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.
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.
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.
In January, Pope Francis established this Sunday as World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly saying “we forget this wealth of preserving roots and passing on” what grandparents and the elderly have received. He emphasized “young people, drawing strength from their grandparents, will go forward and prophesy.”
Prayer for Grandparents by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Lord Jesus,
you were born of the Virgin Mary,
the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them! They are a source of enrichment
for families, for the Church and for all of society.
Support them! As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardians of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Lord Jesus,
help families and society
to value the presence and role of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end.
Amen!
Please note this Sunday, July 18 is the last Sunday we will be also streaming the Sunday Mass on Zoom.
Most remote participants now attend via YouTube (where the picture quality is higher than Zoom). Instead of having someone dedicated to administering the wait room and monitoring the Zoom meeting, we would like to focus on other needs in the parish.
Our Online Community Mass is streamed live via YouTube. You can watch the Mass live at 11:15 AM on Sundays by visiting our YouTube channel or https://www.stcharlesbklyn.org/youtube/. Recordings will be available on our YouTube channel for later viewing.
This streaming change pertains only to our Sunday Mass. It does not affect our interactive parish events, such as the weekday prayer groups and book clubs, which are and will continue to be available on Zoom.
Our Sunday faith sharing is back for the summer. We join together to pray, reflect on the Sunday readings, and discuss our faith. It is a low-key gathering and there’s no need to read in advance or join every week.
We meet each Sunday at 5 PM on the parish Zoom channel through the end of August. All are welcome, especially first time participants.
Next Sunday, July 11, we will be visited by a missionary from the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. Their ministry focuses serving those in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, especially the homeless, street children, the orphans, children with disabilities, children living with HIV-AIDS, refugees, elderly, youth, single mothers and those affected by the pandemic, which is currently surging in Africa.
The Little Sisters ask for our prayers and financial support of their ministry for the marginalized children who have been impacted greatly by COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to contribute, you can do so through our online giving site, https://stcharlesbklyn.weshareonline.org/ws/opportunities/LittleSistersofSaintFrancis.
Below is more information about the Little Sisters of St. Francis.
