Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Benedict,
Time is here again for us to announce the upcoming events of the fall and winter, as well as to bring you up to date on some things going on in and around the parish.
At present the gardens around the parish are quite lush and in full bloom, the veggies are beginning to produce abundantly, tomatoes, squash, pepper, eggplants, and cucumbers all surrounded by crepe myrtles in various shades. It is a most welcoming sight to behold.
Our radio station: WVTO 92.7 FM is now broadcasting 24 hours a day. It is beamed from atop the bell tower of the church with a 6 mile radius, mainly Relevant Radio programming, very fine Catholic Talk Radio. We make announcements and breaks for local news and information. It is sponsored by tax deductible donations made out to WVTO at our address.
The ten-year project of replacing the windows in the Parish Center is now 90% complete. The monies from the Window Fund Raffle have accomplished this major undertaking. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE BOUGHT TICKETS OVER THE YEARS.
Our next major undertaking will be the installation of a drainage system and the resurfacing of the parking areas in and around the Parish Center and the Church, all of which are badly needed.
In the neighborhood, we will soon be seeing the opening of the Frederick Elementary School in September which will be hi-tech and up to date in every way; it will also be a charter school with many special features made available to the local students. It has been a tremendous undertaking by the City to bring education up to par.
During this 100th Anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, there have been special prayer events at the grotto and in Church. I will be remembering all of you in my prayers when I am in Fatima with our pilgrimage group on the 13th of October.
At the end of June, we had the good fortune to have a visiting priest move into the rectory with us. Rev. Agapitus Businge from Uganda. He will be here for approximately two years working on his dissertation for his PhD from Catholic University in DC. Fr. Agapitus has been a great asset to the parish since his arrival.
Our Friday Night free movies this summer have been excellent with such a great variety of films and very good ones too. Everyone who has attended has truly enjoyed them. This is an effort of our evangelization team to reach out to the neighborhood.
Yours in Christ and St. Benedict,