Retreat 2 Nov. - save the date and plan to join us!

The Psalms:
appreciating the prayer book of the Jewish people, Jesus, and the Church

Annual Parish Fall Retreat sponsored by our

St. Vincent de Paul Society

Please join us!  All are welcome.

date: Saturday, 2 November 2013

time: 9:30am through 5:30pm Mass

place: St. Benedict Parish, Main Street & Eggert Road, Amherst, NY

cost: $10 includes lunch and beverages

RSVP/contact: Mr. Matthew Smith at msmith@saintbenedicts.com
or 836-6444

Deacon William Hynes will lead us in:
     The Psalms through History
      Psalm Types and Themes
     The Psalms and Jesus
     The Psalms in Contemporary Culture
     Praying the Psalms today - individually and liturgically.

Vincentian News

Vincentian News

St. Vincent de Paul
transept window, St. Benedicts Church
Amherst, New York

Please make note of the following dates! We would love to see you at each of them.  If you are interested in joining our St. Vincent de Paul Conference or our Ladies of Charity simply attend a meeting or call the rectory anytime.  These are our major outreach groups at St. Benedict's.  They humbly do tremendous work for Christ's poor.

1. Annual Retreat--Saturday, November 3rd from 9:30-5 (followed by Mass) at St. Benedict's: Deacon Bill Hynes KeyNote. Please RSVP your attendance to msmith@saintbenedicts.com. Cost $10/person includes lunch and refreshments.

2. SVDP Northern District Meeting, Wednesday, November 7th at 7:30: Gathering Room #1, St. Gregory the Great Parish. One of the agenda items will be nominations for a new Northern District president. Please RSVP by 2 November to njm128@aol.com or by calling 551-1898 or 631-0238.Barb Flynn has offered to be the designated driver to the Northern District meeting if anyone wants to attend. Contact msmith@saintbenedicts.com to make arrangements. In light of the retreat, there will be no monthly meeting for our St. Ben's SVDP, HOWEVER, all members are invited and encouraged to attend this meeting as highlighted below.

3. We Are the Voice of the Poor: Saturday, November 17th from 11:30 4 (followed by Mass) @ 75 Caldwell Place, Lackawanna (a Catholic Charities facility): A collaborative gathering of Vincentians (SVDP, Ladies of Charity, Daughters of Charity, Congregation of the Mission). For more information, please contact Ladies of Charity at 895-4001 or SVDP @ 882-3360 x-4. Cost $15/person includes lunch.   Our own Kathy Sieracki asked Sheila Gilbert to address this gathering. Sheila is the national president of SVDP. Not only is she the first female president of the Society, she is the first to visit WNY. The best way to show our gratitude to Kathy is by our presence. It will be worth the effort!!!!
 

 

Please pass this information along to anyone you feel would be interested.

Feeding the Hungry - THANKSGIVING DAY

Families, members of Generations of Faith & St. Vincent de Paul, gather in the St. Benedict's Parking lot at 7:30 AM to receive donations of breakfast food to take down to Little Portion Friary, a homeless shelter on Main Street.  Dozens of people baked, purchased food, or volunteered to serve a delicious meal to Christ in the distressing disguise of the poor.  Special thanks to Denise Levy and her family for coordinating this wonderful activity which embodies the spirit of this day.

Parish Retreat - 19 Nov. 2011

The St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Benedict’s Parish cordially invites you to join us on a one-day retreat called
Following Jesus in Mark’s Gospel

Did you know that every year the church focuses on one Gospel?

In a few weeks another liturgical year will begin. This year most of the Gospel readings we will hear on Sunday will come from Mark.

How is Mark’s Gospel different from the other evangelists?

What lessons does Mark give us in our quest to follow the way of Jesus?

Come join Deacon Bill for a full day retreat as we dig deep into scriptures. Let us reflect together how we might follow Jesus more closely through Mark’s Gospel.

DATE: Saturday, November 19, 2011
TIME: 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
PLACE: St. Benedicts Parish, School Gym
COST: Ten Dollars (Retreat includes lunch and beverages).
For more information or to make a reservation write to Matt Smith at msmith@saintbenedicts.com or call 836-6444.

