Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Fourth Sunday of Advent! Christmas is now just one week away. I can’t help but feel like Christmas came early this year at St. Maria Goretti, as we dedicated and moved into our new church. I am still absolutely thrilled at how well the Dedication Mass and all the celebrations went. It was a wonderful time that we will all remember for a long time.

I want to continue this week with my “thank you’s” I would like offer my special thanks to our Building Committee, that was headed up by Mr. Tom O’Brien. Tom was the one who presented the keys to the new church to Bishop Higi on the night of the Dedication. His presentation was eloquent and was very representative of what we were all feeling that night. Thank you, Tom. Tom had an awesome Building Committee of Mike Grisham, Steve Hood, Colleen McLaughlin, Smokey Medeiros, and Dick Panasuk. I thank each of these individuals for their years of hard work that culminated last week in the Dedication of our new church. You have built us all a church that has been well-thought-out and that will meet our needs now and for many years into the future. You did your homework and we all benefited. The many meetings and hours of preparations really paid off. Thank you.

An Art and Environment Committee worked very hard for several months in late 2003 thru the early part of 2004. Advised by our architects, this committee made all of the color, texture, and material choices for the new church. Those who served on the Art and Environment Committee were Marianne McLean, Tom O’Brien, Barb Panasuk, and Janet Thompson. One might think that this Committee would have been a lot of fun. But I’ve got to tell you, after making literally thousands of design decisions, the last thing in the world that you want to talk about again is the color of the bathroom partitions. Thanks to all of you. Your choices came together perfectly!

Thanks also to Mr. Peter Lintzenich and his son, Mr. Joseph Lintzenich. Peter and Joe designed and built our amazing new cantor stand, with its self-contained platform system. It is a true marvel and exceeds all of our expectations. Peter and Joe, with some help from the Holy Name Society also built all of the beautiful banner stands that displayed the children’s and the youth’s banners that they made for the opening of the new church. These will come in handy for many years to come. Thank you.

Thanks also to our Steering Committee, that oversaw the entire project, including the financial aspects of this monumental undertaking. Those who served on the Steering Committee were Chip McLean, Mark Howell, Todd Wade, Tom O’Brien, Dave Smith, John Ludwig, Chuck Bullard, Chris Iafrato, Cheryl LaPaglia, Joe Krok, and Tom Scimeca. These were representatives from the Parish Council, the Finance Council, the Capital Campaign Committee, and the Building Committee. Both the active president from the Finance Council and the Parish Council, served on the Steering Committee during their terms of office. Mr. Todd Wade served as the Parish’s Project Manager. My thanks to all of you! Your work behind the scenes made our new church possible!

And finally, one last person that I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart, is our Business Manager, Mr. Steve Hood. Steve has worked so hard, many times doing double and triple duty, not only keeping our Parish running smoothly, but also guiding and directing the building of the new church. Steve served on the Building Committee and the Steering Committee. He faithfully attended endless construction meetings and solved countless problems and conflicts. Steve is an amazing man that our Parish owes a great deal of gratitude to. He served consistently and faithfully, oftentimes at a great cost to himself and his own family. Steve, I am so proud of you and am so glad that you are on our staff here at St. Maria Goretti. You are a great blessing! Thank you!

This is our last week of Advent. Let us not forget our spiritual preparations for Christmas in the middle of everything else that we have to do. Have a wonderful week! We’ll see you next weekend for Christmas!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin