Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Pentecost! If you are reading these words on your way home after Mass, and you didn’t stop in after Mass at the 2005 Ministry Fair in the Parish Hall, then STOP! Turn around. And come back. We need you. Today is our day to listen to where the Holy Spirit is leading each one of us and how we can be involved in serving God here at our Parish family. We need everybody. YOU have gifts and talents that our Church needs. We need YOU, not the person next to you and not the person behind you, YOU, to get involved. The days when a Catholic could “just” come to Mass once in awhile and that was enough to be Catholic, are long over. Thank God! It’s time that we worked together to get everybody where God needs them. I’ll see you at the Ministry Fair!

In the last couple of months, there have been too many sad headlines in our local newspapers about children who have been kidnapped, abused, murdered, drowned, or killed in other accidents. Our hearts and our prayers go out to all of these parents and families in their loss. Once again, we are reminded how dangerous of a world we live, especially for children. I’d like to remind all of our parents of how important it is to keep your children with you at all times while you are on the St. Maria Goretti campus. This is a big place. We do have many children. We all would like to believe that our Parish is a safe place for all children to be, and we have all worked together quite diligently to make that the case. And yet, we know that with thousands of people coming here every weekend, and many of them visitors, we don’t always know every person. This makes it very difficult to allow children to go off on their own, even here. Please. I am asking for everybody’s help here. Do Not Leave Your Children unattended EVEN here at the Parish! I mention this because in the last several weeks we have had several cases of young children left by themselves. It is a dangerous practice. We can’t do this.

Of particular concern, of course, are our retention ponds. Hamilton County mandates them for flood management for areas as large as ours. We have to have them. But they are another danger to young children who are left to wander off by themselves. We all need to be most diligent in watching the retention ponds. At no time and under no circumstance, should a child be out by the ponds unaccompanied by an adult. If any of us are driving by and see a child out by the ponds by themselves, we all have a responsibility to get them back towards the buildings and away from the water. I would hope that not one of us would feel bashful about stopping and saying something to any child. It is for their protection.

In addition, with so many children, it is extremely important to show extra caution when driving a vehicle in our parking lots. We now have more parking area and more drives than ever before. We need to be cautious when navigating the drives. You know, the curves were deliberately put in, to slow traffic down on the drives for safety. They were never meant to be incentive to future Formula One stars. We need to slow down. And yeah, I’m talking to myself here too.

Another difficulty that we’ve had lately, is parents failing to pick up their children after Parish and School events on time. Recently, a couple of our volunteer high school youth ministers were forced to wait for over an hour after the youth event was over, for a parent to pick up their child. We have parents coming to pick up their children forty-five minutes after school gets out. We have coaches waiting for a half-an-hour after practice ends, for parents to come and pick up their child. Guys, we’ve got to get better at this. This is so unfair to those who run these programs for our youth and our children. It takes enough time to put these programs and events on. All parents need to be punctual in picking up their sons and daughters after an event has concluded. This is really a matter of respect. Nobody is going to leave a child alone, especially at night. Nor should any parent expect a child to wait alone until they can find the time to get here to pick them up. We can be better at this. I am asking everyone to work together to make this better and safer for our children.

This Friday, we welcome Bishop Higi back to St. Maria Goretti for our first Confirmation in our new Church. Confirmation is at 7:00 PM on Friday evening. It is a beautiful Mass. Why don’t you come and join us?

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin