Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

As we break through the mid-point of July I guess we have all come to the sad and troubling realization that life is not returning to normal any time soon. I hope that each of you are able to enjoy some downtime and relax from all of the stresses of the past five months. We need to continue our prayers for an end to the pandemic conditions and for a vaccine and a cure for the afflicted.

This weekend we bid adieu to Bill Clingerman the seminarian who has been with us for the summer. Although he did not get to experience parish life in the same way that other seminarians who have interned here for the summer have, he did nonetheless contribute much to our parish operations over the past six weeks and, I hope, he has learned something about parish life and pastoral ministry during his time here. He, along with the other seminarians of our diocese are on retreat this week, so let us remember to keep them in our prayers.

Let us pray also for more vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. The Office of Vocations is hosting a discernment night – Mass followed by food and speakers – on August 4th (beginning at 4:30 p.m.) at St. John’s Church in Allentown. Among the speakers for the evening is Father JM, who will discuss the process of discernment with those present. If you or someone you know is thinking about a vocation, please make with contact either Father JM or myself.

As the diocese has continued to develop the pastoral plans for the future through the process begun several years ago called Faith in Our Future, we at St. Benedict have been switched out of Cohort 13 (St. Catharine, Holmdel; St. Mary, Colts Neck; St. Gabriel, Marlboro) and moved to Cohort 14 (St. Clement, Matawan; Our Lady of Fatima, Keyport; Holy Family, Union Beach). There are some upsides and downsides to the decision and a good part of the discussion centered around our natural associations with parishes that don’t also have a natural association with each other. The final determining factor was that our Deanery – association of parishes according to Canon Law that share a pastoral relationship with one another and are coordinated by a Dean (Vicar Forane) – mirrors Cohort 14 and not 13. We are in the Bay Shore Deanery with Father Dan Hesko (St. Catherine Laboure, Middletown) as our Dean. In addition to his parish and the cohort parishes the others in the Deanery are: St. Ann, Keansburg; St. Mary, Mother of God, New Monmouth; and St. Agnes-Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Atlantic Highlands-Highlands.

Due to the locked down conditions our transition from one Cohort to the other has been on hold. We have been unable to do any planning as a cohort and I have yet to meet with the other pastors. Likewise, we have not had a deanery meeting since February. Once we are able we are set to move forward. Mike McCahill continues to serve as our parish moderator and representative to the Cohort.

We will be celebrating First Holy Communions at parish Masses beginning immediately. Due to the smaller numbers of Mass attendees we are discontinuing the Sunday Masses in the Gym. The new Mass schedule is: Saturday 5:00 p.m. (Gym and Church); Sunday 8:00 and 11:00 a.m. (Church only). Beginning next weekend we will discontinue the ticketing for Mass, so anyone can come without a ticket. Please follow directives of the Knights of Columbus when entering the church.

We are still following the strict protocols for cleaning the church after each Mass, so will still temporarily suspend the 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Masses on Sunday and the 9:00 a.m. Mass on Saturday.

It is a confusing time – hopefully the clouds will soon part and we can see more clearly!

Peace,
Fr. Garry