Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

This week we observe the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, a Holy Day of Obligation. Mass times are in the bulletin. Friday we celebrate the Mass of Anointing of the Sick. Anyone who has a serious medical condition should consider attending for the sacrament.

You might have noticed that we finally completed the house painting project last week. I would like to thank both Clifford Michaud for his donation of the paint, and Alan Deeken who contributed his time and skill to power wash, prepare and paint the house.

The life of a school is always filled with comings and goings, and it seems that this year there is more transition than usual. This week we say “farewell” to Mrs. Christine Keeling, vice-principal of SBS. Christine has been a member of our faculty for twenty years and has spent the past six years in administration. She accepted an opportunity to move next door to St. John Vianney HS as a member of their guidance department. For her, this is an excellent move, and she is happy that she will still be able to work with the students from SBS in her new role there. We are all grateful to her for her many years of service to our school. Christine has been a stabilizing presence in our school during various periods of transition. Now that she has gotten Mr. Cammarano on-boarded, and with Megan Gallagher in place as vice-principal, she is ready to undertake a new challenge and opportunity. Join me in wishing her well and in thanking her for all she has done for us. As her youngest son, Chase, is entering the seventh grade here, she isn’t going far and she noted that regardless, she is still a parent of a student and a parishioner here. Godspeed, Christine!

Other than painting the house where Father Adam now lives, there are some other minor projects here this summer. We will be sealing the parking lot in preparation for the winter season in the next week. We have also done some painting and upgrades to other areas in the school building. You will also notice that a new electronic sign on Bethany Road will be up and running shortly. Thanks to a very creative IT Department here an interesting and very cost effective solution to the sign replacement has been imagined and will be installed as soon as the modem is installed.

The one project I would like to work on in the coming months is a replacement of the HVAC equipment in the church. I have mentioned this before, but the life of the system is near its end. Not only will this be expensive, but one contractor suggested that replacing the system will require extensive duct work in the church, which may well involve restructuring the drop ceiling that is in the church now. We will see where this takes us.

I hope everyone is getting to enjoy some relaxing days.
Fr. Garry