Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We have been praying all week long for the Cardinals at the Conclave in Rome. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, we will have a new Pope to lead our Church. If that is not the case, then let us all keep praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, until the discernment process finds us the best, new shepherd for our Church. These are very exciting days.

Spring Fling ’05, “Ringing the Night Away”, is this coming Friday evening. Hundreds of volunteers have worked together for months in preparation for this one, very special night. Spring Fling is the largest fund-raiser of the year for our Parish family. Even if you, like me, cannot afford to buy anything at the auction, it is still a blast to watch and one of my favorite evenings of the year. We all need to support this event and our brothers and sisters who have worked so hard to make it happen for the good of our Parish. I hope that I will see you there this Friday evening. It really is a great night. It has always reminded me of a pep rally for St. Maria Goretti. What a great opportunity to celebrate all that has been accomplished here in this former soybean field! It is still not too late to decide to attend. Won’t you please consider coming to join us on Friday evening? You won’t regret it!

This weekend is our annual Confirmation Retreat for our high school students. Let us keep each of our candidates for the Sacrament in our prayers. Bishop Higi will be here for Confirmation on Friday evening, May 20 th. These young people have worked hard for the last two years getting ready to receive this important Sacrament. Others have taken easier ways out, breaking Church laws in the process. But these young men and women have studied, and have prayed, and have done service hours, and have become young Catholic Christian men and women that we should all be very proud of. I have the greatest amount of respect for each and every one of them. You should too. Let us pray for our Candidates this weekend as they make their retreat. We are blessed with many outstanding young men and women. The future looks very good for our Church.

I’d like to take the opportunity this weekend to thank Connie Anderson, our Director of Religious Education, and Jeff Stankovsky, our Youth Minister, for all of their hard work, not only with the Retreat, but with the entire formation program. I’d also like to thank the dozens of volunteers who serve as Confirmation Facilitators and small group leaders for our young people preparing for Confirmation. We would not be able to do this without you. You have personally witnessed the growth in these youth. You know how important your work is. From our whole community, THANK YOU!

It is warming up again outside. Perhaps now is a good time to remind every one of how important it is to come to Mass appropriately dressed. Going to Mass is not going to the gym, or the ballgame, or to the beach. It is inappropriate to wear a lot of what is considered summer clothing these days to Mass. Modesty demands that all of us think about what we are wearing to church and how we might possibly be a distraction or a temptation to others, especially when they are trying to pray. Our new church is equipped with an excellent air conditioning system. We don’t have to come to Mass with only half our clothes on to stay cool. In fact, the air conditioning system is still being adjusted to get it right. Right now, there seems to be several “too cool” spots that we are trying to get rid of. If you are in an area that seems to be too cool for you, you might try moving to another area of the new building and see if it is any warmer. As with the sound system, it will get better and better the more we learn about how to use the new system correctly. I would ask for your patience as we continue to get used to our new church building. We’re getting a handle on it. It’s just taking some time.

And finally, the Diocese has announced that it is assigning another seminarian to St. Maria Goretti this summer. We are most pleased to announce that Robert J. Giesting (pronounced “Geese-ting) will be joining us at the end of May for the summer. Rob is a great guy and I know that we will all enjoy his being with us for the summer. Have a great week!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a rest home for saints.