This Sunday is Mission Sunday. Bishop Sualsingh of Sambalpur, India will speak at our Masses. Sambalpur is in one of the poorest states in India. The 64,000 Catholics there face much persecution as well as pandemic-induced hardships.

We appreciate your prayerful and financial support of the Mission to educate children in the Catholic faith and keep the flame of our faith burning. Donations can be made through our online giving site (once there, click on the Second Collections button in the Home tab) or in next Sunday’s second collection.

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.

Our parish is participating in Sacred Sites Open House, an event organized by the NY Landmarks Conservancy that celebrates the art, architecture, and history of New York State’s amazing ecclesiastical buildings. Visitors can participate in self-guided tour of local churches.

Our church will be open to visitors today Saturday, July 23 from 12 to 5 PM.

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.

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.