September 13, 2026

September 9, 2026

Dear Friends,


Yellow School Buses are on the road reminding me another passage of time is happening.  The young people and children I have been fortunate to talk to seem ready for this new school year.  On the other hand, some are honestly expressing their hesitation in returning to a new academic year.  This month I always recall the “Staples” ad with a woman, jubilant with her cart, going through the aisles

with the music in the background ringing out “It’s the most Beautiful Time of the Year!”.   I also remember a  dear friend who for years always found this month sad. She so enjoyed having her children home for the summer and didn’t want it to end! Everyone has a thought, a memory, and a tug one way or another in their heart. Let’s pray for a safe, peaceful, enjoyable, and blessed year ahead for everyone in this new academic year!


Our Parish Staff is getting excited about our welcoming Bishop Bonnici on September 26 ! We hope you and all our parishioners will

join in welcoming him to the 5:30 PM mass at Saint Catherine’s. I am sure you’ll enjoy meeting him and praying with him at Mass.

Ater the mass, a light reception will follow and give everyone some time to meet, greet, and welcome him to our parishes.  Mark your calendars!!!


On September 1 we began our new 2026 Season of Creation! I hope you received the great handout in last weeks bulletin offering us ideas on how to celebrate this season and continue to respect and care for the world God has entrusted to us. Pope Francis instilled in us inspiration for this treasured gift, God’s Creation, that has been placed in our hands. A focused theme for our 2026 journey is on “Living Water.” Check out Ezekiel 47:1-12. Water has been a major focus for ourselves and our sisters and brothers throughout the world. Too much water and flooding in so many areas ,and then not enough water in other areas where folks and landscapes are parched. Where can we find ourselves in helping to address this issue? The Season of Creation continues to October 4 , the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis and Saint Kateri Tekakwitha are patron saints for creation and ecology.  Let’s ask their intercession in our prayers to be good stewards of this fabulous world we are entrusted to care for ourselves and future generations.


On September 12th very generous men/stewards from our parishes and beyond will be heading to Booneville, Kentucky.  A week ago some of these wonderful brothers were at Mass. See the photo accompanying this article. We prayed over them and  others in absentia, gifted them with a beautiful cross created by Sam Damico, and blessed their response to the Lord’s invitation to  go and bring Good News to Booneville. Keep these gentlemen in your thoughts and prayers. May their week be abundant in blessings! 


I am prejudiced. I believe in a very good way. A man of God I have admired  from the time I first met him is having a birthday. Not just a birthday, but his 90th  birthday! Who would ever have thought I would be blessed to follow in his footsteps  when he retired from Saint Catherine of Siena. I was so honored to be able to do so  with the person I looked up to for his ministry, love of the Lord, and his wisdom on  how to be bearers of Jesus’s Good News among one another! Father Jim Lawlor will  be celebrated October 4th, from 2 – 4 PM, at Saint Anne’s Hall,  1600 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester NY, 14620. Everyone is invited!!!  Please come and celebrate Jim if you are able. Please send him a card if you  cannot at the address I mentioned above.


Wow! We have been blessed with a wonderful friend and disciple of Jesus!

Hope you’re doing well. As ever, know I’m remembering each of you in my prayer.



With Blessings & Joy,

Father Rob

You might also like

Father Rob's Weekly Message

September 6, 2026

September 1, 2026
Dear Friends, This weekend leads us into Monday celebrating Labor Day. Mass will be celebrated at 9AM at Transfiguration. This day we acknowledge the dignity of work for all people. Those who still work, may we thank the Lord for what they provide for all of us. Let us also thank those blessed to be retired for their contributions they gave us over the years. May everyone enjoy a safe and enjoyable holiday. Some students have returned to school this past week and others will be returning this week. I pray for all our students at every level of education, teachers, professors, support staffs and everyone involved in the administration and care for our students. May we all keep them in prayer for a blessed year of learning, accomplishments that will enrich their lives, and for the safety of all. God bless these individuals! And to all who are reading this brief message, May God’s blessing be with you! Father Rob

August 30, 2026

August 26, 2026
Dear Friends, First of all, thank you to everyone who reached out to me with birthday greetings. I am very appreciative and grateful to the Lord for another day/year to celebrate joys and blessings of my natal life! I lift each of you in my prayers of thanksgiving!!! I was blessed to be with wonderful friends for my birthday and a week following. Some of you know, my “second home” has been in Beverly, Massachusetts. Now, get it right, I’ve never owned a home there, (hello, I do not have that financial realm) but I have been blessed to be part of the North Shore for forty plus years. I won’t bore you, but I met the North Shore of Cape Ann in 1982. The beginning of my journey there was as a Chaplain at Beverly Hospital with a seminary program called Clinical Pastoral Education. It was profound as I was to minister to the pediatric floor and the terminal dying. At this time, I actually lived in the hospital. It will always be a gift to me and my Director, Rev. Don Hunt was a wonderful, instrumental guide in my ministry. Then, a wonderful Pastor, Father Richard Johnson, asked if I would consider coming back the following summer and work with him. The parish was Saint Mary Star of the Sea. Well, it was possible and I did, and my life has never been the same. Many friends/family, I have made over these decades. There have been endless joys. And with love and time, we have had weddings, baptisms, stresses, funerals, and all the life situations we all know as families. I do not own physical property, but I will say, I have in my soul the bounty of family and friends in the most blessed way. I am grateful. As you might have heard and been informed about, Bishop John Bonnici will be with us September 26 for the 5:30 mass at Saint Catherine’s. We invited him to come and he asked if this liturgy would be possible. Well, of course!!! This day we will suspend our 4 PM mass so that we might all come together to meet and welcome our Bishop! I pray you will come and meet Bishop Bonnici. A few times, his presence has been gifted with me to engage in meeting him and having some conversation. After mass, there will be a light reception where you can introduce yourselves and welcome him to our parishes and diocese. If you are in town this weekend, please come and celebrate our mass with Bishop Bonnici and one another!  Holding onto summer, Blessings, Father Rob

August 23, 2026

August 18, 2026
Dear Friends, Fr. Rob is on a well-deserved vacation! Margie Benza has written this week’s column. Parish Ministry Fair September 12 and 13, 2026 It has been quite a while since we brought our faith communities together to offer a hands-on and visual opportunity to see where God is working through us in ministry. It’s also a moment of discernment where God may be calling you to serve. Our Ministry Fair will be held at both parishes after Masses on the weekend of September 12th and 13th . Each parish will offer information on their respective ministries with a chance to speak with someone, or take a flyer and sign up if you’re so moved. Think of the Ministry Fair as an opportunity to meet other parishioners, and share our time and talent with each other and for each other. From greeting or serving as a lector at Mass, helping with our faith formation ministry, serving those in need, to working in our Community Garden, there are so many ways for you to spread the good news of our faith through your actions. Our gospel continues to call us to serve one another in small ways ang large ways in our parishes, our city, in Kentucky or globally to name a few. A small example that I have seen personally is parishioners serving the homeless and hopeless. A small kindness filled their hunger and offered them hope and dignity. Join us, won’t you, for this opportunity to be the hands and hearts of Jesus in someone’s life? See you after Masses in the Parish Life Center at Transfiguration and in the Schnacky Center at St. Catherine’s. Margie Benza Pastoral Associate