Author: St. Charles Borromeo

Homilies

Homily – 17th Sunday Ordinary Time (Fr. Smith)

| St. Charles Borromeo

It is often said that the family that prays together, stays together. This brings back memories of praying the rosary around my parent’s bed during May and October when I was a child. Members of our young family group have told me of their adaptations of family prayer. It is so important that Jesus recognized it and gave us the Lord’s Prayer as our “family prayer”. There is enough here for 5 sermons so we will limit ourselves to: how we are a family, what kind of family are we, and how will we know we are praying it well? 

We are a family because Jesus has made a covenant with us. A covenant is a sharing of life and is open ended. It is not a contract. A contract has definite stipulations that must be met, a covenant is a pledge to walk together. A covenant always requires a sacrifice. We commemorate this at every Mass which creates, as we say at the consecration, a “new and everlasting covenant”.  

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Bulletin

Sacred Sites Open House Recap

| St. Charles Borromeo

Last Saturday, we participated in the 12th Sacred Sites Open House. Ours was one of eleven churches in Brooklyn to be featured in the event.

It was an opportunity to celebrate our historic building as we opened the doors and welcomed our neighbors, friends, and visitors to share the architecture and history of our historic building. On a hot, humid day, several parish volunteers provided a warm welcome and offered a cold-water refreshment as guest toured the building.

We are honored to participate in the event for a fourth time and hope to be included in future events.

Bulletin

Family Fellowship Gathering Next Sunday

| St. Charles Borromeo

Our Family Fellowship group will meet on Sunday, July 31 at 10 AM for a family social gathering in the rectory garden. We will have snacks/drinks to share.

Please also mark your calendars for our upcoming gatherings. We will meet on Sunday, August 21 at 10 AM also in the rectory garden. Starting on September 11, we will meet regularly on the second Sunday of the month at 10 AM.

For more information about our group, please check out the article in Tablet in which we were featured: “At St. Charles, a Baby Boom Brings Parents Together in Fellowship.” The full article is available on our website, on a poster in the back of the church, and is excerpted below:

[T]here’s a new family fellowship in the church that’s specifically designed to bring parents of young children together to tell their stories, share advice and discuss raising their children in the Catholic faith.
[…]
At that first session, parents spent time discussing their choices for the best books with religious themes to read aloud to children, Father Smith said.

Bulletin

Mass Intentions for the Week of June 26

| St. Charles Borromeo


Mass Intentions

Sunday, June 26
9 AM Mass Remembered By
Robert DeGregorio ✟ James Maleady
11:15 AM Mass Requested By
Thanksgiving for many blessing received Angel & Minsie Ampil
In memory of my father Percíval Williams ✟ Lela Madoo
11:15 AM Baptisms
Margoux Michele Ryan
Olivia Rae Kenny
Tuesday, June 28
12:10 PM Mass Remembered By
Dorothy Joan Torregrossa ✟ James Maleady
Thursday, June 30
12:10 PM Mass Remembered By
Estrella, Emilia, & Felipe Valdez ✟ Gloria Valdez

The Masses celebrated at St. Charles Borromeo may be offered for your intentions–for any person or persons, living or deceased. To have a Mass offered for someone, please call or email the rectory.

Bulletin

PPC Elections Now Open

| St. Charles Borromeo

Voting is now open in the Parish Pastoral Council election. Our Parish Pastoral Council (PPC”) is the seven-person group responsible for planning and executing the pastoral activities of our Parish. We are seeking three people to serve three-year terms, which will commence on June 15, 2022.

Three individuals were nominated by fellow parishioners: Tevin Williams, Alexandra Gupta, and Maria Lehman. Each candidate prepared a statement which appears below. Our Nomination Committee reviewed the candidates and determined they were all eligible to serve on the PPC.

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Scriptual Commentary

Fifth Sunday of Easter – Transforming the World

| St. Charles Borromeo

Christ Roi,
Noel Bonardi, 1984, Col de Verghio, Corsica
(photo by Rogiro)
(About this Image)

I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:34–35)

Fr. Bill’s Commentary on the Second Reading
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Book of Revelations: 21:1–5a
May 15, 2022

The Book of Revelation, as we have seen repeatedly, makes extensive use of the Old Testament. John the Seer’s audience would have included a substantial number of Jewish-born members and many second-generation Christians with a good Jewish pedigree. They knew the references we have quoted very well. Gentiles from the Greek-thinking world would have been expected to learn the Jewish background. The Jewish scriptures are alluring and helpful but were not their immediate thought world and some areas would be difficult for them to emotionally connect. If that is so for them, it is more a problem for us.

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