Dear friend,<\/p>\n
I hope everyone has a safe and fun Fourth of July. This week always feels like the halfway time of summer. In celebration of the day, we will have one Mass at 9am. The Parish Office will be closed on July 4 and 5.\u00a0 If you have any office business this week, please take care of it by 4pm on Wednesday. I plan to travel to see my family on July 3 to 4. For this reason, I won\u2019t have the first Wednesday confessions at 5pm this week. I will have the regular confession times on Saturday morning and afternoon. Travel safe if you are going out of town.<\/p>\n
The parking lot was completed this past week. The lot was last replaced in 2005. I hope to stay up on the maintenance so that the lot lasts longer. Part of the maintenance of the lot is filling the cracks and seal coating. We plan to sealcoat and fill the cracks of the asphalt around the Parish Center this Tuesday. We will leave the church building unlocked on Tuesday for access to the Parish Center Office. I assume it will take the whole day to sealcoat and then stripe the area. Thanks for your patience during this time.<\/p>\n
Next Saturday we celebrate the feast day of Maria Goretti. Maria, at the age of 12, was killed by an 18-year-old neighbor boy. He attacked her and intended to take her innocence. She told him no and that God did not want it. In response, Alessandro stabbed her to death. Prior to her death, Maria forgive Alessandro for his sin. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. While in prison, Alessandro had a vision of Maria Goretti as she was offering him flowers of peace and forgiveness. This vision caused a deep conversion in Alessandro. Once he was released from prison, he visited Maria\u2019s mother to beg forgiveness. She granted the forgiveness and invited him to Maria Goretti\u2019s canonization Mass at St. Peter\u2019s in Rome. The presence of her murderer at her own canonization Mass illustrates the power and importance of forgiveness to enter the gift of heaven. We study the lives of the saints because they inspire and call us to live the Christian faith in authenticity. Although Maria was a poor girl who couldn\u2019t read, she had a deep faith in God and love for her persecutor. As the patron saint for teenage girls, we ask Maria\u2019s prayers for the girls of our parish community and ask that God help us learn to forgive others as we seek for forgiveness for our faults and sins. St. Maria Goretti, Pray for Us.<\/p>\n
God bless,<\/p>\n
Father David<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"