Please download the service texts to follow along with our Holy Week online celebration:
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Holy Week and Easter Schedule
Below is our Holy Week and Easter parish schedule:
April 5 – Palm Sunday
9 AM – Faith sharing group
11:15 AM – Mass
April 8 – “Spy” Wed
Noon – Rosary
April 9 – Holy Thursday
9 AM – Morning prayer
7:30 PM – Vespers
April 10 – Good Friday
9 AM – Morning prayer
3 PM – Stations of the Cross
7:30 PM – Stations of the Cross
St. Charles at Home (episode posted during the day)
April 11 – Holy Saturday
9 AM – Morning prayer
7:30 PM – Vespers
April 12 – Easter Sunday
9 AM – Faith sharing group
11:15 AM – Easter Mass
Join our live public online events on Zoom Meeting ID 819 741 616 (https://zoom.us/j/819741616) or by dialing (646) 876-9923, entering 819 741 616, and pressing # and then # again when prompted for a participant ID. Recordings will be available at our website. We ask that you continue to read our parish emails and check the website for the most up-to-date information. If you do not get the emails, you can sign up on our website https://www.stcharlesbklyn.org
St. Charles at Home: Earth Shattering Palm Sunday
Fr. John Gribowich discusses Palm Sunday, an earth shattering moment then and now, with Antonia Fusco
Palm Sunday 2020 – Fr. Gribowich Homily
Okay – good morning, everyone! I hope that you’re still all here with us. Like I promised, it was going to be a little messy, because the story that we had just heard is messy, right?
And this story, of course, is something that we know inside and out. I mean how many Holy Weeks have we gone through where we’ve heard the Passion. For those of us who participate in the service on Good Friday, we end up hearing two versions of the Passion throughout the week – today, and of course then on Friday, as well.
Yet, none of us have heard the Passion during the time that we’re facing right now, with this Coronavirus. In a certain sense, what we just heard, I think has a brand new relevance in our lives, and I think we can relate very much to Jesus screaming on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you abandoned me?” Continue reading “Palm Sunday 2020 – Fr. Gribowich Homily”
New Episode of St. Charles at Home Posted
Fr. Bill speaks with Joseph and Diane Genova to reflect on parallels between the short story Revelation by Flannery O’Connor, last Sunday’s Gospel, and what we are experiencing during this time of the coronavirus pandemic. The video concludes with a meditation upon the cross with “Were You There” performed by our music ministry.
Sunday 9 AM Faith Sharing Group Continues Past Lent
Our Sunday 9 AM faith sharing group continues to meet online. While it was originally planned to be a Lenten faith sharing group, the group will continue to meet during this extraordinary time of no public Masses.
All are welcome even if you are joining for the first time. You can connect via our public Zoom meeting ID (819 741 616). Full instructions, including a way to join by phone, are available here.
Please note that the Sunday evening faith sharing group will no longer be meeting.
Message from Josephine Dongbang, PPC
St. Charles family, how are you holding up? For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Josephine Dongbang and before these unprecedented times, I usually attended the 7 PM Mass.
But let’s talk about these unprecedented times. Every morning, I hear about folks losing jobs and businesses, Asian Americans being attacked and even assaulted, healthcare professionals falling ill on the front lines because they don’t have masks, and neighbors having to say farewell to loved ones over the phone because they must maintain distance. It breaks my heart every day and it brings tears to my eyes (again) as I write this. I, as I’m sure many of you, have also been personally impacted by the pandemic. It makes all of my prior problems feel so trivial and in these moments of despair and weakness, I am humbled knowing that we have so little control. Continue reading “Message from Josephine Dongbang, PPC”
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
Photo by Srinivasan Venkataraman on Unsplash
Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4–7
April 5, 2020
Readers of these reflections with a good memory will note that this is the usual Old Testament reading for the Mass for Palm Sunday. It is considered so important that it is used other times of the year as well (24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B). We read it this year during the coronavirus pandemic and its message is even stronger and more pertinent.
As with so many of the passages we have examined, we must return to the mindset of the people who rebuilt Jerusalem around 520 BC. A miracle had occurred. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed and the leaders brought into exile in Babylon. This should have been the end of the Jewish people. Yet God through the unlikely intermediary of Cyrus, Prince of Persia, has given them a chance to start again. Enough decided to return to the ruins of Jerusalem that they could contemplate reconstruction. Yet they needed a second miracle to know why they were there. Continue reading “Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading”