Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

       Greetings from beautiful western Westfield!  Man, has it been hot!  I am so grateful that once again this year, St. Maria Goretti got us one of the most perfect Saturday evenings of the summer for our Italian Festival.  I can’t imagine having the Festival in the extreme heat and humidity that we sometimes get in Indiana in July, in fact, heat and humidity like we have had this past week.  We were/are blessed.  We are also blessed to have air conditioning.  Last weekend, I was with the Trainor family for the marriage of their son, Matt, at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Indianapolis.  As it happened, St. Luke’s air conditioning went out, and if you remember how warm it was last Saturday afternoon, you can imagine how warm the church was inside with over 300 guests.  It reminded me of going to Mass when I was a boy.  Our church in Logansport was not air conditioned, and in July and August, it was hot, especially at our Saturday evening Mass, after the church had sat in the sun all afternoon, heating up.  Everybody would be fanning themselves with the missalettes.  And then the church had these two, big, old, monster fans on each side of the sanctuary in the summer time.  They looked like two aircraft engines off of some World War II airplane, that they mounted on these big stands.  When they turned them on, they sounded like World War II airplane engines also, because once they turned them on, you couldn’t hear a thing for the rest of Mass.  Some of my favorite homilies as a boy were when I was trying to read the priest’s lips and get even an inkling of what he was trying to say over the fans.  All of this musing about the heat and about air conditioning and fans has reminded me of just how truly blessed we are.  God has been so good to us.  We must never forget all of our blessings.

        And speaking of blessings, we have some very good news to announce this week.  St. Maria Goretti now has TWO seminarians studying for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.  Last summer, we sent our own Josh Bennett off to start his formation for the priesthood.  Josh has completed his first year of pre-theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  We’ve been very blessed to have Josh with us this summer, in his home Parish.  This summer we are very happy to announce that Clayton Thompson will head off for college seminary studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.  Clayton will be transferring from the University of Dayton where he was a freshman last year.  Clayton graduated from Carmel High School in 2005.  He is the son of Frank and Janet Thompson, also of our Parish family.  You may remember that in the spring of 2005, Clayton was awarded our Diocese’ Christopher Warner Scholarship for being an outstanding graduating senior.  He has been very involved in our Parish from its beginning, in multiple different ways.  We have always been very proud of this young man, and are now even more so, for his decision to enter into seminary formation to discern if the priesthood is for him.  Congratulation, Clayton!  Our prayers, our hearts, and our support go with both Josh and Clayton as they prepare to head off to seminary in the next few weeks.  We are proud of both of you guys!   And how about that Elijah Cup?  It really works!  Two seminarians in two years!  How many more seminarians, deacons, priests, sisters, brothers, and even bishops will come out of St. Maria Goretti, IF we all just keep praying for vocations.  Remember what the Gospel says about “begging the harvest Master”?  We shouldn’t have any problem with begging God for more priests, deacons, and sisters.

         And speaking of Sisters, we continue to investigate the possibility of getting Sisters to come to St. Maria Goretti and to teach in our school.   This is a long and difficult process today, as there are even fewer Sisters than there are priests.  We are on waiting lists.  We continue to investigate every possibility.  And some day, we will have women religious at St. Maria Goretti.  I think that this will be key to getting our girls and young women to consider women’s religious vocations in the Church.  We even have space for a convent.  It will happen.  We need to just keep praying.

         We are so blessed.  I am so awed by what God is doing right in front of our eyes.  Watch the Kingdom become a reality right in front of you!  Watch it grow in YOUR OWN HEART!  Thank God for all He has done for and through us!

                                                                          In Christ,

                                                                            Fr. Kevin

                                 He who leaves God out of his reckoning does not know how to count.