From the Pastor – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 3, 2018

From the Pastor – 22 nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus instructs us in the best way we can honor Him, teaching us the meaning of true worship. Jesus reveals that the way we truly worship Him is by giving Him our hearts. We also learn in this Gospel passage what our Lord does not want — the pious lip service that the scribes and Pharisees offer.

But, how can we determine if we really are giving our hearts over to the Lord and not just paying Him lip service? We must examine our lives to see if they reflect a life lived out for Him. Stewardship gives us a concrete means to examine our lives in three fundamental areas — the use of our time, our talents, and our material gifts.

A stewardship way of life invites and challenges us to make specific commitments in each of these areas on a regular basis, giving us a practical means to commit to the Lord. How well we are keeping these commitments can give us a kind of measuring stick to see if we are growing closer to Him, or perhaps need to put a little more effort into a particular area of our lives.

When we all strive to give God true worship — putting Him first with all our hearts — what beauty we will find in our homes, our parish, and our world.

Copyright © 2018 — Catholic Stewardship Consultants, Inc.

Pastoral Pondering

Catholic life should involve life-long learning. Unfortunately, some folks have moved much beyond their last class for Confirmation. We have an amazing Faith Formation department here at the parish, and Theresa Benson and her staff have prepared an extensive selection of adult education opportunities during the course of this year. I encourage you to take advantage of any or all of them as the Spirit moves you. If you have suggestions of other possibilities that you would like to see in the future, please share those with Theresa.

I also want to thank Father Carter for covering the Pastoral Pondering for the last few weeks. Youth and Young Adult ministries are very important aspects of our parish outreach. This particular demographic, as Pope Francis has noted, is essential to the life and vitality of the Church.

Finally, in light of recent national discussion of abuse, I wanted to outline what our parish (and all of the parishes of the Diocese) do to insure a safe environment for our young people and vulnerable adults. For volunteers, each person who wishes to volunteer is asked to complete a Volunteer profile including a background check. Additionally, each volunteer is asked to read and acknowledge the Policy of the Diocese of Charlotte Concerning Ministry-Related Sexual Misconduct by Church Personnel and the Diocesan Code of Ethics. Those who work with youth are also asked to acknowledge the Protocols for Ministry with All Minors. All these documents are available for review on the website of the Diocese of Charlotte, charlottediocese.org/human-resources/safe-environment.

Those who work with children and vulnerable adults are asked to participate in the Virtus safe environment program. This program is entitled Protecting God’s Children and involves training that teaches the participants to be aware of warning signs and other indicators that might cause concern. There are times when some folks balk at having to do this and keep up with the monthly emails, but the ongoing training is quite valuable in helping us all to create a safe environment not only here at the parish but also in the wider community. Statistically, far more abuse occurs outside of a parish setting in families, schools and other situations. Hence, the more folks who are trained, the safer our communities can be.

Employees participate in a more extensive background check and review of references. Those who are applying to the seminary are expected to complete an exhaustive application process comprised of a battery of psychological testing, and a comprehensive or extended background check which includes personal interviews with contacts and references. The prospective seminarian also must be interviewed by the Diocesan Vocations Board before being accepted into the program.

While no process or program can solve every potential problem and violation, we strive to insure that everyone who has any type of representation of the parish is properly vetted and duly qualified to serve. Promoting a safe environment is a collective responsibility. The parish leadership has specific responsibilities to insure that policies and procedures are followed, and all parishioners have the responsibility to be aware and speak up if he or she has concerns about possible violations or improprieties. Working together, we can all insure that those who come to us for pastoral care will be safe and secure.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • October 3, 2025
Our readings today show us that living a stewardship way of life, that is, a life focused on serving God and His Kingdom, is not easy. They also show us that our lives belong to God, not to us, and that God will indeed bring about the fulfillment of His kingdom., We just need to have faith that He can do it and commit to our small part in His grand design. This is both our privilege and responsibility as Christian stewards. Jesus makes this privilege and responsibility clear in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. When the apostles as the Lord to increase their faith, He tells them that even a mustard-seed sized faith is all that is needed to move mountains (because it is God who does the heavy lifting). We need to only take the tiniest step forward, and He will do the rest. But living our lives in His service is also very much our responsibility, as Jesus explains through the parable of the unprofitable servant later in the passage. Our Lord describes a scene in which a servant has just come from tending to the master’s affairs and asks whether it would be reasonable for the master to begin waiting on the servant. Of course, it would not be reasonable! The servant would be expected to continue to serve his master until he has completed the work the master has given him that day. Jesus says that we should have the same attitude before God. The time, talents, and treasure entrusted to us are all God’s. Our very lives belong to Him. Whatever we do on God’s behalf with our lives and our gifts is simply our God-given responsibility. The stewardship way of life makes the privilege and responsibility of serving Christ and His kingdom a reality. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering  As we move into autumnal colors, with shorter days and cooling weather, the late weeks of the liturgical year always provide us with an opportunity to reflect on faith and life. It is also that time of the calendar year when we start thinking about those who are less fortunate among us. In the coming weeks, we have a number of efforts to assist the least of our brethren with life’s basic needs including the coat drive, thanksgiving food drive and the Christmas giving effort (formerly known as the Angel Tree ©). There are no shortage of demands placed on all of us these days, but the spiritual and corporal works of mercy remain the bedrock of our Catholic lives. Thank you in advance for responding with a generous heart.

From the Pastor - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • September 26, 2025
We have all been given great power by God in the form of Time, Talents, and Treasure. Today’s readings remind us that this power is meant to be used for great good. And that failure to do so has eternal consequences. We see the urgency for us to put our powers to good use in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. Our Lord tells the rather chilling parable of the rich man who ignored poor Lazarus during their lifetimes. At the moment of the rich man’s death, he goes down to the netherworld, while Lazarus is taken to the eternal joy and comfort in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man keenly regrets his indifference towards the needs of Lazarus, but it is too late for regret. His choices have played out, and now the rich man will face the consequences of his failure to use the gifts God gave him. Pursuit of God’s kingdom and care for the poor are not trifling matters. Our Lord makes this clear to us over and over in the Scriptures and the constant teachings of our 2,000-year-old Church. We are free to ignore these teachings and live instead for ourselves. But there will be tragic results for us in the end. And, because we are made for eternity, living selfishly on this earth doesn’t really bring us true happiness anyway. So how can we use our great powers for great good? By embracing stewardship way of life. By putting God first in all areas of our lives — in the way we spend our time, the ways we share our talents, the ways we give of our financial resources. Stewardship living calls us out of our comfort zone and into commitment to the Lord and the things that matter to Him. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Even though this year is not a presidential or mid-term election, local elections are quite important, and we often don’t take them as seriously as we should. This year we have two parishioners running for office, Dan Boone is running for town council, and Bill Fountain is running for school board. To some these positions may seem insignificant, but it is at the local level that we, as Catholics, can have the greatest impact. I thought it might be helpful then to give a reminder of the duties of Catholics in political life. The Church teaches that lay Catholics bear primary responsibility for temporal affairs, including politics, as an extension of baptismal vocation (CCC 1913). Key duties include:  Forming Conscience : Study Church teachings to discern moral priorities; avoid reducing faith to single issues but prioritize intrinsic evils like abortion. Active Involvemen t: Vote informatively, run for office, join parties or advocacy groups, and dialogue with officials to apply Gospel values. Pope Francis stated, "A good Catholic meddles in politics," offering the best of oneself to help leaders govern justly. Non-Partisan Advocacy : The Church engages issues (e.g., life, family, peace) but avoids partisanship to focus on principles. Parishes can host voter education but not endorse candidates. For Public Officials : Catholic politicians must align actions with Church moral teachings; supporting grave evils like abortion risks scandal and cooperation in evil. Separation of church and state protects, rather than hinders, faith-based action in public life. Challenges and Encouragement In polarized environments, Catholics may feel disenfranchised, but the Church calls for renewed engagement to transform society incrementally toward justice. Resources like the USCCB's Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (updated periodically) guide voters on applying Catholic Social Teaching. Ultimately, political action flows from love of neighbor, proving faith through works (James 2:14–17).