Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

As we embark on the last week of October and the days grow ever shorter, we are increasingly aware that things aren’t getting better any time soon. Let us continue to be vigilant and prayerful during these most challenging of times. Remember to continue to pray the Rosary for our country as we lead-up to election day next week. Also, remember to vote and exercise your moral civic responsibility. Though perhaps voting via mail or drop-off is highly unusual, it certainly opens the window for all qualified citizens to cast their vote.

As we are following the trends around church attendance, we are making some adjustments effective November 1st – the Feast of All Saints; to wit:

5:00 p.m. Mass in the School Gym is suspended. The combined attendance at the two Masses on Saturday evening is well under the maximum number permitted in church, so moving those from the Gym to the Church will not cause any undue burden there. We will add some additional chairs in the hallway near the restrooms to expand seating if necessary.

We are going to offer the 9:30 a.m. Mass in the church. Attendance on Sunday morning’s is growing, so by returning to the 9:30 a.m. Mass we will offer more opportunities for Mass.

We will discontinue the live-stream of the 8:00 a.m. Mass and offer the 9:30 a.m. Mass instead. This is partially due to the fact that the 8:00 a.m. Mass, in order to facilitate the cleaning of the church in preparation for 9:30 a.m., will be a silent Mass (no music).

Attendance at 11:00 a.m. Mass has been very good, and we have even been slightly above maximum capacity on some weekends. The challenge is that a significant number of people come to church after Mass has already begun. We will begin to direct people to a Mass in the Gym once it appears that the church will be filling up. Hopefully some will shift to the 9:30 a.m. Mass, but we are prepared (as we have been) to offer a simultaneous Mass in the gym at 11:00 a.m.

The Our Lady of Victory Adoration Chapel will be open each day from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. beginning tomorrow. There are strict protocols for entering the Chapel. You can only sit together IF you arrived in the same car. Otherwise, spacing is an absolute must. This limits us to a MAXIMUM of 4 people – presuming it is two cars of people. Ordinarily only 1 or 2 at the most should be in the chapel. Adorers are expected to be masked at all times, to clean the pew once they leave, and to purify their hands on the way in and the way out. The restroom will be closed. If this becomes a problem due to lack of compliance – remember there are cameras! – then we will have to close this down. This means that we will close the Hall of Saints for daily prayer at the same time.

I hope this is clear for everyone.

The Knights of Columbus were deeply impressed and grateful for the large turnout for their first Monthly Pancake Breakfast since March held last weekend. Many did the take-out option, and those who stayed for breakfast did well with social distancing. Thanks to the Knights for taking this up again, and certainly they feel confident going forward for their November offering.

Everything else is moving along well. We have been, thankfully, swamped with baptisms since we opened up in June and are pretty well-booked through the end of the year.
Religious education, using the on-line format, seems to be going very well, also.

May the Lord continue to bless all of us in our endeavors,
Fr. Garry