Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

It is with great joy that we welcome Deacon Paul Remick to our parish this weekend. Yes, Paul has been a parishioner here for many years, but on Saturday morning his life changed forever when, through the laying on of hands and the reception of the Gospel Paul was raised to the Order of Deacon by Bishop O’Connell. While only a limited number of guests were permitted to attend the Mass at the Cathedral in Trenton, hopefully many of you were able to view it through the livestream on the Diocese of Trenton website https://www.youtube.com/trentondiocese. It is archived there if you would like to witness this blessed event. We celebrate with Paul and his wife, Ellen, and their family and are happy to have Paul sharing his ministry in our parish.

As a deacon Paul is now a member of the clergy of the church, and participates in a special way in the ministry of the bishop. Bishop O’Connell formally appointed Paul to serve here, as deacons, like priests, serve the Bishop and not specific parishes only. Along with Deacons Ray, John, Steve, and Rich, Deacon Paul now takes his rightful place at the altar and in the ambo where he has faculties to preach a homily during Mass.

This past Wednesday we held a ribbon cutting celebration for the re-dedication of the Food Pantry, located at the rear of the residence of the parochial vicar. Through the generosity of Mary Ellen Harris, the food pantry was retooled to enable contactless distribution of food meeting the protocols for the pandemic.

Now that the protocols seem to be loosening a bit, and with many people suffering from food shortages, the demands on the pantry are increasing. Many volunteers have been reluctant to return due to their age or health conditions, so we have only been open one day each week – Wednesday. We would like to offer more time, but have not yet been able to do so.

Because we are now fully compliant with state mandates, and want to insure the safety of all involved, I invite anyone interested in volunteering at the food pantry to make contact with them through the parish office or go to the food pantry directly. The need around us is great. We are also grateful to the generosity of all of you in both monetary and food donations to the food pantry and St. Vincent de Paul Society over the past year. So many people rely on their services for temporary assistance. With inflation now rising and other economic factors becoming apparent, the demands will only increase.

The announcement from the Governor this past week about church attendance numbers has no immediate effect on our church. Because of the six feet separation mandate we are unable to reasonably permit 50% attendance in the church. As more and more people are coming to Mass each weekend, we will soon need to reassess the Mass schedule.

Anticipating no real change in distancing protocols soon, and knowing that many of you will be away for most of the summer, I expect that it will not be until after Labor Day (September 6th) that we will be making any changes or additions to the schedule.

In the meantime it feels like May is going by very quickly and that the summer season is quickly upon us. I know that school students – and especially their teachers – are looking forward to the break. Yet, we cannot allow the homestretch to be the time to let down our guard.

Let us continue our prayers for one another and especially for Deacon Paul as he begins the good work God has brought forth in him,
Father Garry