Share Your Love for St. Benedict's

We all know that St. Benedict's
is the greatest parish EVER. 

Now is the time to tell the world! 

Our Evangelization Group is working on a simple project and we need your help.

The plan is to create a number of very short videos for our website, facebook and blog that feature YOU - the good and holy people of St. Benedict's.

It is a simple thing - just show up on the filming date, introduce yourself, tell us how long you've been coming to St. Ben's, and say why you love our parish.  End simply by inviting people to join you at Mass.  You can use your own words or use one of the basic scripts we'll have ready.  

That's it!   Less than a minute!  Totally painless, but Oh, so effective in letting the world know that our parish "rocks" (as the kids say)!

Deacon Bill will be personally asking some people to help so that we get a representative sample of the parish.  But we really want to hear from you because you wouldn't be reading this if you didn't love this parish!  Please help us spread the word about this great parish community!

Please contact deaconhynes@gmail.com as soon as you can if you are willing to help.  

We are filming Tuesday, June 1st from 6 to 8 P.M.  Please use the Eggert Road parking lot, enter the school door and gather in the Tobin Room.  It would be great if you told us if you were coming, but walk-ins are welcome too! 

I hope you can help us tell the world how much this parish means to you!

Thanks!

Bees, Pollen & the Parish!

Catchy title, eh?
I've been thinking about bees a lot.  This may seem very odd, so let me explain a bit and then take the bee metaphor in a new direction.

Why bees?  First, we have a wonderful stained glass window of bees and their hive in our church breezeway between the sacristy and the rectory.  I look at it often. Many Benedictine monasteries raised bees for pollination and honey. In France some beekeepers even attach a medal of St. Benedict to their hives, although St. Ambrose is generally considered the patron saint of beekeepers in most places.

Homily - 3rd Sun. Easter (C)

Update: 18 April 2010 (The Lord's Day)

Well, the homily has been preached. There is relief and hope.  I'm glad the stress is gone and I hope the homily helped us worship God better. Homily preparation, at least for me, becomes my spirituality during preparation week. Everything I do until I preach is seen through a homiletic critical lens. Now I can move on spiritually, in a sense.  I can un-focus for a bit and just enjoy the rich banquet of Catholicism until next time.

It was definitely a teaching homily today. Lots of information about worship and unveiling the heavenly mysteries. Revelation, sacramentally considered, as a "door to the sacred" (Martos).  Mass is our participation in the worship of the Lamb!

Liturgy of the Hours

We've added the Liturgy of the Hours to our website!  Click- http://www.saintbenedicts.com/ and find them under "Liturgy." You can pray them on screen, pray them as a podcast, or get an LotH app for your iPhone.

The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church.  It is primarily a collection of Psalms.  There are instructions and an explanation at the link.  Morning Prayer (lauds) and Evening Prayer (vespers) are the "hinges" of the day, the main prayer times. They are a good place to begin.  Simply click the tab near the date and pray along.

Join the Church throughout the ages and throughout the world as we make sure that time itself is consecrated to God.

Widows and Widowers

Advance notice --
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO WIDOWS/WIDOWERS YOU KNOW

St. Benedicts is holding a special Evening of Prayer and Remembrance for Widows and Widowers.

Reserve Monday 3 May from 6:30 to 7:30 PM and join us as we celebrate your amazing life of love. We'll have prayer and readings, refreshments, a chance to share our memories, hear from new and experienced widows/widowers, and help each other discover God's healing.

Please share a photo or two of your loved one with us beforehand. They will be returned to you right away after we make a digital copy. Please label them with your name and your loved one's name, and hand them to Deacon Bill or leave them with Denise Karpinski in the rectory. All widows/widowers are welcome; you don't need to be a parishioner, so invite others please. Let us know if you are coming so we can be prepared for you - email deaconhynes@gmail.com or call the rectory during business hours. You are in our prayers!

Holy Week Photos 2010

Holy Week Photos

Our Priests and Deacon 

at the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper,

Holy Thursday.

Msgr. Fran washing feet on Holy Thursday.

