Have old palms at home? Dispose of them respectfully by bringing them to the Church this Sunday, February 14. They will be turned into ashes for Ash Wednesday next week.

In three weeks we begin the celebration of the Lenten Season (a fitting time to climb the holy mountain of Easter).

This is a season for penance, fasting, acts of charity and for the renewal of our baptismal promises.
Traditionally the parish provides a series of daily Lenten Meditations to nourish our Spiritual growth during this season.

We extend an invitation to all members of the parish to write a meditation they would like to share with other parishioners. We will then take them to the printer where these submissions will be written up in booklet form and shared with everyone. Please e-mail or drop into the collection basket your meditations no later than January 31.

The schedule for Ash Wednesday will be Masses with distribution of ashes at 12:10 pm; 5:30 pm and 7:00 pm. During Lent we will have Stations of the Cross every Friday after the 12:10 pm Mass and again at 7:00 pm.

Dear St. Charles Borromeo Parish Family,

I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief parish update regarding the parish Trustees.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, and every parish in the diocese, is incorporated as a religious corporation pursuant to the Religious Corporations Law (RCL) of the State of New York. Annette Nolan and William May, both of whom passed away last year, served as our previous Trustees and provided long and generous service to the parish. To fill these roles, we have asked Angela De Marco and Frank Pond to be Trustees and they have agreed to serve the parish in this role. Angela has been a parishioner of St. Charles since 1975; and Frank, together with his wife Maureen and their children, have been a parishioner since 1992. In their roles as Trustees, Angela will serve as liaison to the Parish Pastoral Council and Frank will serve as liaison to the Parish Finance Committee.

The Trustees, together with the Pastor, serve as the governing board of the parish and exercise their authority and responsibilities fo rthe benefit of the parish according to civil law, cannon law, and church teachings. As such, they are responsible for administering church property and revenue for the support and maintenance of the parish (e.g., verifying and approving year-end financial statements, real estate transactions, business decisions). All actions taken by the Trustees must be approvied by the Bishop. The RCL of the state of New York requires that Trustees meet at least three times per year and hte Trustees of St. Charles Borromeo meet quarterly and serve for a three-year term.

We send our heartfelt thanks to Angela and Frank for their ongoing stewardship and ministry to St. Charles Borromeo.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Ed Doran

Evangelization (growing the parish) is an ongoing ministry of the parish, a process by which the power of the Good News of Jesus makes people into disciples or reinforces their discipleship according to God’s desire to transform all humanity. A parish’s strategy should have three reference points: The parish community itself; members of the community who are not church members: the overarching aim of transforming all human existence.

We cannot evangelize without being changed. This ministry will bring as much to the parish as it offers to others outside the parish. A relatively simple evangelization technique is to invite others to visit our parish and look through their eyes to see how we are viewed. We can use the measuring stick of what others see, and seek, when they come to us. Until we develop the capacity to reach out to those who are not members of parish our growth will be relatively small.

As Catholics we interact in our social life with many co-workers and friends who have no “spiritual home” how would they react if we invited them to our Palm Sunday, Easter or Christmas services. Inviting a friend to join us clearly says we find a benefit from attending our Church and would enjoy having others enjoy that very same spiritual growth and benefit.

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” Are you considering making known the love of our Heavenly Father as a priest, deacon, religious sister or brother? Speak with Fr Ed or one of the Sisters, or contact the Vocation Office at 718-827-2454 or [email protected].

The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting for part-time and full-time positions to help make the 2010 Census a success. These jobs offer good pay from $14 to $20 an hour, paid training and reimbursement for work-related expenses. Our mission is to make sure everyone is counted in our local Brooklyn community. It is very important to have people from each neighborhood to assist them. The first step is to take a basic skills test: to schedule for this test, call 718-360-5150.

In four weeks we begin the celebration of the Lenten Season (a fitting time to climb the holy mountain of Easter). We use this season for penance and for the renewal of our baptismal promises. Traditionally the parish provides a series of daily Lenten Meditations to nourish our Spiritual growth during this season. We extend an invitation to all members of the parish to write a meditation they would like to share with everyone. The submissions will be written up in booklet form and shared with everyone. Please e-mail or drop into the collection basket your meditations no later than Jan. 31.