The Young Professionals are holding a small social gathering in our beautiful rectory garden on Wednesday, September 15 at 7 PM. Refreshments will be served.
To help plan, we’d ask that you RSVP here by September 13.
Category: Bulletin
Keeping Love Alive in a Busy World
A talk for married couples, engaged couples, and those in the single life
Sunday, October 3, 12:15 PM
All are welcome Sunday, October 3rd, after the 11:15 AM Mass, to a talk on how couples can stay connected in the midst of busy lives. The talk will provide research-based practical tips on how to have more fun in relationships, how to have more intimate conversations, and how to find more joy in the humdrum of daily life.
Our presenter, Peter McFadden, is a New York-based marriage educator who has worked with more than five thousand couples over the past eighteen years. He has received training directly from Dr. John Gottman, the world’s leading researcher on marriage. This talk is the first of many he will be giving at St. Charles over the coming year. You can watch Peter’s introduction to the Marriage and Relationships program here.
So we can prepare for how many will be in attendance, please RSVP to Peter at [email protected]. If you can’t attend in person, you can email Peter to obtain the Zoom link.
Food Pantry Open this Thursday
Correction to today’s parish email: the Catholic Charities food pantry at St. Charles Borromeo will be open this Thursday from 8:30 AM to 1 PM.
21st Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)
At their last semiannual meeting, the Catholic Bishops of the United States discussed the Eucharist. The topic of “Eucharistic coherence” was raised by some and interpreted by many as whether President Biden and other Catholic politicians who support legal abortion should receive communion. The Vatican informed them that this decision belonged to individual bishops and that it was beyond the competence of the conference. This was not, however, the only concern they had about the Eucharist. They were particularly concerned that most American Catholics did not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They voted to prepare a statement on this and will discuss it in greater depth at their next meeting. As we see in todays’ gospel reading Jesus’ teaching that “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink” has been a stumbling block for many since the beginning of the Church. The difference is that we moderns often reject it because we do not understand it and the ancients, particularly the Jews, rejected it because they understood it all too well.
Continue reading “21st Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Smith)”Support Haiti Relief Efforts
The massive earthquake that struck Haiti last weekend has killed over 2,000 and caused tremendous destruction, leveling homes, and leaving many without shelter. We are taking up a special collection to assist our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
Collected funds will be sent to the Haitian dioceses in most needed to support humanitarian and Church needs arising from the earthquake.
You can contribute on our online donation portal, https://stcharlesbklyn.weshareonline.org/HaitiEarthquakeRelief.
Isaiah Bible Study Starts in Sep.
Our Bible Study group will start up again in September. Newcomers are welcome. The group consists of parishioners from St. Charles Borromeo, Assumption/St. Boniface, and St. Augustine – St. Francis Xavier. We meet via Zoom on Sundays from 5-6PM.
For this “term,” we will study the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, which is often quoted in the New Testament, in preparation for Advent and Christmas. Once again, we will be using the Little Rock Bible Study Series, which is recognized as a leader in assisting Catholic parishes encounter the Bible for over 40 years.
Sessions will begin on Sunday, September 12. We expect to finish the Isaiah lessons on November 21 and then focus on Christmas-related scriptures during the Advent..
We’ll provide you with the study guide and ask you to read the relevant portions beforehand, look over the questions in the text, and then we’ll use the questions as a guide to our weekly discussions. In order to help defray the cost of the materials, please contribute $5 toward the purchase of the study guides, which will be yours to keep.
We need to know how many copies to order, so please sign up below if you are interested in participating. Please reach out to Kerin Coughlin, Mike McGowan, or the rectory if you have any questions.
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
We encourage you to read the Ecclesia de Eucharistia encyclical issued by St. Pope John Paul II in 2003. The Eucharist builds the Church. As we emerge from the pandemic, we will center our renewal of the Parish on the Eucharist.
The encyclical begins:
The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope.
The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”.1 “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”.2 Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.