Seminarian Coming!

Meet Daniel Serbicki
We are so pleased to announce that Mr. Daniel Serbicki, a seminarian of the Diocese of Buffalo, will be joining us Monday (24 May 2010). You will meet Dan at liturgies and parish activities.  Welcome Dan! 

We are looking forward to ministering with Dan. Here is a little about him in his own words:

I am one of the younger seminarians in the Buffalo diocese, though not the youngest, at 25 years old. I first started thinking about priesthood at a young age, certainly before High School. I'm sure I'll tell that story when I get there. I was Homeschooled and raised mostly in the country, and am the oldest of five siblings. I have always had an interest in reading, but also Philosophy and Theology. We have a picture of me working on a computer at a pretty young age (probably before 2?) so I've always been pretty techy too.

After several High school youth retreats, including Steubenville, I decided to take discernment seriously and joined their pretheology program in 2002, but hadn't decided if I was called to the Franciscans or the diocese. I spent a semester in Austria in 2004. I was accepted as a seminarian for Buffalo I believe in 2005, and graduated in 2006 convinced that God was calling me to come to my home diocese.

Since that time, I have served a summer assignment at St. Andrew's Kenmore with Fr. John Mack in 2007, and a pastoral year with Fr. Greg Dobson at St. Mary of the Angels in 2008-2009.

I have also done a variety of immersion programs, often focusing in urban areas. Most recently this was through the seminary, and we spent time in Buffalo's central city, but while in college I also spent a week in urban Chicago with the needy and a week in North Dakota at an Indian reservation, mostly doing catechesis.

That's me in a nutshell, I look forward to getting to know all of you soon!

Easter Vigil - recap

Wow!  What a great evening of worship.

How great it was to see so many parishioners joining our Elect - Justin, Joanna, Jessica, Robert and Bill - in the celebration of the sacraments.  Our parish, and our Church, continues to attract people who find Christ alive among us.

Seeing all our priests concelebrating the Triduum is to realize how blessed our parish truly is. Where will you find four priests in one parish today?  How great to see Fr. Joe P (our pastor), Fr. Paul, Fr. Joe F. and Msgr. Fran vested and concelebrating Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.  Our priests and deacon gathered together for Evening Prayer before the Vigil too.

Easter Vigil - getting ready

The Easter Vigil liturgy is so rich and exciting.  It is the culmination of the Church's liturgical year, of Holy Week, and of months of preparation for our RCIA Elect and Candidates.  It is the Church's "big day" because it is the earliest celebration of Jesus' resurrection. 

Those who will be baptized at the Vigil are living signs to us of the dying and rising of Jesus because they die to their old selves and are buried in the waters of baptism and then rise (resurrect) - born again of water and the Spirit - new creations in Christ. They are then anointed with Chrism (Confirmation).  It is thus that they, like us, are properly called "Christians" - anointed ones. They then join us around the Lord's Table for their First Eucharist. You can now see why the three sacraments of initiation - baptism, confirmation and eucharist - are received at the Easter Vigil. This year we have one adult baptism, five confirmations and two first eucharist receptions.

There is a lot of preparation for this big night.  Months of RCIA sessions, weeks of musical practice by Glen, our choirs and cantors; scheduling of lectors, altar servers, ushers, and Eucharistic ministers, time spent decorating the church, and getting liturgical briefings from our Pastor, Fr. Joe, who will be presiding at this great liturgy. All of us have our parts to play in this great evening of worship. That is a metaphor for the Church and our parish - all of us have our part to play.

This is not a liturgy to attend "accidentally;" it is for serious Catholics (and serious visitors) who want to experience the depth of the Church's liturgy.  Are you serious about your Faith?  This might be the year to step it up and worship with us at the Easter Vigil.  It doesn't get any bigger than this night.  If you're ready, join us Saturday at 8:30 pm.  I hope to see you there. We gather outside in front of the church for the blessing of the fire. If you have questions about the Easter Vigil, either now or after you attend, please contact me deaconhynes@gmail.com.