The theme of the 2010 appeal is “God’s Love Shines Through Us – We are a Priestly People”. This theme captures the reality that in actively participating in the work of charity and love, we come together as Disciples serving the Lord and each other through ministry and love. In 2009, 83% of St Charles Borromeo’s parishioners contributed to the Annual Catholic Appeal. Because of your generosity, we received $44,280 (the amount over our goal of $27,954) from the Appeal and those monies were used to repair our antiquated heating system and to begin planning for rehabilitation and rental of St Charles Borromeo School. As we launch the 2010 appeal next weekend please reflect on the words of the Gospel: “Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured in your lap. For the measure with which you measure will be in turn measured out to you.” (Lk 6:38).

Lent is the season for almsgiving. How appropriate for each of us to give alms for the poor of our Diocese. Please pray for the success of the Annual Catholic Appeal and prayerfully consider what you can do to help the Diocese and our Parish! This year our goal is to achieve 100% participation of our parishioners. Good Friday – Collection for Holy Land Our Collection on Good Friday will be sent to the Holy Land, where Jesus walked and lived, to be used for maintenance of the Shrines. Please be generous in your support of the Holy Land!

Time waits for no one! But the Lord Jesus is waiting for you! It is hard to believe, but it’s true. God, Who loves us more than we can comprehend, desires personal time with you. Don’t keep him waiting. This Lenten season at St. Charles Borromeo, the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place every weekday, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM until Noon. If you wish to be part of our regular schedule, please email [email protected] or [email protected]. If you cannot commit but are in the neighborhood, come in during the morning for Eucharistic Adoration.

On Sunday, May 23 (The Feast of Pentecost) we will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation at our 10:30 am Mass. On that day adults who have not received the Sacrament will be confirmed. Any adult member of St Charles who has not received Confirmation is asked to email the rectory with your name and number so that we can begin a preparatory class for this event.

On a snowy Fat Tuesday evening 40 people came to our first Theology on Tap event at Eamonn’s on Montague Street. The open and honest conversation ranged from theological questions to the challenges we confront as a church. It was an interesting evening and we plan to schedule a few more of these events in the future. The parish sends an enthusiastic Thank You to John, Jeff, Vanessa, and Francis who helped plan and manage the evening! If you would like to be a part of planning events such as Theology on Tap please e-mail us at [email protected] or through our new St. Charles website: www.stcharlesbklyn.org

Today, Sunday, March 14 the Pre-School/Nursery Bible Story Time for children 4 years old and under will be held in the Baptistry after the 10:30 a.m. Mass. The Bible Story Time lasts for ½ hour. Please contact Dyanne Rosado at [email protected] for more information.

This Saturday, March 20th, three of our younger parishioners will be joining other young people of the diocese for a day of prayer, workshops, liturgy and fun! These exceptional teens have made a great contribution to our parish by volunteering each Sunday in the Family Faith Program as catechists-in-training. We applaud their dedication and faith and wish them a wonderful grace-filled day. Thanks and blessings to:

Cynthia Fontaine

Romario Prendaj

Cheyenne Arbeeny

The Marketing Committee will meet Wednesday, March 17th at 7:30p.m. at our Parish Rectory (21 Sidney Place – walk past the front of the Church, cross Aitken Place – the white brick building surrounded by a school) . Please come and help us develop plans to “grow our parish”. We value your input and would love any help you can offer!