This week, we will start a new book, so this is a great chance to join in the group. We will be reading Thomas Merton’s classic New Seeds of Contemplation, which was originally written as a response to a college student’s question, “What is contemplation?” and is one of Merton’s most widely read books.

The discussion will begin on Thursday, September 3 at 7 PM with a general introduction to Merton and his life. The following Thursday (Sep. 10) we will discuss chapter 1-4 of the book.

Join us at the Young Professionals meeting on Tuesday 9/1 at 7pm for a discussion led by Alex Lerangis and Fr. John Gribowich on Catholic art, which will focus on Caravaggio across three broad topics:

• Caravaggio as an artist: who he was, where he was raised/lived, when he lived, how he entered into painting, what part of society he operated in (e.g., who were his patrons), etc.
• Caravaggio as a Christian: what we know of his upbringing in the Church, his relationship with the Church, why he decided to paint Christian subjects, etc.
• Case Studies of a couple of his works (with Christian subjects): themes, style/technique, meaning, relevance to how we operate as Catholics today, etc.

As always this will be an interactive group discussion, so we encourage you to think about how art with Christian subject matter has played a role in your faith and/or any artists or works that are particularly meaningful to you.

We wanted to update the parish on a new ministry we will be participating in more fully.

Catholic Charities has been supporting a food pantry from their offices on Joralemon Street to provide food staples to those in need.  As you can imagine, the number of those that are in need and food insecure has only grown during the pandemic. Catholic Charities offices are being renovated beginning in September, and the pantry needs a new home. St. Charles Borromeo has volunteered to run the pantry out of our church under the management of Catholic Charities so that we can continue to serve those that are in need.