Weekly Letter from the Pastor

Dear Fellow Parishioners of St. Benedict:

This weekend we celebrate Deacon Ray’s 90th Birthday! We will have cake and celebrate him at the 11:00 a.m. Mass this weekend. He has served our parish as a deacon for 34 years and has been integral member of the community – along with his late wife, Mary (d. 10/09) – for many years before that. We wish him continued blessings, health, and peace in his life.

We are prepping for the carnival, as I mentioned last weekend we are in need of volunteers, so please check the website for sign-up opportunities. You will shortly be receiving your raffle tickets in the mail. Hopefully we can break last year’s record sales. As you will see in that letter, there are a few initiatives we are hoping to support with the proceeds from the carnival and the raffle.

This week – Thursday evening – we are celebrating our summer Mass of Anointing of the Sick at 7:00 p.m. We invite all members of the parish who are in persistent or degenerating physical health conditions, or who are facing surgery or undergoing medical treatment, to present themselves for the sacrament. As you know, the sacrament is reserved for those whose conditions are either acute or degenerating, or who are preparing for surgery, or undergoing an emergency procedure. Any time that such a situation arises, please let us know. If you have a homebound family member who would like to receive the sacrament, please call the office. One of us will come to the house for a visit and offer the sacrament.

With Labor Day looming there is much going on. We are in full swing as we prepare the school for opening day right after Labor Day: which is next weekend by the way! We are fortunate to have a full complement of teachers on board, and we are introducing only one new faculty member this year,Mrs. Donna Buhl, who will be teaching Spanish part-time. She recently retired after a public school career, and is excited about returning to Catholic education where she has her roots.

Our teachers have a spirituality day at St. James in Red Bank this week, and they will be here for orientation also this week. We are all excited to get the year underway. We still have a few spots in PreK4 and Kindergarten if you know anyone still deciding. I know it sounds different but we do get phone calls on Labor Day weekend about spaces in the school.

Enjoy the last week of summer vacation – safe travels and blessings to every one.

Blessings,
Fr. Garry