, even though we are on Spring Break, and no matter what we are doing. God bless us all!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

God doesn’t grade on a curve, but on a cross.