Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

This week is the beginning of the mass exodus of college students. We had our college blessing a couple of weeks ago, if anyone missed that and would like to receive a blessing before heading off, please present yourself to either Father JM or myself after Mass or at the parish office during the week.

Wednesday this week is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation. Masses are at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

The Faith in Our Future initiative in our Cohort (#13) has decided to reach out to inactive and fringe practicing parishioners through listening sessions to be conducted with religious education families. I will be holding such sessions in conjunction with the RE Family day on Wednesday around each of the Masses for the Holy Day. The general idea here is to familiarize ourselves with the unmet needs and concerns of young parents and to learn how we might better engage them in the lived experience of faith. I am open to whatever steps and action plans might need to be developed as an outgrowth of such listening. There are ways in which I suspect that the parishes – indeed perhaps many institutional models – have not adapted to or responded to the needs and lifestyles of the twentieth century. While the church is a constant, the means and practices of evangelization and catechesis always need to respond to the world in which we live. Yes, “the times, they are a changin.”

I am still looking for someone with some background in development work to assist us in formulating both long-term and short-term business and development plans for the parish and the school. As we need new models of evangelization to reach the modern person, we need new models of stewardship and governance as well. If you are interested, or might know someone who is or could be, please let me know. I believe that we have much untapped potential and resources that can help us to secure the future and maximize the present.

Summer is flying by. I hope that everyone has a chance to rest and enjoy the dog days of summer.
 
Blessings and peace,
Fr. Garry