Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hopefully, you are enjoying this awesome fall that we’ve been having these last few weeks. As we come to the end of October, we know that the cold and gray days of winter are coming, which makes these beautiful days of fall mean that much more. Have some apple cider. Go for a walk with someone you love. And pick your favorite fall tree in the area. My favorite is one particular tree along 161 st Street. Each year this one tree changes into an explosion of red and yellow leaves. The cool mix gives the tree a neat orange color, that kinda reminds me of the color of Hoosier NASCAR driver Tony Stewart’s #20 Home Depot racecar. I don’t hold that against the tree, though.

For the past two weekends, we have had our fall Christ Renews His Parish weekends. On the 8 th & 9 th, was the Men’s weekend. And on October 15 th & 16 th, last weekend, we hosted the Women’s weekend. On both of these weekends, I was sharply reminded of just how important Christ Renews His Parish is to our Parish family. What happens on these weekends is truly awe-inspiring. I am still very moved by both weekends, and the Faith and love that went into them. Christ Renews His Parish was started here in the Fall of 2000. We’ve now been doing Christ Renews His Parish for five years. In that time, with two teams a year for both the men and the women, nearly five hundred of our brothers and sisters from our Parish family have made this renewal weekend. It has changed lives. Christ Renews His Parish is one of the most significant factors in making St. Maria Goretti Parish what it is. I am so proud to say that we are a ‘Christ Renews His Parish’ Parish and that I am a ‘Christ Renews His Parish’ priest. I write about this week for two reasons: First, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to each and every person involved with the Christ Renews His Parish process, from the Seed Team that brought it here five years ago, to current men and women of Teams 11, to everybody in between that makes ‘Christ Renews His Parish’ work here, and to the Continuation Committee that over-sees the process and keeps it going and keeps it Faithful to its original intention. Secondly, I mention this because it is my sincere hope that EVERY MEMBER of St. Maria Goretti Parish will eventually get to experience Christ Renews His Parish. You might think that you don’t need this experience. You might think that you’ve heard it all, done it all, and that you are already a good Catholic. And all that may be true. But you still need to make a Christ Renews His Parish weekend. If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for others, especially our Parish family.

This weekend, we welcome back to St. Maria Goretti, Yacoub and Muna Quomsieh and their family. They are here with our Bishop’s recommendation, representing hundreds of Christian families in the Holy Land, who make their living carving olive wood. Because of all the violence there and the on-going persecution of the Christians by the Israelis and the Muslims, the number of Christian tourist/ pilgrims has fallen dramatically. Unemployment among the local Christian artisans has risen to 75%. This has forced these families to send representatives to the United States to promote the sale of their products. We can help this weekend by checking out the beautiful olive wood products and purchasing what we can. These items make excellent gifts, especially for Christmas, and will be even more treasured because they come from the land that was the birthplace of Jesus. Stop by after Mass today. Yacoub and Muna have tables with their wares set up in the Parish Hall. Just to get to see their handiwork is amazing.

I also want to point out this weekend, two other magnificent works of art that were recently given as gifts to our Parish family. In early September, Mrs. Nikola West presented the Parish will a beautiful, cross-stitched portrait of St. Maria Goretti. Words simply cannot do justice to how beautiful this piece is. I will have it on display this weekend in the church narthex. You must see this beautiful work that took months to complete. Thank you, Nickie! The second gift was just received last weekend. It is an extraordinary pen and ink portrait of our late Pope, John Paul the Great. This portrait was done by Will Mattingly, son of Dan and Liz Mattingly, of our Parish. Will is a high school sophomore at Blessed Theodore Guerin High School. Will’s picture is very moving. It will also be on display this weekend in the church narthex. Thanks to both Nickie and Will for their beautiful gifts! We will find a special place for them both.

We are going to lose our use of 169 th St. beginning tomorrow. We will still need to use our South parking lot though, to accommodate all our vehicles. This will mean that some of us will need to drive around the building from the Spring Mill entrance and use the South lot. Thanks for your patience. Hopefully, this will be done in the next week or two.

Next weekend, both Fr. Dale and myself with be with our high school students in Atlanta, Georgia for the National Catholic Youth Convention. The Jesuits from Brebeuf will be here to help us out with Masses. Please pray for a safe journey for all. God bless. Have a great week!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Pride is the T-shirt of the heart. You put it on first and you take it off last.