Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

First off, Father Michael DeSaye was humbled and honored by the presence of so many at his First Mass here last Sunday, and he is grateful for the prayers, support, and generosity of so many of you. It was an honor to have him here and I hope to have him back before he begins his ministry at St. Joan of Arc, Marlton.

This week is graduation from the SBS School – sixty-seven young men and women, many of whom have been here for nine years, will walk out of here on Friday evening as alumni/ae of the school. We are proud of their accomplishments and hopeful for their future. Our school continues to be a vibrant place for learning, faith formation, community building, and hope for the future. No school offers it all; no school has the resources to do so. We are committed to the education of the entire person: mind, body, heart, and soul. While other schools in our area are reducing or eliminating library, music, world language study, and art, we are committed to those as necessary in sound educational formation. As such, we think not just of STEM but of STREAM (Science-Technology-Religion-Engineering-ArtsMathematics) as the hallmark of our school. Please check us out for the education of your children. Our new PreK-4 classes went very well this year, and we are happy that we are filling up for the coming year. Kindergarten is looking strong, and we are continuing to develop a middle-school specific curriculum and feel to the school. Mr. Kevin Donahue begins his tenure as principal on July 1st, but he has been around quite a bit over the past two months getting a feel for the operation and putting his imprint on the school. I am looking forward to working with him.

This weekend you will meet Chris Ziegler, our summer seminarian intern. He will be working in the parish until July 22nd. You will see him present at many different events, and meetings, and also working at VBS and Summer Academy. He is, of course, one of the men we support in our Adopt a Seminarian program. I am certain that he will enjoy himself here and learn from all of us about life in an active parish community. Another tradition that we are tapping into this year for the first time is known as St. Anthony’s Bread. Unlike the bread on the Feast of St. Joseph when we all share in wonderful pastries, St. Anthony’s Bread is specifically a collection of bread for the poor. Instead of collecting bread, though, we will take a free will offering for donation to the Food Pantry. St. Anthony’s Feast is next week: June 13th. There are further details in the bulletin.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Fr. Anthony Carotenuto is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of his priestly ordination this year. Further in the bulletin you will find specific details regarding date and time for his Anniversary Mass. We are proud to have Fr. Tony here to celebrate Mass with us on this very auspicious occasion.

Blessings and peace to everyone,
Fr. Garry