Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Easter again as we conclude the Octave of Easter this Sunday and as we continue our season of Easter for the next seven weeks. We can’t celebrate the Resurrection enough as followers of Jesus. It has been a wonderful week around here.

I have several more thank yous that I need to make this week. First of all, I want to thank our high school students from our high school youth group, T.R.U.T.H., for doing all of the readings and reflections during our period of adoration on Holy Thursday night. With all of the events of the Triduum and Easter, it is easy to forget what I think is one of the most beautiful of all the prayer experiences, and that is that powerful time that we spend together with Jesus after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Once again this year, our high school folks took responsibility for the readings and reflections and they were awesome! I was so extremely proud of you guys! You made our prayer so nice that night. Thanks to each one of you who read, and thanks to Leslie Mimms and Connie Anderson for organizing the meditations again this year. Thanks also to Tony Avellana for providing the beautiful mediation music for the night. It was truly a wonderful night to spend in prayer with Jesus.

I also want to thank Jeanne Derksen and Joan Scimeca for heading up one of the strongest RCIA programs available in the area. Last Saturday night at the Easter Vigil, we were all so blessed to get to witness the culmination of all of the hard work that goes into our RCIA and RCIC programs here at St. Maria Goretti. Our new brothers and sisters were prepared well for the Easter Sacraments. It was renewing for our faith to see the smiles on those faces and the hope in those eyes as they received the Sacraments of Initiation. Thanks Jeanne and Joan! Thanks also to Connie Anderson and Windi Krok for all their hard work with RCIC – The Rite of Christian Initiation for Children. You may or may not know, but this year there were several children who were Baptized or who came into the Church. It was a great experience for all. I would also like to thank all of the sponsors for RCIA and RCIC who walked this path with our new brothers and sisters. You guys are awesome! And thanks to all of the presenters for the RCIA program. Each Monday evening, a different presenter from the Parish taught an area of Catholic theology to help the RCIA Catechumenates and Candidates to learn more about our Faith. Hours of preparation were spent getting ready for each session. My sincerest thanks to all of those who so generously gave of their time and talents to make these presentations.

This past week, we did receive some very exciting news. This summer St. Maria Goretti has been assigned another of our Diocese’s seminarians for a summer internship. In fact, this time, we are getting one of the two new transitional Deacons that are going to be ordained on Saturday, June 5 th. Mr. C. Jack Weldon, who on June 5 th will become Deacon Jack Weldon, will arrive at St. Maria Goretti on the weekend of June 12 th & 13 th and will spend approximately ten weeks with us this summer. This is a great honor for our Parish family, as seminarians are not just sent to any Parish, but only to places where it is trusted that they will have a positive experience. A transitional Deacon is one who will only be a deacon for limited amount of time, and then will become a priest. This is contrary to the other kind of Deacons that are known as permanent Deacons. Our own Steve Miller is currently in formation to become a permanent Deacon in the fall of 2005. So in many ways, the future Deacon Jack is going to get us ready for our permanent Deacon Steve this summer. Is that confusing enough? Confused or not, it is a great blessing for our Parish family and we look forward with joy to Deacon Jack’s arrival in early June. Let us all pray for him as he prepares for his Diaconate ordination. We will have to organize a crew to head up to Lafayette for his ordination on the morning of June 5 th. More details will come about that later.

So much is going on! These are wild days. Let us continue to pray for one another. Hey Spring Fling 2004 “Building Our Tradition” is now less than two weeks away! Have you got your tickets yet? It’s going to be a great night. Have a good week!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4:00 AM .
It could be a right number.