Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of Saint Benedict:

Last weekend we had a very successful Ministry Fair for the parish. A good number of parishioners attended and many have expressed their interest in exploring new ways to be involved in the various ministries of the parish. We are always looking for new people to be involved and new ways of exercising our ministries here, so it is not too late to consider signing up. If you were unable to attend, there are brochures in the Gathering Space that outline the many opportunities we have here. I want to thank the representatives and coordinators of the many ministries for their hard work in preparing for the fair.

This Friday (March 17th) Bishop O’Connell is coming to Saint Benedict to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to 129 members of the parish and school communities. Confirmation brings to completion the Sacraments of Initiation leading, we pray, to a life-long commitment to growing and living our faith together. The prayers of the parish are with these young people as they continue in their journey of faith. Hopefully many of them will get more involved in parish life, either through the youth group or in the various liturgical and social ministries of the parish.

There are many other things I would like to talk about here, but they are not quite yet ready, as the details are happening after the deadline for the letter. So I am hoping that the first ever Soup and Scripture evening was a positive and tasty event for everyone. Believe it or not it was less expensive for us to have those customized bowls made for the event than it would have been to buy the equivalent number of disposable plastic bowls! I guess that’s a good thing, as it encourages better stewardship regarding the environment and garbage waste dumps.

Also pending this week is the Cohort training session in response to the Faith in Our Future initiative. Our implementation team: Mike McCahill, Lynn Hoffman, Betty Martin, and Dan Ryan and I will have attended the meeting on Wednesday (3/8). From there we will get a better sense of the timeline and process for implementing the Bishop’s plan. It will be interesting to see how our Cohort (#13) develops and implements the plan. We can also not be unaware that we will be impacted by the developments in the Cohort’s in our neighborhood – Cohorts 14 and 15 – as each of them undergoes some significant changes over the next few years.

We must be open to the Spirit as a parish, as a cohort, and as a diocese to lead us in the direction of holiness and faith. We ask our young people preparing for Confirmation to accept the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and to have the faith to walk with the Spirit. That prayer doesn’t end with Confirmation, it takes us every step of the way in life. Let us pray that as we learn through Lent to let go of self and take up our cross, that we can actually do so as we are called and challenged to place our faith in the Lord.

In the Spirit,
Father Garry