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It felt so good this week to see so many happy students filling the halls of St. Benedict School! After six months of inactivity the halls came alive again. Our teachers and staff have adapted well to this new mode of teaching, and it all seems to be off to a wonderful start. It is good to see. Read more.

Happy Labor Day! Here we are at the “official end of summer” while many of us are probably feeling that summer never really began. We are entering our seventh month of uncertainty given the pandemic and, although you can go into your favorite restaurant beginning this weekend, things really do remain uncertain for sure. Read more.

We can feel the buzz about as the teachers have been in the school setting up their classrooms and getting things ready for this somewhat surrealistic return of the students. They were all here for their first in-person faculty meeting since February! It’s great seeing movement about the building and to hear voices again in the hallways. At present enrollment for the school stands at 422. Third grade is the only in-person grade where we are actively taking students. Most of the classes are now full. Students will return in earnest on September 8th. Read more.

We know that we are living in challenging times. As August marches on to September and we gear-up for the opening of school, we know that there are many variables than can disrupt those plans. The political and social turmoil around us has all of us in a sense of dis-ease. I have addressed this before in some of these letters. Read more.

Certainly in the midst of the social and personal effects of the pandemic the fallout from Isaias seemed overwhelming. As you probably noticed with the disruption of our daily livestream of Mass the parish complex was out of power from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. While through the fortunate situation of being on a different grid than the church and school complex Father JM and I never lost power. The disruption to the work of the parish, as we are just now gearing up after the lockdown, was very challenging. We are investigating the purchase of a generator to safeguard against such disruptions in the future. Read more.

Well it certainly has been an interesting summer hasn't it! As I write this the parish is without power and has been now for over 15 hours as the result of the tropical storm that came barreling through here on Tuesday afternoon. I know that many of you are in the same situation as we are here. As inconvenient as it is at least it does not appear that any of us have sustained any serious damage. It does seem, however, that Mother Nature is piling on as we are also still enduring the pandemic. I pray that we are all safe and doing well in the midst of all of this crisis. Read more.

Plans for the fall are coming along well. We are in constant conversation concerning the opening of school, the process for religious education for the parish children, adult faith-formation, and the normal functioning of parish life. We know it isn’t easy, but it all must be done. Read more.

Hard to believe it now but July comes to an end this Friday, it is time to think seriously about what the Fall will look like. I had expected that we would be at greater capacity in church now than we are. While last weekend saw an increase in people present, we are not yet reaching the 1/3 allowable capacity for Mass. Disappointing – yes; understandable – yes. However, it is good to see so many returning to the celebration of daily Mass. Likewise, our M-W-F confessions have also been going well. We will continue to phase in as the conditions and the diocese allows. Read more.

As we break through the mid-point of July I guess we have all come to the sad and troubling realization that life is not returning to normal any time soon. I hope that each of you are able to enjoy some downtime and relax from all of the stresses of the past five months. We need to continue our prayers for an end to the pandemic conditions and for a vaccine and a cure for the afflicted. Read more.

As July rolls along and the world around us seems to be more and more unsettled and confusing, meeting the challenges that come our way becomes more difficult. While we are opening up more and we see a progressive increase in cases in other areas of the country we remain prudentially cautious. Not as many of you have returned to regular Mass attendance – either on the weekend or for daily Mass – as we initially expected. We realize that some of you are still uncomfortable coming out or you are not happy about the need to get a ticket for an assigned seat, and we certainly understand that. It is our expectation to be announcing some procedural changes soon. We want to insure that everyone feels safe. It is difficult to do all of these things easily. The demands for the disinfecting of the church after each Mass add a level of limitation to what we can do. We have found it interesting that more people were attending Mass in the school gym than in the church. Read more.

Some quick news before my reflection: the bishop – after consultation with the governor, has expanded the attendance at daily Mass to 100 people, we will no longer require advanced notice of your desire to come to daily Mass. Feel free to come – wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, and entering/exiting through door #6 only. We are also ending the Sunday 8:00 a.m. Mass in the Gym, directing everyone to the church only. Read more.

As I get out and speak to more and more of you, to other priests of our diocese and elsewhere, and with other friends and relatives I am becoming increasingly aware of the sense of anger and disappointment that many are feeling – and now able to express – as we have endured this pandemic quarantine for the past four months. Some of this anger is directed at the government – whether the president or the governor, or even both; much of the anger is directed at the “church” whether our diocese, the church as a whole in the USA and the world, and also at us here at St. Benedict’s. Read more.

So many moving pieces – such a challenging time to live in and especially in which to do pastoral ministry. Read more.

The role out of the opening of our state and our churches has been fast and furious, but trying to keep up is like aiming at a moving target. Just when we had a system working for the twenty-five person daily Mass attendance, the number doubled to fifty. We are working out those details for seating, cleaning, etc., and they will be announced probably before you read this letter making this a moot point. Nonetheless, we are doing our best here to plan and implement the directives, keeping in mind everyone’s needs, concerns, and desires. This has not been easy, and we are doing our best. Thank you to the team of Father JM, Lori Ulrich, Margaret Roddy, and Anita Magnan for their diligence in getting this all together. We have learned a great deal in the last three months! Read more.

The good news is that the church can open for Mass beginning Monday, June 8th; the bad news is that the required restrictions place a heavy burden on the church and the parishioners. So let me open by saying that I expect this to be a short-term solution as restrictions are eased gradually over the summer months. Read more.

Pentecost is upon us, the Easter Season is over as of Evening Prayer on Sunday. Fifty days since Easter – some considerable stretch of time, the entirety of which we have been on “social distancing” and limited movement. While things look like they are breaking forward, there is no news to report (as of this writing) regarding further opening of the churches or the celebration of the Sacraments. As soon as there is noteworthy news I will again issue a general phone call to the parish to inform you of the developments. Read more.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activities, news, developments, and whatever else in the midst of a world-wide pandemic and social distancing. While it looks like we are beginning to emerge from some of this, there seems to be much yet undone. Let me discuss, briefly, some church developments. Read more.

There are signs of hope all around us. As you know by now we have been permitted to open the church for private prayer and devotion since this past Wednesday (May 13th – the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima). After careful deliberation we decided to open the Hall of Saints for private prayer. This space is large enough to accommodate the ten person maximum rule, it has a dedicated entrance/exit, it is a familiar place for prayer, offers a view of the church and the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle, and enables the lighting of devotional candles.

Although it came as no real surprise, our students and teachers were saddened to learn that they would not be returning to school during this academic year. Through the arduous dedication of our faculty, the on-line learning here has been going very well. Our students have the opportunity to daily connect with their teachers and, just as importantly, with one another. This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week, and there are not enough ways that we can express how much we appreciate the teachers, the principal, and the entire support staff of SBS. Thank you!

May – the month when we generally think of Spring coming into its richness, and we anticipate the summer season ahead – is offering us some hope of regeneration and reemerging from our banishment and exile. Regardless of how the month unfolds for us here, we know that “hope springs eternal.” Read more.