By Chris Munzing
"The main thing that I'm looking forward to is getting to know the community, the people and finding out about the values of these parishioners," Beckmann told the Herald. "I want to see what the people think before I come in with new plans or ideas."
Father Logan did not return calls for comment.
The son of an Irish Catholic mother and a German Lutheran father, Beckmann was raised in Manhasset and attended St. Mary's elementary and high schools. He obtained degrees in philosophy from Cathedral College and in theology from Catholic University and attended Immaculate Conception seminary in Huntington.
Beckmann said one of the goals he did have was getting the youth and young adults involved in the church. He said that young people today have many options spiritually, and he wants to show them that the Catholic church still has a lot to offer them.
He said one way to do that was to get more young people involved in the clergy, something that he admitted is difficult to do, but not impossible. "When I was facing this decision as a young man, I wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea of a life of celibacy," he laughed. "But we have to let people see how fulfilling and how much fun it can be to be involved in people's lives on a such a personal level," he said.
Beckmann has served in many different positions since being ordained in the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1970, first as an assistant pastor at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre and in various capacities in Huntington, Woodbury and at Hofstra University.
In 2001, Beckmann resigned as a pastor to work full-time at the Diocese of Rockville Centre as the Secretary for Pastoral Ministry, which involved him in the work of overseeing the ministry of diocesan offices and organizations to Catholics of the various ethnic and immigrant groups on Long Island.
In a letter to his new parishners, Beckmann wrote "I am delighted that Bishop [William] Murphy has now acceded to my request to return to parish ministry and has assigned me to your parish community," he wrote. "My heart is in parish work and I look forward, God and the bishop permitting, to a long-term commitment to the St. Ignatius parish and the Long Beach and Atlantic Beach communities."
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