From the Pastor - 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 7, 2024

In today’s First Reading from the Book of Genesis we hear the story of Adam and Eve and their sins, defying God. However, when God was present in the garden, the man and woman hid themselves. Adam responds to God’s question why in part by saying “I was afraid… so I hid myself.” Did he, do any of us really think he could hide from God?


As children many of us may have hidden from a parent when we did something wrong, and it was in violation of some specific order we had received. Our efforts to hide what we did and to hide ourselves were probably no more effective than Adam’s.


As humans we know the temptation of following our own plans, even if they are contrary to God’s. We think we know better, and we may try to still have it our way. If what we have done is particularly shameful, we may try to hide our sins from God.


The sincere truth is that we cannot hide from God any more than Adam and Eve could. Psalm 139 declares, “Where can I hide from your spirit (God’s)? From your presence where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol (the place of the dead) you are there, too. If I say, ‘Surely darkness will hide me’… Darkness is not dark for you.” 


What are we hiding from? In recent weeks we have learned over and over how much God loves us. It is time for us to accept that and not hide. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024

 

Pastoral Pondering

Now that Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi have been observed, we are back to Sundays in Ordinary Time and the longer, lazier days of summer; although, there is very little that is lazier around St. Mark! I want to give a shout out to our parish staff and other volunteers who, over the past several weeks, have been working tirelessly to host both the Ordination of Bishop Michael Martin as well as the Diaconate Ordination for the Diocese. The final event of the season, the ordination of seven of our men to the Priesthood will take place next Saturday.


A tremendous effort is required to host these events. Even though they are not, strictly speaking, parish events, we always want to present our parish well and be welcoming to all those who come to St. Mark for these important milestones. Our parish staff can only be described as stellar. I am especially appreciative of Emily Bixler, Sue Bruce and Amy Burger who do a lot of coordination with their Diocesan counterparts. Additionally, the other members of the staff are always on hand to assist, welcome visitors and go above and beyond to make things happen.



Just as we were blessed to celebrate the ordination of Joseph Yellico, of our parish, last Saturday to the diaconate. Next Saturday parishioner, Deacon Christian Goduti, will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Charlotte. Father Goduti will celebrate the Mass at 9 am on Sunday, June 16. We will celebrate with him following Mass in the Monsignor Kerin Center. We have been truly blessed to journey with these young men on their path to ordained ministry. Let us pray that their ministry will be a blessing to us and all of our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Charlotte.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Fifth Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • May 16, 2025
Today’s readings on this fifth Sunday of Easter contain inspiring but challenging messages for us Christian stewards. The Gospel from John includes this well-known verse: “My children…I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” What a succinct description of a stewardship way of life. It sounds so simples. But simple does not necessarily mean easy. How exactly is Jesus Calling us to love? As He, Himself loved. Jesus loved (and loves) by serving us and by making a sacrifice of His very life for us. That is a tall order. Living a life of service and self-sacrifice is not easy because it requires us to continuously fight against our selfish inclinations. But the more we empty ourselves of “self” by serving others, the more room we make in our hearts for God to pour His grace into us. Amazingly, the more we give our lives away to others, the more He fills us up with Himself who is love itself. And amid the inevitable challenging moments this way of life entails we can be assured that the Lord who loves us so much that He died for us and established the Eucharist to be our strength and nourishment, is right here with us every step of the way. As we face the hardships that come with living as Christian stewards, we can continue to rejoice in the wonder of the Resurrection this Easter season, finding great joy in following in our Lord’s footsteps and in loving as He loves. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering  As you have probably noticed, the original St. Mark building, the old rectory on Ranson Road, has been torn down. Preparatory work has begun on the lot for the new rectory. In the next couple of weeks, we will be meeting with the Diocese and doing some value engineering. Once that is accomplished it will be decided when we can move forward with groundbreaking and construction. On the Campaign front, we thank all of those who have extended their pledges or moved a one-time gift into a multi-year pledge. In order to reach the goal of $9.7 million, we still need to raise a little over $400K before June 30 th . Percentagewise, there are still a large number of parish families who have not participated in the Campaign. We need your help to reach the goal. Whether we accomplish that goal will determine what we can do next. As June approaches, we are preparing for the ordination of some of our seminarians to the Diaconate and then the ordination of our transitional deacons to the Priesthood. Please keep all of them in your prayers. One of those to be ordained deacon, Seminarian Michael Lugo, has been assigned to St. Mark for the summer. We look forward to working with him and know you all will make him welcome.

From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • May 9, 2025
Throughout the Easter season, our readings have given us glimpses into the life of the newborn Church and the bold witness of the early disciples in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all who would listen. The disciples were the first to live a stewardship way of life, and their example is as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. In the First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, we catch up with Paul and Barnabas in Antioch. While they certainly have some success in reaching many people there with the message of salvation, others are downright infuriated by their words and send them packing. Yet, we read that “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” Overall, it seems as if Paul and Barnabas had failed in Antioch. But seeing failure has not robbed them of their joy. What’s more, they are filled to the brim with the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit. How is this possible? It is only possible because Paul and Barnabas saw themselves as nothing more and nothing less than stewards of Christ and His Good News. This realization brought them freedom — to offer themselves and their lives to others for the sake of the Gospel. The “results” of their efforts were up to God. This Spirit-filled, joy-filled life is available to us all today. It can be achieved when we recognize, as did Paul and Barnabas, that all we have and all we are is a gift from God, meant to be shared with others for His glory. Of course, living as God’s stewards does not guarantee a life of ease or a life free of sacrifice. Sometimes the steward’s life involves challenges, requiring all the strength and love one has to give. In the end, there is simply no more satisfying way to live. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Because of the time limits placed on us by the bulletin company, this is being written before the conclave begins but will be published after the fact, so we may actually have a new pope (and I hope we do) by the time you are reading this. It is a good reminder that there are still limits on our modern efficiency. Over the past couple of weeks, in addition to praying for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, we have also had the opportunity to celebrate confirmation with Bishop Martin with a little more than half of our confirmands (99), the remaining 80 or so will be confirmed this week. We have also celebrated two of our First Holy Communions with the remaining two being celebrated next Saturday. May is always busy!  It is always a great blessing to celebrate these sacraments with our young people. Celebrating with the second graders is a special joy because they are so open to God’s presence in their lives. We are also praying for those candidates (folks baptized in another Christian church) who will be received into the full Communion of the Catholic Church on the Vigil of Pentecost. Please keep all of these folks in prayer as they grow in the sacramental life and in their walk with Christ.
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