From the Pastor - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 11, 2021

As we enter back into Ordinary Time, our readings today remind us that heaven is our true home and that we cannot make it there without God’s assistance.

 

In our First Reading, the prophet Ezekiel foretells the coming of the Kingdom of God. We can see that Jesus is the cedar that will become refuge for all people. He will humble the proud, lift up the lowly and produce good fruit in the weakened. It is God who does the wondrous works.

 

We often go through life wanting to be in control. We try to solve all our problems, as we think, "I can do it myself." We cling to our own ideas by putting certain events, future plans or even day-to-day moments into a perfect little box, "This is the way I want it." We can even push back in moments of suffering by trying to find every possible way to get out of it. We are "in control."

 

Imagine what life would be like if we surrendered a little more. It is easier said than done — but, oh, how freeing it would be. What if we opened our clenched hands to God and said, “Thy will be done”? We would become free from attachment and more blessed than we could ever imagine.

 

Only God can do all that He promised in our First Reading. We need Him. All we need to do is surrender. To help us on this journey of total surrender, try starting each day with a prayer of surrender, “Lord, I give You this day and all that You have in store for me, my family and friends.” With the guidance of the Lord, surely we will make it home to heaven.

 

Pastoral Pondering – As the basis of our discussions of what characterizes a practicing Catholic, I will be using the Precepts of the Church; trying to address one precept each week. Before moving on to our precept for the week, though, I would like to provide some updates.

 

Staffing – As I indicated a few weeks back, three of our employees, Emily Hogan, Karen Kramer, and Beth Zuhosky,  are leaving their present positions at St. Mark. Emily and Karen have been working with our Middle School Youth, and Beth has been our Stewardship director. Each in her own way has been a tremendous blessing to the parish and to our engagement and success over the last few years. We have been looking at the best way to fill these positions and perhaps do some restructuring to better meet our present needs. As these things are finalized, they will be announced. We are also awaiting the final decisions regarding clergy assignments. Recent events may alter what we at first expected.

 

Rectory Plans – As anyone who has tried to build something recently knows, the costs associated with building supplies has been severely impacted by inflation along with supply and demand. This reality made our plans for renovation untenable since the projected costs increased by 75% at the highest estimation. We are cramped for space with clergy and seminarians. I decided to take a chance and see if anything meeting our parameters might be on the market. One house showed up and after looking at it and speaking with the Diocese, we have made an offer which has been accepted. If all goes well, the closing should be at the end of the month. Long rage plans would be to look at possibly selling the Ranson Road property and utilizing the present rectory for meetings and classes as Ranson Road is used presently. There would also be nothing preventing, when the market settles down, to look at moving forward with the onsite rectory and selling the purchased house.

 

Catechesis – In continuing our catechesis on what is required for a “practicing” Catholic, I will begin looking at the precepts and continue with consideration of the Eucharist from last week. First, it might be helpful to recall what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about precepts in general:

 

The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth of love of God and neighbor (CCC, 2041).

 

The first precept reads: You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.

 

As we have already said, the Eucharist is at the center of ecclesiastical life. Hence, it makes perfect sense that coming together as the People of God on the Lord’s day and those days of special significance would be essential. This precept calls us to sanctify the day as we commemorate the Resurrection of the Lord. In the first place, we assist at Mass and allow this day not to be simply part of the weekend, but a day set aside for God and family (see CCC, 2042).

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • October 16, 2026
Today's readings remind us to be mindful not only of who we are, but also Whose we are. In today's Gospel, the Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus by asking whether it is lawful to pay the tax to Caesar. Their question is meant to force Him into choosing sides. But Jesus refuses to be drawn into their narrow way of thinking. Instead, He asks whose image appears on the coin. When they answer, "Caesar," Jesus responds, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." Those words remind us that while we have responsibilities in this world, our first allegiance belongs to God. Everything we have comes from Him, and through Baptism we have become His sons and daughters. Our time, our talents, our treasure, and our very lives are gifts entrusted to us by the Lord. May we use them each day in grateful response to His goodness, remembering that we belong to Him above all else. © Catholic Stewardship Conference, 2026 Pastoral Pondering With the mid-term elections coming up and early voting beginning this past week, I thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone the importance of Catholics voting and engaging in civil life. On November 3 we will elect members of Congress, state officials, and many local officeholders. Midterm elections draw fewer voters than a presidential year, yet they shape the laws under which we live: the protection of human life, the freedom of the Church to teach and serve, the strength of the family, the care of the poor, and the education of the young. To stay home is not neutrality. It leaves those decisions to others. The Church has long taught that citizenship is part of charity. The Catechism says that co-responsibility for the common good makes it “morally obligatory… to exercise the right to vote” (CCC 2240). Pope Francis put it plainly: a good Catholic does not stand apart from politics, but offers the best of himself so that those who govern may serve the good of all. Voting is one ordinary way we do that. It is also a moral act, not a team sport. Our identity in Christ comes before any party label. The U.S. bishops, in *Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship* (scan code), remind us that we form our consciences by the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, then vote in light of that formation. A well-formed conscience does not support a program that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals. Some acts are always gravely wrong: the direct taking of innocent human life, including abortion and euthanasia; attacks on the nature of marriage; religious persecution; and the deliberate degradation of the poor. Other issues—immigration, wages, housing, care of creation, criminal justice—also belong to the common good and require prudent judgment about what will help people. Not every issue carries the same moral weight, and rarely does one candidate embody the whole of Catholic social teaching. We weigh, we pray, and we choose the path that best protects human dignity and advances the common good. A few practical steps help. Read the bishops’ guidance and, where available, nonpartisan comparisons of candidates’ records and stated positions. Pray before you vote, perhaps with the family. Discuss the issues with charity, remembering that the person across the aisle is also made in the image of God. Then vote. If you cannot get to the polls, use whatever law the state provides. Participation does not end at the ballot box: write your representatives, serve the poor, and keep the Church’s voice in the public square after Election Day. Here at St. Mark we will not tell you whom to support. That judgment belongs to your conscience, formed by the faith. We will urge you not to surrender that conscience to habit, fear, or party. The Lord who will judge nations also judges how we used the freedom we were given. May we use it well.

From the Pastor - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • October 9, 2026
This reflection pertains to the regular readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have been given so many gifts and blessings by our Heavenly Father. Yet, in our fallen state it is all too easy to take them for granted. Our readings today teach us that we must live with an intentional awareness of our many blessings and use them gratefully to glorify God. In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus uses the image of a vineyard to teach the importance of using our blessings well. He tells the story of a landowner who plants a vineyard and leases it to tenants before he goes on a journey. Instead of tending the vineyard, the tenants mistreat the servants in the vineyard and even the son of the landowner, whom they kill. When the landowner realizes what the tenants have done, he puts them to death and leases his vineyard to tenants who “will give him the produce at the proper times.” By Baptism, we have received the gift of salvation and membership in the Kingdom of God — we are now “tenants” called to work in the “vineyard” and produce fruit for its owner, our Heavenly Father. Jesus makes it clear that if we squander the gift of salvation, we will lose it. It is a sobering truth. So, let us use our intellect to think on these gifts throughout the day and resolve to use all our gifts for God’s glory. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026 Pastoral Pondering Why St. Francis still matters to the Church On October 4 the Church honors St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved and most demanding saints in our history. He is not merely a garden statue or a gentle friend of animals. Francis is a living reminder of what the Gospel looks like when it is taken at its word. Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 in Assisi, he was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. After a brief taste of knighthood and a season of pleasure, he heard Christ speak from the crucifix of San Damiano: “Francis, go and rebuild my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” He took those words first as a command to repair a crumbling chapel. The Lord meant something larger: the renewal of the Church herself. What Francis restored in the Church Poverty as freedom. Francis stripped himself of inheritance, status, and even the clothes on his back. He called Lady Poverty his bride. That was not a romantic gesture. It was a protest against a Church and a society grown comfortable. Every generation of Catholics needs that protest. When we confuse the Gospel with respectability, Francis stands at the door of the Church and asks whether we still believe that Christ is enough. The crucified Christ at the center. In 1224, two years before his death, Francis received the stigmata on Mount La Verna—the wounds of Christ marked in his own flesh. The Church has always taught that holiness is configuration to Jesus crucified and risen. Francis made that teaching visible. He did not invent devotion to the Passion; he embodied it so completely that the Church could not look away. A family of religious life. From one poor man came the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares with St. Clare, and the Secular Franciscans for men and women living in the world. That threefold family still serves the Church on every continent: preaching, serving the poor, praying, and keeping the memory of the Gospel simple. When we speak of “Franciscan” today—whether a friar, a sister, or a parishioner in the Secular Order—we are naming a way of belonging to Christ that the Church has never outgrown. Creation as gift, not possession. The Canticle of the Creatures—“Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth”—is not nature poetry. It is theology. Francis saw every creature as a brother or sister because all things come from the same Father. Pope Francis took that insight into Laudato Si’. Care for our common home is not an optional hobby for Catholics. It is part of the same conversion that led Francis to kiss the leper and to call the wolf of Gubbio his brother. Peace that costs something. In 1219 Francis crossed battle lines during the Fifth Crusade and stood before Sultan al-Kamil. He did not win a treaty. He witnessed to a Lord who is Peace. The Church still needs disciples willing to speak of Christ without hatred and without watering Him down. Francis did both. Why this matters here St. Francis matters to the life of the Church because he keeps returning us to the essentials: Christ poor and crucified, the Church always in need of reform, the poor as our brothers and sisters, creation as a hymn of praise, and joy that does not depend on having more. He is not a saint for specialists. He is a saint for anyone who has grown tired of a faith that costs nothing. As we keep his memorial, I invite you to do one Franciscan thing that is within reach: give something away that you do not need; speak peace where there is friction in your home; spend a few minutes outdoors thanking God for what you did not make; or pray before the crucifix and ask, as Francis did, to know Jesus and to make Him known.  The little poor man of Assisi still rebuilds the Church—one converted heart at a time. May he rebuild ours.