Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

ALLELUIA!! There I said it. It feels good to be able to think and shout out Alleluia! again after being banned from using it since Ash Wednesday. This is Easter: the day of the Resurrection. This is the very core of our Catholic and Christian faith. Let us rejoice and be glad.

We rejoice because at the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening we celebrated the initiation into the church for Shirley Patterson and David Azvolinsky. Over the past six months they have been preparing through the RCIA program to enter the church. Those of you who regularly attend 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday have seen them every week as they are dismissed for their catechesis. We are happy to celebrate with them and pray that they may continue to be enlivened in their faith and that they will continue to find welcome and a spiritual home here at St. Benedict.

Next Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. Beginning at 3:00 p.m. we will hear a Message on Mercy, pray the chaplet, followed by praise and worship, Confessions, and a closing Mass at 5:00 p.m. The Message on Mercy will be delivered by Dan Duddy. Dan is a former high school football coach, a member of the Executive Board of Catholic Athletes for Christ, and is active with Catholic Men for Jesus Christ. One of Dan’s son’s, Francis, was killed by a drunk driver in 2014. He speaks passionately on mercy and forgiveness. I am sure that you will find him moving and powerful.

Devotion to Jesus under the title of the Divine Mercy, although relatively new, is powerful and transformative. I hope that we will be able to grow this devotion, and especially this specific feast day, in our parish. Please join us next Sunday as we honor Jesus, the Divine Mercy of the Father.

The parish will celebrate Confirmation for our eighth grade students – school and parish – on Friday, April 13th. Monsignor Thomas Mullelly, Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Seminarians, will be the administering celebrant.

We will celebrate adult Confirmation at the Pentecost Vigil Mass (May 20th). This is a good time to mention that we regularly offer Confirmation for adults (those over age 16) who have never been Confirmed. Anyone interested should make contact with the Faith Formation Office for more details on how to make arrangements.

About a year ago we developed a Liturgical Committee under the guidance of Father JM. I want to thank him, our choir, under the direction of Tom O’Brien, Ellen Remick, all of the altar servers, masters of ceremonies, lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, screen operators, ushers, and our deacons, for the attentiveness, prayerfulness, and the dignified way in which they led us through the rites of the Triduum. This allowed for solemn liturgies that went off with great aplomb. Once again Father JM, assisted this year by the youth and young adults, Joanne Mertz (Art Teacher at SBS), and our maintenance staff, did a stunningly beautiful Altar of Repose for Holy Thursday evening. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to our prayer and worship.

It is a quiet week ahead here. The school is closed for the week, so we are hoping for some recovery and relaxation time before Confirmation and the cycle of First Communion’s begins in a few weeks.

May this Easter find you joyful – joyful in mind, joyful in heart, and joyful in spirit.

In the Love of the Risen Savior,
Father Garry