Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

This Sunday at 2:30 pm we will celebrate our Lenten Penance Service. There will be some visiting priests here to hear confessions. There is no service, so confessions are heard on a walk-in basis. Please try to arrive before 3:30 pm. There are other opportunities for confession during Lent at the neighboring parishes as well. St. Catharine in Holmdel has their confessions on Thursday, April 10th, beginning at 7:00 pm.

Tuesday is the Solemnity of the Annunciation -- this means itis only nine months until Christmas! -- it is another solemnity that pauses the Lenten observances. Our journey through Lent seems a long one, and yet we are coming close to the midpoint of the Season already.

This past week was the funeral for Father Ronald Cioffi, retired pastor of the former St. Joseph Church in Keyport. Many of you knew Father Ron from his time there -- twenty seven years -- and his assistance here for Masses and Penance Services since his retirement in 2016. Although he had been suffering the last couple of years, Father Ron was still as active in ministry as he could be, continuing to celebrate Mass mostly in smaller retirement and health care facilities.We are grateful for his ministry and service to the Bay Shore communities. Father Tony Carotenuto delivered a well constructed and thoughtful homily at Father Ron’s funeral Mass last Monday. May he rest in peace.

We know it’s almost April as we are deep into March Madness. This is the time of the year when we are all experts in bracketology -- yet we all manage to pick different winners. I have no favorites myself this year, though the bishop is rooting hard for St. John’s University, as it is a Vincentian institution and he was once a dean there.

Have a blessed week.
Father Garry