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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Holy Name of Mary gains new pastor
By LAURA FITZGERALD
[email protected]
Father Matthew Reiman, Holy Name
of Mary Assumption’s newest parish
administrator, is excited to begin serving
the people of Montgomery and Maybrook
through the goodness of God and the
priesthood.
“That’s what makes the priesthood
very joyful, there’s always opportunity
to do good, so I’m excited to start here,”
Reiman said.
The priesthood has been on Reiman’s
mind from a young age; he was seven
years old when he had his first thoughts
of entering.
“It was after my first time going to
confession, and I thought to myself, I’d
really like to do what the priest does,”
Reiman said. “I was really impressed with
that.”
He grew up in Hawthorne, New York,
where he was involved with the Catholic
Church. Thoughts of the priesthood
entered his mind again while studying
history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.
He often visited the seminary, where he
always felt welcomed and encouraged.
Then, one priest took him and a friend
to St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers for a
special vocation mass on St. Joseph’s Day.
He had a sense of belonging as soon as he
walked in the door.
Father Matthew Reiman became Holy Name
of Mary Assumption’s new parish adminis-
trator on July 1.
“As soon as I actually was in the
building, which would be future home
for six years, I somehow just knew that I
would end up being there,” Reiman said.
Reiman entered the seminary after
graduating from Marist with a bachelor’s
in history. After six years at St Joseph’s, he
was ordained by Cardinal Timothy Dolan
at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on May 23, 2015,
six years to the day after graduating from
Marist.
His time at St. Joseph’s included
academic rigor in theology and philosophy
classes, but also real-world experience,
such as serving in soup kitchens and
hospitals. He even assisted with the
Madison Square Garden mass for Pope
Francis’ visit in 2015.
Reiman spent his first four years in
the priesthood at St. Francis Xavier and
St. Clair’s in the Bronx.
Reiman was assigned to Holy Name
of Mary Assumption of Montgomery and
Maybrook on July 1 as the church’s parish
administrator. He may be promoted to
pastor after one year. This will be his first
assignment on his own, but with the love
and support of the congregation and the
wider seminary, Reiman said he does not
feel alone.
His parents are still nearby in Putnam
County, and he has many friends from
the priesthood in the area. A young
priest himself, he has seen those he was
ordained with spread to churches around
the area in an influx of young priests.
Reiman said he would like to make the
church a welcoming place for those who
may be new to the Catholic faith or those
who have fallen away from the faith.
He would also like to combine his love
of history with his faith by introducing
elements of the faith tradition, such
as the Eucharist adoration, in which
people pray before God’s presence in the
Eucharist. He would also like to introduce
the traditional Latin mass a few times a
year for special services.
His favorite part of the priesthood is
celebrating mass. He’s celebrated mass at
least once every day since his ordination,
even when he was sick or there was no
congregation.
“Everything that I can do to reverently
pray the mass and communicate the
beauty of it and the sacredness of it, that
is something that will pay great dividends
spiritually for everyone,” Reiman said. “I
really care about that.”
Reiman also enjoys watching the
weight come off people’s shoulders after
confession, knowing God is absolving
their sins.
Reiman sees the church as a refuge
in increasingly stressful and difficult
times. The church represents silence and
sacredness in a secular, hectic world.
“There were past times when our
popular culture was a lot easier to deal
with than now and I feel like a lot of
people today are under a lot of stress and
facing challenges they didn’t have to face
before,” Reiman said, “and that means
that the church can only be more relevant
than it ever has been, not less.”
Solar project proposed in Shawangunk
A community solar project was recently proposed by
NY Solar 1000, LLC, in the Town of Shawangunk.
All projects are community distributed generation,
which means any resident within the district can
subscribe to receive power from the plant. While bills
would still be issued by residents’ utility company,
residents would receive credits for a discount on their
energy bill.
The power from the projects feeds directly into the
energy grid, allowing anyone to access the renewable
energy without having to install panels on their own
property.
Located at NYS Route 52, the 2.5-megawatt plant
contains about 3.4 acres of panels and has the potential
to power about 380 homes in the NYSEG district,
Commercial Director for the Applicant Tom Brown said.
The panels will be contained in a 9.3-acre fenced-in
area surrounded by a line of tree plantings. The fenced-
in area will be leased from the current owner, E&L
Farms. The project requires no tree clearing and will be
constructed on reclaimed mining land.
Currently existing vegetation cover will be maintained
underneath the solar panels by mowing and potentially
sheep grazing, according to the project Environmental
Assessment Form. Seed mix will be used in and around
the array for erosion and sediment control. No herbicides
will be used.
The expected life of the project is between 25 and 35
years, Brown said. The Town of Shawangunk zoning code
requires a decommissioning plan for every solar project.
The project is being developed under New York-
Sun, a major component of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
Reforming the Energy Vision (REV). REV set a goal of
70 percent state-wide renewable energy generation by
2030 through mobilizing private capital for clean energy
projects.
The project will undergo a public hearing at town hall
on Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.
Town Planning Board reviews Medline warehouse project
The Town of Montgomery planning board declared the
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) complete
for the proposed Medline, Inc. warehouse at a meeting
on July 8.
The DEIS addresses potential significant adverse
environmental impacts generated by the project and
mitigation measures.
The board commented on the completeness of the
lighting and sewer plans for the project. Planning board
member Richard Montemarano expressed concern about
the plan’s outline for the use of an outdated sewer
system.
“I really don’t think that the DEIS is complete ,”
Montemarano said. “We’re depending on a town septic
system that is 25 years old that may or may not be at
capacity.”
Montemarano was the only dissenting vote.
Located on the east side of NYS Route 416 and north
of Interstate I-84, the proposed 1.3-million-square-foot
warehouse will contain offices, shipping and receiving,
warehouse storages and areas for employees.
The public hearing for the DEIS for Medline will be on
August 13 at 7 p.m. at the Valley Central Middle School
cafeteria.