Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of Saint Benedict:

Next Saturday, May 20th, Michael DeSaye will be ordained a transitional deacon for the Diocese of Trenton. You have seen Michael around here when he is on break from seminary (Mount Saint Mary’s, Emmitsburg, MD). Most recently he assisted us as master of ceremonies during the Triduum Rites.

Anticipating priesthood ordination in June of 2018, Michael has been assigned to Visitation Parish for his summer deacon post (June 10 – July 23). He will be assisting here on either end of his assignment. He will then return to Mount Saint Mary’s for his final year of formation.

Michael will assist at his first Mass as a deacon and preach the homily at the 12:30 p.m. Mass next Sunday. His family and friends will be in attendance as well. We will do a brief meet and greet in the narthex after the Mass. He is one of four men to be ordained as transitional deacons next weekend. It is with a weird sense of humble pride that I can say that three of the four are former students of mine at CBA. Besides Michael, Christopher Dayton and Nicholas Dolan passed through my classes.

On June 3rd the diocese will ordain four men to the priesthood. While things might sound good from that perspective, we have a few years of few seminarians until it picks up again. This is always a good time to remember to pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life. It is also good to encourage those who seem serious about faith and are finding their way in life to consider a religious vocation. Often all it takes is the question to water that seed that has been planted by the Holy Spirit. A vocation or two from our parish would be a great blessing both to the parish and to the diocese (or religious community) to which the person is called to serve.

Speaking of seminarians, we have been assigned a seminarian for the summer. Mr. Frank Flaherty, who just completed his first year of Theology at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Warminster, PA, he will be here from June 10th – July 23rd . He will assist us in ministry in many ways over the summer as he learns the ins and outs of parish life and details of serving as a priest in a parish. This will be his first such exposure, so we will be offering him as much work as possible. Fortunately, we remain a very active parish in the summer months, so there will be much for Frank to do.

We also have our permanent deacon candidate, Paul Remick, who has just completed his first year of formation. His is a five-year program, but we will be incorporating him more into the liturgical and ministerial life of the parish as well. He and I have yet to work out specific details, but it is necessary for him to get more exposure to ministry as he moves through the process.

Coming in the Fall will be the invitation for men to consider permanent diaconate ministry. If you have a desire to explore this ministry or to learn more, please make contact with either myself, Father JM, or any of our deacons, or even speak to Paul, about the process and the ministry.

While you see the deacons assisting at Mass and preaching once a month, they do a tremendous amount of other ministry for our parish. Most of the wake services, many of the committals, and most of the baptisms are celebrated by our deacons. Father JM and I are grateful for their service, and we hope that they inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

Sincerely in the Lord,
Fr. Garry