Messages from Parishioners

Watering the Seeds God Has Sown – David Austin

| St. Charles Borromeo

David Austin in Bhutan where he helped to set up that country’s first law school.

This Sunday’s reading from the Gospel (Matthew 13:1-23) emphasizes the important role that our surroundings play with respect to the ability to develop our God-given potential. The parable of the sower is one that has occupied my thoughts repeatedly over the past year, during which time I had the privilege of living in Brooklyn Heights, teaching at Brooklyn Law School, and attending St. Charles Borromeo parish. As I started my new job, settled into my new community, and introduced myself to Father Bill, I couldn’t help but wonder about the quality of the soil in my new surroundings. Would I grow in my faith and would that faith bear fruit? Or would it wither away, suffocated by worldly anxiety and the potential damage that comes from repotting a plant with fragile roots?

As a gay man, I cannot take for granted that every community will be welcoming and inclusive. Even within our Church, unfortunately, there have been many examples of intolerance towards members of the LGBT community. In Illinois, for example, the Bishop of Springfield instructed priests in his diocese to refuse Communion and funeral rites to persons in a same-sex marriage. I belong to that group: my husband and I have been in a committed relationship for a quarter of a century and were civilly married in Illinois as soon as it became legal to do so. Continue reading “Watering the Seeds God Has Sown – David Austin” →

Messages from the Pastor

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Harmony in the Kingdom of Heaven

| St. Charles Borromeo

Man Holding Basket, Duong Tri, Unsplash

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 8:18–23
July 12, 2020

No other letter of St Paul is read as much as Romans in the liturgy and no part of it as intently as Romans 8. As we saw last week, it answers the question:

Wretched man that I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(Rom. 7:24–25)

Paul boldly told us that it was Jesus and him alone. He will rescue us not by a decree, but by joining his life to ours. We will live “in” his Spirit. Paul, ever the good Jew, believed that the human being had two inclinations: abandonment to God and reliance on material things. They did not play well together. He begins today with:

Consider that the sufferings of this present time
are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
(Rom. 8:18)

This is not only nor even principally a conflict with Rome or indeed with fellow Jews but a battle within us. Which inclination will guide us, will we choose God or the world?

It was a great insight of the Jews that this was not merely psychological or even sociological and political but cosmic in nature. Continue reading “15th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Harmony in the Kingdom of Heaven” →

Homilies

14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Gribowich)

| St. Charles Borromeo

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-730437.

Transcript: (apologies for audio issues)

Good morning, everyone! It’s so such a great blessing to be back here physically in the church. I know it’s still kind of awkward – I have to just be looking in one direction it seems like at this mass, as this side has been quarantined off, except for Monsignor – so thank you for holding the fort down on that side of the church.

And as well a very warm welcome to all the brothers and sisters at St. Augustine, St. Francis Xavier, anyone else you may be zooming in to this Mass. So as you know, we’re going to be doing this hybrid type of model for some time where we are able to gather in person, but we’ll be continuing to be able to Zoom the Mass as well. So once you are feeling comfortable to return, you can return, but until that time, you can also just be able to continue to zoom into the Mass. Continue reading “14th Sunday Ordinary Time – Homily (Fr. Gribowich)” →

Videos

St. Charles at Home #15 – Called to Take Up Our Cross

| Mike McGowan

This week, Fr. Bill Smith and Alexander Lerangis discuss last Sunday’s readings, how receiving what we desire sometimes requires letting go of what we love, and what drew Alex to St. Charles Borromeo parish.

St. Charles at Home episodes feature conversation between the prior Sunday’s homilist and parishioners to provide us with more connection to the parish during the week. The videos are available on our YouTube channel and our website.

Events

Online Community Mass – 14th Sunday Ordinary Time – 7/5 11:15 am EDT

| St. Charles Borromeo

Please join us for our Online Community Mass for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Sunday, July 5 at 11:15 AM EDT. This will be our first public Sunday Mass at the Church since the shutdown.

Instructions to view the Mass are available here. You can also watch the video via YouTube Live in the window here.

Messages from the PPC

We, the Little Ones, Can Do So Much Good – Donna Whiteford

| St. Charles Borromeo

Dear St. Charles Parish Family,

What seems like a lifetime ago but was only back on March 21, I included in my introduction to the weekly parish email the quote “These are the times that try men’s souls,” from a pamphlet titled The Crisis written by Thomas Paine in December 1776 during a time of crisis for our newly founded country.

Back in March, I don’t think any of us had any notion of how we might be tried in 2020 as individuals, families, communities, states, and a country during the Covid-19 pandemic, the resulting economic hardship, and the longstanding crisis of racial inequality in our country.  While we have not yet seen the end of these crises, what I do know is that because of our faith in Jesus Christ, TOGETHER we will persevere and succeed because as a faith community we can and have pulled together and done the right things—let us continue to do so.  As Matthew writes in Sunday’s gospel:

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

While the road ahead remains bumpy, I am continually amazed at the Christian love, generosity, kindness, ingenuity, openness, and creativity I have read about but also witnessed in our St. Charles parish family and the wider community. We, the little ones, can do so much good.

So as we celebrate the founding of our country, and a return to celebrating Mass in our beautiful church sanctuary, let us be grateful for the freedoms we have and all do our part to work to secure the resolution of those crises we are confronted with today.

Your Sister in Christ,
Donna Whiteford