Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

As July rolls along and the world around us seems to be more and more unsettled and confusing, meeting the challenges that come our way becomes more difficult. While we are opening up more and we see a progressive increase in cases in other areas of the country we remain prudentially cautious. Not as many of you have returned to regular Mass attendance – either on the weekend or for daily Mass – as we initially expected. We realize that some of you are still uncomfortable coming out or you are not happy about the need to get a ticket for an assigned seat, and we certainly understand that. It is our expectation to be announcing some procedural changes soon. We want to insure that everyone feels safe. It is difficult to do all of these things easily. The demands for the disinfecting of the church after each Mass add a level of limitation to what we can do. We have found it interesting that more people were attending Mass in the school gym than in the church.

We are planning on extending the live-stream of the 8:00 a.m. Mass indefinitely. This idea had been under discussion for a while and now these circumstances have forced us to do so. We will continue to broadcast daily Mass for the foreseeable future but do not plan to do so permanently. We will be offering life-streaming for weddings and funerals as time goes on. This, of course, would be the decision of the family and not a matter of routine.

Our first week of the Summer Religious Ed Academy seemed to flow fairly well. Some technology glitches happened, but then don’t they always. The one thing reliable about technology is that it is unreliable. It’s one of the first topics a new teacher learns in lesson planning: always have back-up plans when using technology.

We are making a great deal of progress in the school in terms of our ability to return to a “normal” school day this September. Mr. Donahue, Mrs. Keeling, Mr. Cognat, and a committee of parents from the school who have areas of expertise that are germane to the concerns continue to develop plans for opening. The additional expense is a bit daunting, so though I hate to ask in this way, any financial assistance you can offer to the school at this time would be very helpful.

It isn’t easy seeing the disruption and unrest in our communities. While the sin and injustice of systemic racism persists in our society and our world, we do best to confront the issues of the present instead of fighting over the past. History is history. Each nation, each people, each generation, each institution, carries its own history, its own sins. We cannot undo them, any more than we can undo the past of our own lives. While we neither want to whitewash nor to honor the sins of the past, it is a necessary and important part of the fabric woven into what we are as a people and as a nation today.

The challenge now is to move forward, to grant each his or her due, and to work towards racial, ethnic, and cultural healing to that, we pray: “open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters; inspire in us words and actions to comfort those who labor and are burdened. Make us serve them truly, after the example of Christ and at his command. And may your Church stand as a living witness to truth and freedom, to peace and justice, that all people may be raised up to a new hope. (Eucharistic Prayer for Special Needs and Occasions #4).

May the Lord continue to bless each of us with his mercy,
Fr. Garry