Dear Parishioner,
As I hope you are already aware, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has declared 2009 The Year of the Priest in an effort to encourage "spiritual perfection" in priests. With your assistance, I hope that we can also reflect this year on the sacrifice of the local servants who devoted their energies to serving our parishes of St. Joachim and St. John through the decades – as well as leave a lasting tribute to their myriad contributions through the continued improvement of our parish. In a Vatican City address to launch the special year of observance, Pope Benedict said the priestly ministry consists of total adherence to the ecclesial tradition of participating "in a spiritually intense new life and a new lifestyle which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and which the apostles made their own." Priestly ordination creates new men who are bestowed with the gift and office of sanctifying, teaching and governing, he said. The pope said he was calling for the special year for priests in an effort to foster the priest's yearning "for spiritual perfection, upon which the effectiveness of their ministry principally depends…. The awareness of the radical social changes over the past decades must stir the best ecclesial energies to look after the formation of priestly candidates," Pope Benedict said. We have planned a very special evening at Dutchess Manor on Saturday, November 21, 2009, when we hope to celebrate the men who devoted their “best ecclesial energies” to sustaining our communities of faith since the founding of the first Catholic community in what was then the Village of Matteawan as early as 1853. During the event, we will gratefully recall the lives of the parish priests who chose to dedicate their mission to the people of Beacon. We will produce a very special keepsake Journal as
a highlight of the event. It will include information on the priests who served our parishes, and all
proceeds will be used to install central air conditioning in the rectory for our parish priests.
I encourage you to submit a Journal advertisement in memory or in honor of a priest who touched your life. Attached please find ad dimensions, prices and deadlines, along with my gratitude for your selfless support. If you have any questions, please contact Marianne Dahl, 831-5406. Please allow me to express a heartfelt “thank you” to the dedicated volunteers who are working so diligently to ensure the success of this event and to all parishioners for their unwavering and generous support of our community of faith. God bless you.

In Christ,
Rev. David Nolan

Journal Ads: Back Cover: $500 Inside Cover and
Centerfold: $250.
Full Page $100 1/2 Page $50 1/4 page $25
Message:
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
Name
_____________________________________
Amount Enclosed: __________________________
Please return to parish office or mail to Marianne
Dahl, 20 Rende Drive, Beacon no later than
November 6, 2009