Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Certainly in the midst of the social and personal effects of the pandemic the fallout from Isaias seemed overwhelming. As you probably noticed with the disruption of our daily livestream of Mass the parish complex was out of power from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. While through the fortunate situation of being on a different grid than the church and school complex Father JM and I never lost power. The disruption to the work of the parish, as we are just now gearing up after the lockdown, was very challenging. We are investigating the purchase of a generator to safeguard against such disruptions in the future.

I am happy to announce that we have been able to put air conditioners in every classroom in the school. This was in the works and the closing of the school in March helped us to get all of the prep work, especially the upgrades to the electrical service, in place to make it happen. With the requirement of wearing masks in school, this will certainly make things more comfortable for the teachers and students when we get back to work this Fall. Likewise, we have purchased ionizer air purifiers with hepa filters for each classroom to help slow the spread of any bacterial or viral particles in the air. It’s been a challenge, but we have been preparing for all these eventualities. If you are interested in reading our Return to School Plan it is on the school website.

An important aspect of parish life is the on-going Faith Formation for adults. Over the past several years we have offered a series of speakers and presentations designed to focus on relevant and interesting topics regarding theology and the experience of faith. While we had to forego all of the Spring offerings, we are now looking at the Fall realizing that while we might be able to assemble to have some sessions, many people would likely still prefer to not come out and, if possible, to participate remotely. We are working on developing that series now. If you have any topics or ideas, please let us know. We are always looking to be able to do something to enable our experience of faith to grow, especially in times of uncertainty and crisis.

We are still making final decisions on the nature of the Confirmation preparation program for the Fall. While community building is such a key component of the program, it is looking increasingly likely that we will not be able to have the candidates in the building as often as we would like. Some hybrid program, though not ideal, appears to be the way we are heading at this point.

Naturally at this point fund raising, even maintaining ordinary income is being stretched. We are nearing our diocesan goal for the Annual Catholic Appeal, and that is excellent news. Thank you to all who have participated, and to all of you who through your own sacrifice have continued to contribute to the parish during these challenging days. While we have been able to reduce some of the expenses, adapting to new modes of operating, especially the needs for intensive disinfecting after each Mass, have increased our expenditure. Please continue to keep us in mind with your regular contributions or with whatever else you can do to assist.

All of you should have received tickets for the annual 50/50 Raffle to be drawn on September 20th. Thank you to those of you have sent them in already. With the loss of the income from the carnival, this money will help to offset some of the expenses incurred in the time of pandemic for the purchase of cameras and sound equipment for the church, as well as some of the necessary upgrades made to the school. We have other fund-raising activities planned, but more on that later.

Overall, things are good – let us continue to pray for each other,
Fr. Garry