Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

St. Maria Goretti is about to be invaded this week by our annual summer Vacation Bible Camp. This year’s Camp, which starts this Monday morning, has the theme “The Kingdom of the Son – A Prayer Safari”. Dozens of volunteers have worked for weeks to make this nice for the kids. The creativity of all involved just amazes me! Let us all keep this effort in our prayers. We pray for a great week for everybody involved!

Vacation Bible Camp challenges all of us as Catholics to keep reading the Bible. You can’t follow Jesus without reading the instruction book. Far too many of us as Catholics, don’t read the Bible enough. The living Word of God that can be found in those pages is meant to inspire and encourage all of us. Where do we think we will get that inspiration and encouragement IF we aren’t reading the Sacred Scriptures? You’re not going to find on Oprah or Ellen. You’re not going to read it in Sport’s Illustrated or Entertainment Weekly. Another drink or super-sized fries isn’t going to fill you up with what you really need. You can only get the authentic Word of God in the Bible. And at some point, all of us have to get around to reading it. You don’t have to read the whole thing all at once. That doesn’t work so well. Read small sections. Skip around a little bit and read a little bit of the Gospels, a little bit of Paul’s writings, and a little bit of the Old Testament. You’ll be amazed at how they all work together. But you have to start reading it first. Put your Bible by your bed on the nightstand. Read one chapter before you go to bed tonight. Better yet, put it on your pillow, then you will actually have to pick it up anyway before you get in bed. And then, why not read a chapter while you have the Book in your hands? You will have no excuses! All of us can do a better job of reading the Bible. You know what’s scary don’t you? It’s the fact that these kids who will go to Vacation Bible Camp will know more about some parts of the Bible than their parents and grandparents. We need to all make a commitment to NOT letting that happen.

Next weekend, St. Maria Goretti welcomes our Diocesan Permanent Diaconate program to our Parish. On Saturday, the five candidates who will be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate will be visiting St. Maria Goretti for practical experience on how we do things, especially next Saturday, the Mass and the Sacrament of Baptism. Then, at Masses next weekend, we welcome Deacon Ron Nevinger from the Diocesan Permanent Diaconate Committee, who will preach at all our Masses about the Permanent Diaconate and how others may want to get involved in the future. There will be a special informational meeting held in the Parish Hall for all interested men and their wives, if they are married, following the 10:00 AM Mass next Sunday. If you are married and are interested in entering formation for the permanent diaconate, your wife is also very involved in the formation process. If you are interested and would like additional information on the permanent diaconate, please plan now to attend the information session at 11:00 AM next Sunday. Steve Miller is St. Maria Goretti’s candidate for ordination to the permanent diaconate this year. Steve will be ordained on September 17 th, 2005 at the Cathedral in Lafayette. It will be a day of great celebration for all of us!

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make last weekend’s Summer Kick-off Bash and the Family Campout such successes. Special thanks and appreciation go to the St. Philip Neri Oratorio and the Holy Name Society. Good job, guys! Keep up the great work!

I would also like to AGAIN remind all of us of how important it is to stay until Mass is finished. We are having a particular problem with this at the 4:30 PM Vigil Mass on Saturday nights. I’m sure that these folks are NOT registered parishioners of St. Maria Goretti, because everyone here knows how important it is to stay until the end of Mass, and how insulting it is to our Lord to leave early. There’s something terribly wrong when we can’t give Jesus that last ten minutes. How can we say that we love Jesus and then not want to stay until the end of Mass? What could possibly be so important that we can’t stay another ten minutes and finish Mass? If you are doing this, stop it. If you feel insulted by what I just wrote, I’m sorry about that, but you STILL need to stop it. It sets a terrible example for our children and our youth, who, by the way, are not the ones leaving early. Do I sound like your father? I know I sound like my Father. I am turning in to my Dad!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground.