From the Parochial Vicar - August 12, 2018

August 13, 2018

From the Parochial Vicar - August 12, 2018

In today’s Gospel, we continue the Lord’s “Bread of Life Discourse” from the Gospel of St. John in which Jesus speaks of his flesh and blood as being true food and drink, pointing to the Holy Eucharist which he will institute at the Last Supper. He speaks of the Eucharist’s lifegiving power in view of the manna in the desert that did not give life. “Manna” literally means, “What is it?” in Hebrew. More than just being flaky bread, it was a miraculous bread from heaven that tasted like anything the eater wanted it to taste like. The Israelites became fed up with this bread. Rather than turning their hearts to the giver of the bread, they continued to see it as something that pleased their tastes and appetites. They began by appreciating the bread, but never turned their appreciating to the giver of the bread. The manna became despicable to them. In the Eucharist, however, the giver and the gift are the same: Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

Last week, I wrote about our youth ministry programs as being a way to build up our youth and young adults as the Church of now, rather than the Church of tomorrow. These programs of dedicated youth and adults create an environment where each participant can be lead more deeply into the mystery of the life of the Church. And at the center of the Church’s life is the Eucharist. In the last year here at Saint Mark, I have three distinct memories of the power of the Eucharist in the life of our youth.

Shortly after I arrived, our high school youth minister asked if the priests and deacons would assist at an “XLT Night.” Rather than gathering for activities and small group discussions, we headed into the church where a deacon and our Psalm 150 group led the high schoolers in Exposition, Adoration, and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. We had nearly 100 young people adoring the Lord with their hearts, bodies, and voices. As they worshipped the Lord in prayer and song, we priests were available for Confession. And did they come! One after another, I noticed the particular tenderness and loving affection with which they confessed their sins and resolved to overcome their weaknesses. The only explanation is that the light of grace coming from worshipping the Lord in the Eucharist—of making the Eucharist the central focus of their lives that night—enlightened their hearts and minds allowing them to humbly and confidently confess their sins to the Lord.

Likewise, I was privileged to provide music one evening for adoration with our middle school Edge Youth Ministry program. The youth gathered for a simpler, but similar experience as I described above. Do we not sometimes expect our children will become bored by long periods of prayer and adoration? To the contrary, what I saw was true devotion in our youth. The reverently prayed, sang, and adored our Lord with great affection. Afterwards, one of our Confirmation students came up to me and, after expressing his surprise that I play guitar, simply said, “Father, I forgot how much peace I find when I am with Jesus. He reminded me that I need to pray more and try harder to listen to my mom and dad.” Jesus moves our lives when we humbly approach him with open hearts.

Lastly, and most recently, I had the opportunity of going as chaplain to our Fidelis Inspire camp this summer. Fidelis Inspire / Fraternus Ranch is a four-day camp that allows the sisters and brothers (6 th to 12 th grade) to take a break from their normal summer activities to grow in fraternity. The young women gather at one camp and the young men at another. During this time they participate in talks, discussions, team building activities, and outdoor fun (high ropes, whitewater rafting, horseback riding, etc.). The last night of Fidelis Inspire, we had Adoration and Benediction. During this time, I led the young ladies in a Eucharistic healing service, which provided them with the opportunity to acknowledge any wounds and hurts in their life and then turn it all over to Jesus, the Divine Physician. At the end, the girls had the option of remaining with our Lord in silence or going to the end-of-the day-campfire. Many of the young women freely stayed until it become so late that I had to take the Eucharist back to the chapel of repose. At the end of our time together, the girls had an opportunity to share their stories. Many of them spoke about how, out of all the activities and fun things we did, adoration was the most powerful. One even said, “That was the happiest moment of Inspire. The saddest was when Fr. Carter has to take Jesus away.” Would that we all shared the same sentiments when leaving the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist!

From books and classes, we can learn about the doctrines and dogmas of the Holy Eucharist. At our Sunday Masses, we can hear the Scripture proclaimed about what Jesus said concerning the Blessed Sacrament, like we hear today. We can then listen to the priest or deacon preach about the importance of the Eucharist. In youth ministry, however, we have the august task of taking our young people deeper into a living relationship with the source and summit of the life of the Church. And as they look upon Christ in the little Host, Christ looks back at them and smiles saying, “Here is one of my own.”

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 14, 2026
Today's Gospel from Matthew reminds us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is not answering our prayers. God desires to lead us to the joy of heaven and eternal life with Him. To prepare us for that day, He calls us to grow in faith and to live each day as a grateful response to His goodness. In other words, He is forming us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to accomplish. At times that process is difficult. Often, it stretches us beyond our comfort. Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She cried out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. How did Jesus respond to this desperate mother's plea? At first, He "did not say a word in answer to her." Undeterred, she continued to seek Him, and He continued to test her faith. She responded with such remarkable trust that Jesus proclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Imagine hearing those words spoken to us by our Lord. There could be no greater affirmation of a life lived in faithful discipleship. The stewardship way of life will test our trust in God at times. But those are often the moments when He is doing His greatest work within us. Let us persevere in faith, trusting that His plan is always leading us toward the joy He has prepared for us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering As the school year begins and we move into the post-summer routine, I wanted to give you an update on a few things which may be of interest to you. Building projects The rectory build is going well. Grainda Builders are projecting the project to finish by November (I am hoping for earlier!). We do plan to have an open house so that folks can see the new rectory upon its completion. The preliminary work for the second phase of our building projects is occurring with the installation of the water lines that will feed the new buildings. This will hopefully be done by Labor Day. We should be able to hold a groundbreaking shortly after the first of the year. Everything depends on when the present rectory sells and where we are with funding. The Diocese requires 60% of the project to be in cash, 30% to be in pledges and 30% allowable for Diocesan loan. We will keep you posted. Obviously, as we move forward, there will be growing pains that cannot be avoided due to the disruption of some parking. We are working with the general contractor to keep disruptions to a minimum, but we cannot avoid all of them. Thank you for your patience. Church Maintenance  As many of you know, we have been battling issues with the church roof for some time. There have been numerous leaks over the years that have been patched and patched again. We have been battling the insurance company for over a year, and it is clear that, after a minimal payment to repair water damage, they are not going to approve a claim for roof replacement. Kudos to the Pastoral Council and Scott Bruno for making a significant investment of time and energy to try to do the groundwork to provide justification for the claim. With that being said, we have already replaced a portion of the roof that was causing significant problems (the lower roof closest to the driveway). Nonetheless, the whole roof really does need to be replaced. Estimates for replacement are in the neighborhood of $250K. At present with the other projects going on, we do not have this in reserves or the operating account to cover this expense. Should you wish to assist, donations can be made on the website. We will continue to monitor and do what we can to manage the problem until we are able to fully address it. The second significant issue that has arisen is the foundation of the Kerin Center. Over the last several years, due to water and drainage issues, we have had to address foundation instability. Reinforcements were added a couple of years back to the school-side of the building, but we have been seeing some issues on the church-side of the building over the past year. We are watching it very carefully and trying to ascertain the root cause of the problems. We are appreciative of those parishioners with engineering expertise who have assisted in this effort. There is also a link on the parish donation website for Kerin Center repairs.

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.