Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Saying “good-bye” is certainly not easy, but it stands as a necessary part of life, and certainly a routine in the life of priests. This week Father JM takes his leave from us and embarks on his ministry as parochial vicar of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Marlton. He arrived here five years ago as a newly ordained priest, and has certainly made a positive impact on our parish community and, in a special way, with the students in our school as well as at St. John Vianney High School. I have enjoyed our collaboration and will certainly miss working with him.

At the same time we are most fortunate to welcome a new parochial vicar to our parish, as that is becoming less common these days. So, we are grateful to Bishop O’Connell for assigning Father AL Gamalo to our parish. Father AL, a college friend from the Philippines of Father JM, comes to us also with five years of priestly experience under his belt. Since his ordination Father has served as a parochial vicar at St. Gregory the Great Parish in Hamilton Square and as chaplain at Trenton Catholic Academy. I look forward to collaborating with Fr. AL in ministry here at St. Benedict. Obviously any new priest in a parish has a learning curve adapting to the culture of a parish, but I am fully confident that Father AL will make adjustment with aplomb and grace. We will have a short meet and greet with Father AL after the Masses next weekend.

In two weekends – July 11 – we celebrate the feast of our patron, Saint Benedict. As the feast this year falls on a Sunday we are blessed and honored to have Bishop David O’Connell join us to celebrate the 11AM Mass that day. We will also do a brief meet and greet with the bishop following the Mass. As the bishop always has a busy schedule it is certainly generous of his time to come here for our feast day. It has been a couple of years since the bishop has been here, and I look forward to his visit.

As you likely saw the Bishops of the US have announced two initiatives formed around developing pastoral letters. One is on the Eucharist and the other on Marriage and Family. I am pleased to announce that our parish is poised to respond quickly to study, evangelize, and implement these initiatives. We are fortunate to have Deacon Paul Remick who will spearhead the Eucharistic Celebrations and catechesis programs. Lori McCahill, marriage minister, will develop programs around the Marriage and Family Initiative. Both, of course, will coordinate with the Faith Formation office.

Next weekend of course, is our Independence Day weekend, when we get to reflect on the heritage of being Americans and enjoying the rights and freedoms that comes with such. While most of us were born here, many of us are immigrants or from recent immigrant families. Of course, all of us are essentially from immigrant families, even those of us like myself who trace our American heritage to before the American Revolutionary War. The challenging times in which we live cause us to reflect more deeply on what it means to be an American and to share those rights and privileges.

While many people feel that some of those rights are threatened in the woke movement, we must all be attentive to respecting and strengthening those rights for ourselves and our posterity. Let us continue our prayer for, and awareness of, freedom, and especially religious freedom, as those who wish to erode such freedoms often speak louder than those who seek to protect them.

I know that many of you will be traveling next weekend, so a blessed and safe Fourth of July to all of you,
Fr. Garry