Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Man, it is fun to watch the progress on the new church! We are now to the point where there are major changes just about every day. This is the fun part, guys! All of the planning, all of the hard work, and all of the sacrifices are now paying off. They are working on both the outside and inside at the same time to make the best use of time. The Dedication is now almost three months away and it is still looking like we are on track time wise. December 8 th is going to be a great day!

The building is not the only thing changing around here in these last couple of weeks. We have a couple of personnel changes that I want to tell you about this week. The big change that affects all of us is that Verda Redman, our Parish Administrative Assistant for the last couple of years, has retired. Verda came to St. Maria Goretti from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Indianapolis. In 1999, Verda retired from her position there and came to help us with our computers. She was our first Information Systems manager for our Parish and school. Her dedicated work in conjunction with our Technology Committee really allowed St. Maria Goretti, especially as a new, young, and financially strapped Parish, to have a first-rate computer and information system. After three years of serving in this capacity, Verda moved into the Administrative Assistant position, again essentially creating the position from scratch. We are all extremely grateful for all that this very talented gift from God did for our Parish family and for all of us as individuals. Verda, we wish you lots of peace, happiness, and rest in your retirement. Thank you from all of us! We are using the St. Philip Neri Oratorio meeting this coming Thursday night as an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to her. Come and join us at the Oratorio and wish her well.

In light of this, we are very happy to welcome to our team here at St. Maria Goretti, Mr. Jeff Stankovsky. Jeff will be replacing Verda as Administrative Assistant, and will also be serving as part-time youth minister for our Parish. Jeff is the husband of Julie Stankovsky. Jeff and Julie have three children: Mathew, Anna, and Mari Grace. You will recognize Jeff if you have been attending our Sunday night 5:00 PM Mass lately, as Jeff leads the youth choir on alternating Sundays. It is a great pleasure to have Jeff with us and we look forward to all of the good that he will do. Down the road, as we continue to expand our youth programs and activities, Jeff will be moving into full-time youth work for us, and at that time, St. Maria Goretti will discern a new Administrative Assistant.

It is extremely important to me to make sure that it is clear to everyone of how proud I am of what has already been accomplished in our youth programs. It has been part of our planning for over two years now, that in the fall of 2004 we would bring someone on staff part-time, to work with youth. This in no way diminishes what our volunteers have already accomplished. In a short period of time, they have built a high quality and very popular youth program for our Parish family. Much of the thanks for this goes to Connie Anderson, our Director of Religious Education, and to Leslie Mimms, our volunteer youth coordinator for the last four years. These two awesome women have done amazing things with limited resources, all while working other jobs. Both Connie and Leslie will continue to be involved and to share their talents with our youth. It is my sincere hope that Jeff, who has already been involved as a volunteer, will be able to continue and to grow this work for even more of our young people. This weekend we will hear from several of our high school folks, inviting their brothers and sisters to the TRUTH kick-off in two weeks. I hope and pray that all of our young people will get involved and find their place in our community. We need you guys. Your energy, enthusiasm, and new ideas have always invigorated the Church.

Hey, have you made Christ Renews His Parish yet? The weekends are coming up. They are going to get you sooner or later, so… why not make it sooner? The Men’s weekend is Sept. 25 th & 26 th. And the Women’s weekend is Oct. 2 nd & 3 rd. You won’t regret signing up for this weekend. I promise!

Have a great week! Say a prayer for this priest and all priests when you get a chance.

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin

Choose a goal for which you are willing to
exchange a piece of your life.