Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

         I am still enjoying the energy and the enthusiasm that was generated by last weekend’s Italian Festival.  What a great time!  I don’t think that anybody enjoys the Italian Festival more than I do.  I take that back.  I am absolutely positive that St. Maria Goretti herself, from her place in Heaven, greatly enjoys our Italian Festival and the fact that so many people get together every July to remember and celebrate her life.  Can’t you just hear her bragging to the other saints in Heaven, “Hey, look down there at Westfield!  See my Parish?  Don’t you wish YOUR parishes had such nice parties for you?”  Well, most likely saints don’t brag because of all that humility stuff, but I’m sure she was really proud of our Festival.  Again, thank you to the hundreds of people who volunteered to make it happen.  It was so nice to see at least five families that have moved away from St. Maria Goretti Parish come back last weekend for the Festival.  As one of them said, “Even though we have a new Parish in our new town, our hearts are in Westfield for the Italian Festival and we just knew that we had to come back.”  What a cool testimony!

         Of course, one of the most beautiful witnesses of last weekend was everybody helping out.  From the people who did the set-up from early last Saturday morning, to the people who worked the booths; from the people working in the kitchen (Yes, it’s true, Deacon Steve WAS in the kitchen cooking spaghetti for several hours last Saturday.  No, that doesn’t make it ‘Irish’ spaghetti.), to all of those who stayed late into Sunday morning cleaning up and putting things away, we are reminded how great things happen when everybody works together.   This is not only true of the Italian Festival.  It is true of our Parish life.  WE NEED EVERYBODY!  God brought YOU here to St. Maria Goretti for a reason.  And it wasn’t to sit at Mass for an hour once a week.  Our Parish has now grown to over 1300 families.  Now, more than ever we need everybody to get involved and help out.  I especially challenge our new folks who have joined the last year.  We are all so glad to have you with us.  But we need your help.  We need your ideas.  We need your Faith and love.  What are you doing to make our Parish community alive and vibrant?  That’s not just the priests’ job.  That’s not just the Parish Council’s job.  That’s not just the staff’s job.  It’s what we should ALL be working for every day.  

         I mention this at this time because all of our fall programming is gearing up.  And it is becoming very obvious that this fall, St. Maria Goretti is going to need more people than ever before volunteering in the school, teaching P.R.E., serving as youth ministers in HOPE and TRUTH, coaching in our Sport’s Ministry, helping out in our Shepherd’s Gate Food Pantry and HELP Committee, welcoming people on our Welcoming Committee, visiting and caring for the sick in our new St. Francis of Assisi Apostolate, helping care for the Parish campus on our Landscaping Committee, and serving and volunteering in so many other ways around here every day.  We need everyone’s help.  How can you get involved?  What is God calling YOU to do?  Think about it.  Pray about it.

        This week we begin our new Wednesday evening Confessions.  As we continue to grow, and with more of us going to Reconciliation than ever before, we really need this addition time to receive the Sacrament.  And of course, with Fr. Joshua’s arrival, it makes this possible now.  Confessions will be in Reconciliation Chapel #1, which is the chapel on the north side of the Church, from 6:30 PM until 7:30 PM each Wednesday evening.

        Our high school Teen Bible Study resumes this Tuesday evening, July 18^th at 7:00 PM in the Parish Conference Room.  I’d like encourage all of our high school folk to consider attending the Bible Study.  It’s a neat time to share your Faith with other teens and to talk about issues that a lot of times people don’t get the chance to talk about.  Plus, where better to get direction for your life than from the Owner’s Manual for life, the Bible, itself!

        These are good days.  We are so incredibly blessed.  We must never forget that.  Have a great week and enjoy these beautiful summer days!

                                                                          In Christ,

                                                                          Fr. Kevin

       Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little.