Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of Saint Benedict:

This week I will be attending the annual diocesan Convocation of Priests from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon. As there are no retired priests to celebrate Mass on Wednesday and Thursday mornings we will have a Liturgy of the Word service led by Deacon Ray. The Eucharist, which is reserved in the Tabernacle, will be distributed at each celebration.

Speaking of daily Mass, I do not think that I discussed the rational for celebrating daily Mass now in the church instead of the side chapel. After the traditional move to the church for Lent we never moved back. There were several factors at play. First is that our daily attendance is greater than the comfortable capacity of the chapel. This forced many people to sit – awkwardly – in the church where they could not see the action nor really hear much of the Mass. It seemed terribly unwelcoming to the occasional Mass attendee who didn’t know where to sit and really felt left out of the celebration on several levels. Our daily Mass attendance is on a steady increase. We range from 24 on a typical Saturday to anywhere from 60 – 80 during the rest of the week. We have also reconfigured the chapel so that those who choose to sit in there for the weekend Masses have a better and more inclusive angle for participation. This has increased the number of people who opt to sit in the chapel on the weekends. We will, for certain special occasions – private Mass or a small wedding for example – use the chapel for Mass, but we will not do so on a daily basis for the foreseeable future.

The run-up to the parish carnival is almost complete, and everything opens Friday night at 5:00 p.m. There are plenty of new and interesting options this year, and we hope that everyone will be able to make an appearance during the weekend. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered so far and most especially to our excellent and amazing planning committee. All we need now is good weather! Don’t forget fireworks on Saturday night. Hopefully it’s all bigger and better than ever.

School opened this past week. Everything seems to be running smoothly. Kudos to Bob Cognat and his crew for their hard work in getting everything in order. It was a very demanding summer, especially with moving offices and the construction of the science lab. Anita Magnan, director of technology, and her summer assistant, accomplished a very thorough clean of all technology and worked on the set-up of new technology in the school. We take technology for granted, but a great deal of planning, oversight, and maintenance goes in to making sure it all works when and as needed. Ms. Wallace, our principal, and the teachers and staff of the school worked hard this summer to insure that we had all of the staffing, books, supplies, and resources needed to open school on day one. There was a great deal of work on all ends to get the pre-K up and running, and it is in excellent shape. Here’s hoping for a great school year ahead.

Father JM made it home safely. He surprised his family by showing up at his niece's first birthday party last Saturday. This week Father has an appointment at the American Embassy in Manila to change his immigration status to that of a religious worker. Hopefully that goes well for him.

Blessings and peace,
Fr. Garry