Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Well it certainly has been an interesting summer hasn't it! As I write this the parish is without power and has been now for over 15 hours as the result of the tropical storm that came barreling through here on Tuesday afternoon. I know that many of you are in the same situation as we are here. As inconvenient as it is at least it does not appear that any of us have sustained any serious damage. It does seem, however, that Mother Nature is piling on as we are also still enduring the pandemic. I pray that we are all safe and doing well in the midst of all of this crisis.

Mass attendance has slowly been taking up. I just want to caution those of you who are health compromised, or live with people who are, to be conscious about not coming into crowds unless it is necessary. For that reason we have decided to cancel our annual summer Mass of Anointing of the Sick. Those who are most in need of the sacrament are those who should not be coming out to go to Mass. The bishop has extended the dispensation from Mass attendance beyond the September 7th date that he originally set. Prudence dictates what you do.

Preparation for the opening of school as well is underway. The air conditioning project is almost complete. We will now be able to offer at least that comfort for all of our students. This past week we passed the 400 mark of enrollment which is a very good benchmark for us. Several classes are now maxed out and we have waiting lists. That's a good thing to have to worry about these days. Our hope now is that we will be able to open in September as planned.

Although the offices have been open throughout this time of lockdown, we are back now to full staff everyday. You can conduct ordinary business with the offices via phone, the internet, and in person. We are still restricting access to the church to 10 people permitted in the Hall of Saints on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We also continue to hear confessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday following the 9:00 a.m. Mass outside of the Adoration Chapel. We still have no reasonable expectation of opening the chapel for adoration anytime soon.

We really just have to continue to be safe and smart and to take care of ourselves and one another.

Please know that Father JM and I continue to pray for you and we hope that you remember us in your prayers as well.

Blessings and peace,
Fr. Garry