Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of Saint Benedict:

This weekend we are happy to welcome seminarian Frank Flaherty for the summer. He will be here on a pastoral assignment from June 10th until July 23rd. Frank just completed his first year of theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. After completing his professional career Frank entered St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland to study philosophy. It was at St. Mary's that Frank met and got to know well our own Father J.M. We are happy to have Frank with us this summer. He will be engaged in many different aspects of pastoral ministry as this assignment is geared towards helping him understand the ins and outs of parish life.

I am also happy to announce that we have hired Matthew Santucci to serve as the assistant director of Faith Formation for our parish. Matthew will make his debut on July 10th . Among his many tasks will be to take over youth ministry programs in the parish and he will also be developing a young adult ministry. Matthew is a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University so he is moving into the area for the first time. This past year Matthew worked for net ministries where he traveled about the East Coast with the group that does retreats and programs for youth. In fact Matthew was here for our own confirmation retreat in February. Matthew will be working with Mrs. Denise Contino our director of Faith Formation as her direct assistant. We are happy to have him with us as it is our hope that Matthew will be able to bring new energy and focus to Faith Formation in our parish.

I am thrilled with the response generated by my letter in last weeks bulletin. I have already received some very good input and interesting ideas from parishioners and so we will be working on developing the program and projects in light of these suggestions. Everything that we can do as a parish to assist the community and our parishioners in these difficult times is key and necessary in response to the Gospel.

Thank you for your prayers and your support,
Father Garry