Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Happy Catholic School’s Week! An integral ministry of our parish, we are happy to celebrate the success of our school. At a time when many Catholic schools are struggling we are continuing to expand our programs and seeing a steady increase in enrollment. To celebrate Catholic School’s Week we have engaged a formidable line-up of speakers for our students. I will write more about this next week. The success of our school is evidenced by the number of families who have registered for the open houses scheduled this week. If you have interest in more information about the school, please make contact with the school office as soon as possible. We kick-off this weekend with our students and faculty present for Mass. (hopefully the weather allows for this!)

Last weekend you heard from one of the parish coordinators of the Synod listening process. I know many of you have signed up for one of the sessions. You can still sign up if you are interested and didn’t get a chance to do so then. This is a tremendous opportunity, built on the initiative of Pope Francis. I think it especially important that you encourage members of your family who are “inactive” or perhaps upset with the church for one reason or another to consider attending a session. This is an opportunity – not to complain – but to express their concerns, faith journey, and spiritual needs. The point here is listening and discovering. Obviously we aren’t changing anything immediately as the result of the input, but it will give us something to talk about on every level. Some concerns can direct parish planning programs for sure. The program is designed to move to the diocesan level, and then to the national level, before culling the data and sending it to the Vatican for discussion at the Synod on Synodality scheduled for 2023.

You will notice that I am now easing myself back into the schedule and a normal work routine. I have no real limitations – other than being careful about how much I lift and some quick movements. I will also need to go for cardio therapy. I will be starting that this week. I am still a bit reticent about getting a respiratory infection (cold, flu, covid) so will be keeping some distance before and after Masses for the next few weeks.

At least it appears that the number of covid cases continues to decline in our area. This does not mean that we can just lift all restrictions. I still encourage you to wear masks for Mass. I know I will be! The diocese has released the protocols for Holy Week and Easter and I am happy to report that we are poised to look much more normal this year than we did last year and certainly in 2020.

Next weekend we will observe the blessing of throats in conjunction with the feast of St. Blaise. Individual blessings will be available after all the Masses.

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Wednesday). This is the traditional end of the Christmas Season as it is forty days after Christmas. On this day we bless the candles that are used in church for the coming year. Along with this we are also rolling out a new system of votive lights.

We will continue with the votive lights we already have while adding smaller 1-hour candles both in the Our Lady of Victory Adoration Chapel and the Hall of Saints. The practice of burning candles in church goes back to the Old Testament and is a common sight in Catholic churches. A lighted candle signifies our reverence and our desire to remain present in prayer. It symbolizes a prayer offering where we present our petitions to the Lord and ask the saints to pray with us and to pray for us during our most urgent needs. This light, when kept burning, represents our longing to remain in the company of our Lord as we go about our day.

With hope in our hearts, let us continue to pray.
Father Garry