Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Another week of isolation and I am really getting some cabin fever. A few more doctors’ appointments and I should be good to go. At least I hope! The biggest concern is, of course, contracting COVID or the flu. After being with me since I got home from the hospital on December 20, my Mother returned to her home in Pennsylvania as she is now ready to head to her winter retreat in Florida. I am grateful for her love and attention during my recovery. Likewise, so many continue to send baskets and other gifts, especially Mass Cards, that I am overwhelmed and unable to address everyone individually right now. Thank you all so much, especially for your prayers.

I was remiss last week in failing to mention that it was the Week of Christian Unity. Certainly ecumenical efforts on the grass root level – that is church-to-church – is not what it was forty or fifty years ago, it remains an important concern in the life of the church universal. While there is a local assembly of clergy representing the various Christian and non-Christian communities in the Bay Shore, it does not seem very active. I admit that I really do not know the leaders of the local communities. In a sense I think it hard to speak of ecumenical initiatives when any real sense of knowledge or commitment to a particular religious tradition seems for many to be passing. We need to do a better job of communicating, explaining, and living what it means to be “Catholic” before we can do anything on an ecumenical level. Back in 2017 to observe the 500thanniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation we did host a series of talks on the reformation and the traditions that emerged from that and how the Church responded with the Council of Trent. I hoped that it would spark some further discussion, but it fell by the wayside.

This Sunday we observe “Word of God Sunday.” This initiative of Pope Francis is now observed on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Specifically Pope Francis observed in themoto proprioby which he established this observance: “the great challenge before us in life: to listen to Sacred Scripture and then to practice mercy. [God’s Word] has the power to open our eyes and to enable us to renounce a stifling and barren individualism and instead to embark on a new path of sharing and solidarity.”

In conjunction with our new Director of Faith Formation, Nancy Arkin, we will be embarking on more Scripture study as the year progresses. Speaking of Faith Formation, this past week we said “adieu” to Miss Rachel denHartog who has taken a full-time position elsewhere. We are grateful for her work here over the past year, and wish her well in her transition.

Everything else seems to be going pretty well. The school is gearing up for Catholic School’s Week and the enrollment initiatives for the coming school year.

Hopefully we are seeing an end to this phase of the pandemic and we can all feel more comfortable coming back to Mass, etc., soon. We will be embarking on some phase of a come home for Lent initiative as the time approaches.

Let us continue our prayers for one another and for our world,
Father Garry