Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

November seems to be on a fast pace to get over with! All of a sudden we are hitting the middle of the month and I feel as though it just started. Hopefully everyone is setting a focus towards the celebration of Thanksgiving next week.

We will celebrate two Masses here for Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving eve we will have Mass at 7:00 p.m., and we have the regular 9:00 a.m. Mass on Thanksgiving Day. There will be an Ecumenical Service Tuesday, November 20th at 7:30 p.m. at the Middletown Reformed Church (121 Kings Highway)

Here, at St. Benedict, we invite each family to bring a canned food item to the Thanksgiving Mass to be blessed and donated to the food pantry. We also invite you to consider volunteering or offering food for the Raine Foundation Thanksgiving dinner which is being held here next Monday evening, November 19th. This is an opportunity to show our outreach as a community and to assist those who have less, to have a more enjoyable Thanksgiving. Many more opportunities to exercise charity and generosity during the Christmas Season will be coming our way over the next several weeks. It seems that the need is ever present.

We have had a good response so far to the appeal to assist with the donation of Icons for the chapel. Please make contact with the office if you are interested. We still await the arrival of the Marian statue. We hope to be able to dedicate the statue for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th. Although the Feast is on a Saturday, it is still a Holy day of Obligation. We will have Mass on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. and on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. The 5:00 p.m. Mass on Saturday is the Vigil Mass for Sunday, not for the Holy day.

Perhaps you noticed – well, really you had no choice but to notice – that we have moved the end of Mass announcements from being read by the Deacon to appearing on the screens. We thought we would try this to allow everyone to catch the announcements clearly and at a pace that makes sense for them. It has been well-received and we are happy with the presentation.

It also isn’t too early to think about preparing for Advent. Breakout the Advent Wreath and purchase new candles for the season. Candles will be available through the shop in the Narthex. We are still waiting to secure a vendor for the shop, so my hope of having that in place before Advent seems lost. Of course, December 1st-2nd weekend is the First Week, so there is still time.

There has been much going on here, and we are looking ahead to a busy Advent Season. Hopefully we can all remain focused on what is foundational and important over these next six weeks.

We celebrate Thanksgiving with due reverence and true Thanksgiving to God, and we observe Advent as a wonderful liturgical season, and an opportunity to grow closer to the Lord as we await the celebration of the Nativity at Christmas.

Oh – and we do have some big Christmas plans! Father JM and I enjoy scheming and dreaming of new ways to enhance our worship and our celebrations.

May the Lord bless all of us this week!
Father Garry