News - April 2026 RSS Feed

This weekend at the 11am Mass we will have the May Crowning ceremony, hopefully at the statue in the courtyard, otherwise we will crown a statue in the church. We are reminded of the Queenship of Mary and of her intercession and prayers for us. I encourage everyone to pray the Rosary at least occasionally for your own spiritual edification and for the intentions of our world. These days we should all be praying for peace in the world and within our own nation.

This weekend we observe Good Shepherd Sunday, where the focus of the readings are on Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and his promise to provide good shepherds for his flock. While we do not always get the “good shepherds” we always have the Good Shepherd himself, protecting us and walking the journey of life and faith with us.

Next weekend the diocese observes Called By Name Weekend. We will focus on promoting vocations for the priesthood here in the Diocese of Trenton. Billy Attardi, seminarian from our parish who is in his first (propaedeutic) year at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Ambler, PA, will speak at all of the Masses next weekend. You will find a card in the pews on which you are free to submit the name of anyone whom you believe to be a potential candidate for the seminary. We used this program several years ago and it netted some good results. Please prayerfully consider this initiative and complete the cards next weekend if you are so moved. There is a letter from Bishop O’Connell in the bulletin, and he has produced an introductory video which is also available.

Here at St. Benedict’s we had a blessed and beautiful celebration of the Triduum and Easter. We welcomed two new Catholics to our community with one baptism and then an additional Confirmation. More Confirmations will be celebrated at the Pentecost Vigil (May 23). I would like to thank Deacon Paul and the entire OCIA team for their commitment to mentoring and forming our candidates through their journey. There are more individuals in the process, so we will see additional celebrations on the First Sunday of Advent.

Our long Lenten journey -- characterized by our acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is at an end and the celebrations of his Blessed Resurrection begin. The next fifty days will draw our focus to the power of life over death, love over hatred, and good over evil.