Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope and pray that each of you has the opportunity to spend time with people whom you love and to give due thanks to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings he has bestowed upon you, your families, and our country during this past year. Of course, for some of us these days are more difficult than they are easy. You may not even be feeling all that grateful given the circumstances and situations in your own lives or in the life of our country and our world. Yet gratitude, even in the midst of fear, sadness and even despair, can help to turn our hearts and minds around, even just a little.

Please consider joining us for Mass to celebrate the feast – 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday and at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday.

If you are watching the Macy’s Day Parade, Mr. Bob Cognat (Director of Buildings and Grounds and Knight of Columbus here) will be among the marchers as he will be a handler for the Ronald McDonald balloon.

As I mentioned last week I will be putting out a list of specific opportunities for the end-of-year giving. There will be a more comprehensive list of giving opportunities later. However, the one item that is more pressing now is the parish Nativity Set that we place in the Narthex each year. There aren’t that many pieces, and last year when one of the pieces got broken, I asked the proprietors of the store if they could identify the set and order a replacement piece. They then proceeded to show me that in fact we don’t have a set, and that it is rather a collection of mismatched pieces. In fact the Angel who herald's Jesus' arrival is a child's toy! This year with the help of the owners of The Corner Store we have been able to secure a new set which is reasonably priced. The statuary for the set are available for donation and dedication. Please visit the Parish Office if you are interested in donating a statue or contact Margaret at roddy@stbenedictnj.org for more information. We have been assured that the set will be here in time for the Christmas Season.

We all have one more week to break out the Advent Wreath and to begin to ready our houses for Advent. Yes, there are many Christmas decorations out there already and Black Friday looms over us as does everything else, but let us not skip Advent. Everything seems to be running late this year, so we can start to feel the pressure of time.

This weekend we are holding our annual Adopt a Seminarian collection and drive. I only wish there were more seminarians. They deeply appreciate our support. The giving trees will be in the Narthex next weekend as we take on some new opportunities for giving. Our focus has shifted to Asbury Park where there remains much need for assistance and basic sustenance.

Of course, I would be terribly remiss this Thanksgiving without giving thanks myself. I wish to thank each of you for your generosity and support of our parish and of the work of Father JM, our deacons, our parish and school staff. Yes, there are some challenging days, but your smiles, handshakes, and active participation mean a great deal.

There are too many volunteers who exercise some service to the parish to even enunciate: aides in the school, RE teachers and aides, altar servers, ministers to the homebound, readers, food pantry volunteers, etc. the list is endless and so is our appreciation.

I also want to thank the deacons – Ray, Steve, Rich, and John – for their service. You see them at Mass on the weekend, but they carry the lion’s share of the wake services and committal services at funerals, along with other ways in which they are present. I want to thank Mr. Kevin Donahue our principal for his vision and commitment, along with the entire faculty and staff of our school. The professional staff of the parish: Fran, Diane, Melissa, Mary, Bob, Ellen, Tom, Glen, Lori, Lori, Lorrie, Eileen, Margaret, Carol, Robert, Scott, and Peter, keep this operation running smoothly and brilliantly.

I also want to thank most sincerely, Father JM for all that he does for our parish, our school, the many other ministries that we serve, and of course, for his support and insight as we together serve you and the people of our area.

Thank you!

Blessings to all,
Fr. Garry