Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

Today we observe the twenty-first anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and those who died in Shanksville, PA. It is hard for those of us who remember that infamous day so well to believe that a generation has passed since the events of that day and its consequences. While at the time we as a country rallied around the president and our shared national identity and goals, we are painfully far from that sense of unity today. We pray today for the souls that were lost on September 11, 2001 and for all those who died as a result of that day. So many lives were lost from medical conditions, as a result of mental health issues, and in the wars that were fought in the aftermath of the attacks. The toll on our country is immeasurable but never insurmountable. We pray that we might find a unity of purpose and direction as a nation, so that we can hand on to the future generations the freedoms and rights that we have.

This week we celebrate our first 5pm Sunday Mass. It is our hope that this will afford more people the opportunity to attend Mass on the weekend. There are many pastoral benefits from offering this Mass each week. May our parish be enriched through this liturgy. I am sure that it will take time for it to take on its own identity and more regular attendees, so we will not evaluate its success too quickly.

I would like to thank all of you who attended the healing Mass with Father Bashobora this past Thursday night. He certainly brought a great gift of healing to us, and I pray that the grace he brought us will bear fruit in our lives and also in our parish. I want to thank Dr. Marzena Bona for bringing him to our parish.

Also on Thursday I, along with other members of our pastoral team, attended a day of preparation for the Year of the Eucharist. Many important ideas for evangelization, catechesis, and liturgical celebrations grew out of the day. We will be planning and announcing some initiatives from this soon.

This week Father AL and I will be attending the annual priest’s convocation with the other priests of our diocese. We will leave here on Tuesday afternoon and return Thursday afternoon. This is a good opportunity to relax, enjoy the company of priest friends that we don’t get to see that often, and be inspired by the insights of a speaker. This year Father John Collins will lead the convocation. Please remember Father AL and all of our priests, and myself in your prayer this week.

On Thursday evening Carolyn Norbut and I will be hosting a information meeting for anyone interested in joining Father JM Patilla and I on a pilgrimage to Egypt-Jordan- Jerusalem next February. There is more information available here in the bulletin. We will be following the Israelites as they sojourned from Egypt, we will climb Mt. Sinai, and cross over the Red Sea into Jordan. This is a very interesting opportunity to encounter the Bible in a new and exciting way.

School got off to a good start here last week. It was a great feeling seeing the students on campus. Fortunately the school protocols for the pandemic have expired, so there are many things that we no longer have to do. So, while things look more “normal” now than they did in either of the prior two years, there were many good habits and protocols that, of course, are worth keeping and enforcing as we go forward. The pandemic was a time of great learning and many benefits came through a period of rethinking how things have always been done.

We are gearing up for the Gala celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the school. Please check out the information on the school website, and participate in whatever way you can. We are especially interested in attracting alumni from all of the generations of our school to come together and reconnect around their shared experiences at SBS.

Welcome back to all of you who spend the summer down the shore and elsewhere. We missed you and are happy to see you back here again!
Fr. Garry