Grand Opening of our Church
All roads lead to St. Benedict parish tomorrow as we dedicate our beautiful new, permanent worship space. I am so glad to inform you that we received a special temporary permission (not Certificate of Occupancy yet) from the City of Phoenix to move forward with the dedication of our Church at 5pm tomorrow, as planned. We are also permitted to use the Church for our weekend Liturgies. We hope to get the Certificate of Occupancy in the next few weeks when all the requirements are addressed. What an exciting and historical moment and a dream come true for us! I thank the members of the Building Committee who have worked tirelessly to make this dream possible. Thank you to everyone involved in the preparation and those who participated in the Novena through the intercession of our patron, Saint Benedict. Above all, I thank God for granting us our prayers.
We look forward to welcoming everyone, especially our guests and friends of St. Benedict who will be coming from different parts of the country. The dedication ceremony will be livestreamed on our parish YouTube channel: (
https://www.youtube.com/@st.benedictcatholicchurch5177/videos). Here are some logistics to keep in mind for those who are planning to attend.
If you are attending, please arrive at the church property (early) and park as directed by the Scouts who will be managing the traffic. (Do not park in the school parking lot since they also have an event this evening.) Parking is also available at Horizon School which is just south of St. Benedict.
We will begin with a short prayer and devotion to St. George relic at 4:45pm in St John Bosco Multipurpose Room (MPR). Immediately following the prayer, we will gather in the school courtyard and prepare to process to the church. There is an order of procession and we ask that you please do so as directed by our Student Ambassadors and Hospitality Ministers. The dedication rite will begin at 5pm at the main entrance to the Church. The church doors will be closed until the Bishop performs a ceremonial knocking at the door. Those who choose not to join the procession may wait in front of the church (east side) as directed by Hospitality Ministers and will be led into the church with the general assembly.
Relic of St George
I received the Relic of St. George from the Diocese yesterday. The relic will be permanently embedded inside the new altar during the Dedication Rite. It is the tradition of the Church that a relic of a saint or martyr be embedded inside a dedicated altar. We are grateful to the Bishop and the Diocese for providing the relic of St. George for us as we were not able to get the relic of St. Benedict.
Many of us may not be familiar with the story of the life of St. George. According to the eleventh-century Greek monk Symeon of Metaphrastes, St. George was born to noble Christian parents in Cappadocia, modern-day Turkey. When his father died, George and his mother moved to Lydda, Palestine, located near modern-day Tel Aviv, Israel, where his mother had been born and where she inherited a large estate. George eventually joined the Army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian and advanced to the rank of Colonel. He was martyred by the Roman Emperor Diocletian around the year 303 for refusing to renounce his Christian faith and offer sacrifice to the Roman gods.
By the end of the fourth century, St. George was revered throughout Palestine and the Eastern Byzantine Empire. By the fifth century, devotion to him spread to the Western Roman Empire. Over the centuries, he became the patron saint of more than a dozen countries, as well as cities and dioceses within many more. In the thirteenth century, St. George appeared in the famous Golden Legend, a popular medieval devotional on the lives of the Saints. In the fourteenth century, St. George became known as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers whose intercession was readily sought, especially during the Black Death, a European plague that took the lives of countless millions.
He is the Patron Saint of agricultural workers, soldiers, archers, equestrians, chivalry, peacekeeping missions, sheep, shepherds, scouting, England and many other countries, cities, and dioceses Invoked against skin diseases and syphilis. His Feast Day is April 23rd.
Find out more about his life…