RETREAT DIRECTOR: Mr. William Hynes, Permanent Deacon. Deacon Bill serves at St. Benedict’s Parish, teaches religion to eleventh graders at St. Joseph Collegiate Institute, and taught for many years in the Diaconal Formation Program for the Diocese of Buffalo. For the last three summers Bill has had meaningful experiences teaching in third world countries. Bill was ordained in St. Joseph’s Cathedral by Bishop Mansell in June 1998

Friends of the Poor Walk - 24 September

Society of St. Vincent de Paul

Friends of the Poor Walk

On Saturday, September 24, the annual Friends of the Poor Walk will be held on Goat Island in Niagara Falls State Park  The length of the walk is about 1.3 miles around the periphery of the island, and walkers and sponsors can register on the Walk’s local website, www.svdpwnywalk.info, or on the National website, www.svdpusa.org.  In addition, Society members from our Parish will be available in the vestibule of the church after all Masses on the weekends of Sept. 10-11, and Sept. 17-18, to register  walkers and sponsors.  The walk is a great fund-raising opportunity, and monies raised will go to directly assist the poor in our community.

For information on St. Benedict's St. Vincent de Paul Society visit - http://bit.ly/f7egIy

Harvesting Love - Isidore's Garden

In the Gospels, Jesus often uses agricultural imagery. We hear about water, seeds, soil conditions, roots, sun, thorns, plants that grow well and yield a rich harvest, and plants that wither and die. Both our individual role as Christians and our collective mission as Church are compared to plant life in parables by Jesus. Here are some biblical passages to meditate upon: Mt 13:1-23, Mt 13:24-43, Is 55:10-11, Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13,14, Rom 8:18-23.

The parish Salt & Light group and the St. Vincent de Paul Society invite you to join us in an ongoing meditation on these teachings of Sacred Scripture through a project we are calling “Isidore's Garden: Harvesting Love”

St. Isidore is the patron saint of farmers. He embodied the Benedictine spirituality of work and prayer, and shared food he grew with the poor. St. Isidore's garden need not be limited to a patch of land in Madrid, Spain in the twelfth century, "Isidore's Garden" could spread to backyards, gardens, window boxes, orchards and farms around the world.

We invite all parishioners of St. Benedict's, and all people of goodwill, to follow St. Isidore’s beautiful example and dedicate a small patch of garden to grow fresh produce for those in need.

We invite you to bring the fruits of your labor to Mass on Sunday (bring your tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, etc.) to be presented with the gifts during our liturgy and then the St. Vincent de Paul Conference, our Salt & Light group and our deacon will ensure that this fresh produce reaches people in need.

Simply bring the food you grow to the back vestibule of the church, where canned goods are dropped off for our monthly food drive.

If you join our effort, please email us and let us know (write to Deacon Bill at deaconhynes@gmail.com). We would like to post pictures and share stories on our blog in order to support one another, learn from one another and encourage others to join us.

Won't you help? Turn you garden into holy ground!
Together, let us reap a harvest of love!
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St. Vincent de Paul Society - St. Benedict's

ST. VINCENT De PAUL SOCIETY:
Bringing help to the Needy in Body and Spirit

The St Vincent de Paul (SVDP) Conference at St Benedict's is an active group of individuals whose mission is to seek out those in the Parish who may be in need and combine their efforts to answer those needs in whatever way it can. Some of the group's activities include a Spring and Fall clothing drive, monthly contributions to the food pantry at Blessed Trinity, sponsoring children at the SVDP Summer Camp and responding to referrals of individuals in need.

Referrals may come from the SVDP Main Office, our Parish office and, sometimes from social workers at our area schools, but, regardless of the source, the members of SVDP are always there, ready to lend a helping hand.

Meetings of the Society are held at 7 pm once every month in the Faith Formation Office, located on the first floor of the School, Room 13. (Use the Westfield Lot School door for easist access.)

Some of our SVDP members at the Friends of the Poor Walk, 2012

If you are interested in joining or learning more about the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and how you can help in its efforts to minister to others, call the Rectory at 834-1041 or email Rectory@saintbenedicts.com.

New members are always welcome, as well as your ideas and enthusiasm!