Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Third Sunday of Advent! Today is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice”. And so today things change a little bit. We enter into that joyful anticipation that Christmas is just two weeks away. It’s time to get ready. It’s time to turn up our preparations. It is time to rejoice because our Savior is so near to us. These are great days of anticipation and expectation! What does God have up His sleeve for us this year?

I’d like to thank everybody who worked so hard on our celebration this past Thursday evening of the Tenth Anniversary of our First Mass and our First Anniversary of the Dedication of our Church. I thank especially Doug Alexander and our entire Parish Council who put everything together for us. The reception was great fun! Our youth representatives, Mike Lamb and Alison Russell, did an especially wonderful job on the video presentation. I thank you both. It was a great celebration and a nice opportunity to be together to thank God for all that He has done here at St. Maria Goretti in the past ten years.

So what’s next? Where are we going in the next ten years? We’ve built a strong community. We’ve built a beautiful worship space. We have committees and ministries that continue to provide as many opportunities as possible for all of us to get involved in this Kingdom building process that Jesus entrusted to us. What’s next? It is my hope that as a Parish community that EACH ONE OF US would re-commit ourselves to evangelization and catechesis. We ALL need to be evangelizers. We all need to be inviting others to pray with us, to serve with us, and to build the Kingdom with us. There are so many souls out there – sometimes they live right next door to us, sometimes they are family members, and sometimes they even live right under the same roof as us - that need Jesus in their hearts and souls. So many today are spiritually starving to death. Some of our brothers and sisters are so far away from God that they don’t even know how to begin to find Him in their lives. And that’s where we HAVE GOT to come in. We may very well be the only missionary that God will ever send to some people. How are we bearing witness? How are we doing at evangelizing? The Documents of Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church both remind us of what a special responsibility the laity has to evangelize. You guys go places, and do things, and meet people every day that I will never get to meet. YOU have got to be evangelizing these people. If we don’t, souls will be lost forever. Our Catholic Christianity is a great treasure. But it is not a treasure to be kept locked up. We MUST share our Faith with others!

Secondly, on-going, 100% solid, Catholic catechesis is needed for every one in the Church. Our biggest challenges that we face today in the Church have less to do with evangelization, than what they do with catechesis. What average Catholics DON’T know about their Faith is killing us as a Church. The average adult Catholic today is trying to get by in the Church with a sixth grade level of Catholic catechesis. And it is NOT working. In the next ten years, it is my greatest hope that all of us will grow in our Faith AND in the knowledge about our Faith. That’s not going to happen in front of the TV set. All of us, as a Parish family, must become even more committed to Catechesis - the catechesis of ourselves, the catechesis of our families, and the catechesis of our Parish. We stress this with our children in our school and in our Parish Religious Education program and in our youth groups. But what about the rest of us? What are you doing to keep growing in your Faith? The reality is today that the more you DON’T know about your Faith, the greater the chances are that you can lose your Faith. We have such an incredibly rich Catholic theology and tradition! We should be so proud of our Church and our Faith. And we can’t be, if we don’t know that richness. For some so-called Catholics, catechesis is not enough. For some a re-evangelization is what is necessary. For far too long, we have assumed way too much. It is entirely possible to be surrounded by Faith, and the Sacraments, and the Church, and STILL not let any of it into your heart or soul or mind or being. Ten years from now, hopefully St. Maria Goretti will be even more solid in our Faith. But there will be casualties. Part-time Catholics, minimalist Catholics, and cafeteria Catholics are going to find it increasingly difficult to “ride along”. This is where the Church is going, not just St. Maria Goretti. Let’s get as many as possible “on board”.

Let’s get excited. Let’s rejoice this weekend. Let’s take this all to the next level. Let’s look forward to a very bright future. Let’s get busy for Jesus. We’ve learned a lot in the past ten years. I think we can only begin to imagine what God is going to do in the next ten years, if we stay open to Him!

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the “rose” vestments - It’s only going to happen once a year!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

True wisdom has two parts: 1.) Having a lot to say. 2). Not saying it.