From the Pastor - Epiphany of the Lord

January 5, 2024

Today, we celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord. The Gospel account of the three magi traveling to meet Baby Jesus is one that we know well. Yet, when we pause to reflect on this moment when these men met Christ for the first time, we recognize that there is much to be said for us still today.


When the magi entered the house, it says, “they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage.” Clearly these men knew that they were in the presence of their King. They also came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which symbolize Christ’s kingship, divinity, and humanity.


Christ is still manifesting Himself to us today. We enter God’s house weekly, and we are in His presence. When we meet Him, do we offer Him our gifts — our time, talent, and treasure? As Christian stewards, we are called to respond with love, reverence, and gratitude.


Let us prepare our hearts to receive Christ’s many manifestations in our lives. We just need a grateful disposition to receive them. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2023


Pastoral Pondering

I want to wish everyone a very happy New Year. As we continue to celebrate our Lord’s nativity, the Epiphany reminds us that Emmanuel came to save the world. He offers His gift of salvation to all who willingly hear His voice and open their hearts to His message of love. In this New Year, let us all seek to be ambassadors of that message so that the world may come to know Him more intensely by the way we live our Christian lives.


Today, I also wanted to say a bit more about Fiducia supplicans, the recent document from the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith concerning blessings and those in irregular situations in terms of sacramental Communion. The document specifically addressed those with same sex attraction (SSA) living in a stable relationship as well as those who because of divorce or some other issue cannot participate in sacramental Communion.


Needless to say, the document has garnered lots of press coverage, thousands upon thousands of words of printed commentary, as well as any number of responses on social media. Our vicar general, Monsignor Patrick Winslow, wrote a concise response that was published on the Diocesan website and the Catholic News Herald which summarized the main points of the document. I won’t repeat all of that here. The US bishops also have a statement on their website from Bishop Robert Barron that you might also find helpful.


The problem with the document, and to be honest, much of the magisterial utterances during this pontificate, is it leaves a great deal unsaid that should be said. Confusion and wonderment arise from such statements which is the exact opposite of what the Holy See is supposed to be promoting, unity. The faith is not something to be toyed with. It is a treasure that is to be handed down and preserved. When we see divergent responses from bodies of bishops around the world, it again only raises questions of, “How is this Catholic? How is this promoting unity?” The only answer is that it is not.


Let me say clearly, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ came to save all. It is also true, however, that He never failed to unite that love with the revealed truth as He revealed it. I personally over the years have worked with countless people who have sincerely struggled with SSA as well as those who, sometimes through no fault of their own or simple ignorance, have ended up living in objectively sinful situations. Nonetheless, when presented with the truth, they have heroically tried to correct course and overcome whatever obstacles might be present. Jesus loved, and Jesus forgave. But He also, after telling the woman caught in adultery, “neither do I condemn you,” reminded to go “and from now on avoid this sin.”


Only Christ’s truthful love can heal us. We cannot simply affirm people’s sin in the name of being loving. Rather we are called to preach the truthfulness of the Gospel as the medicine for our sin. When we truthfully love someone in the name of Jesus then we are healed. When we try to separate the truth from love we only hurt those we try to love and ourselves. Christ loves the woman caught in adultery. That being said, He also calls her to a life with him and not the sin she is suffering.


Both the Diocese of Charlotte and our parish offer various supports for folks struggling with SSA, those dealing with the pain of divorce and those who are in need of help to regularize an irregular marriage situation. We are all sinners in need of God’s love and mercy, but receiving that mercy requires true contrition and a desire to change. The difficulty with FS is that lip service is given to this while at the same time undermining this foundational truth. FS mentions blessing the couple but makes no mention of ongoing support. If we study the sad path taken by some of our Protestant brothers and sisters in this particular area, changes were made for the sake of pastoral concern and solicitude which eventually turned into a wholesale abandonment of Traditional Faith and a fracturing of the Anglican communion around the world. We already see that in the disparate responses to FS from Africa on the one hand and Western Europe on the other. Let us pray that God who is faithful will guard and protect us from following that same path of fracture and dissolution.

 

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 19, 2025
As our Advent preparations draw to a close and Christmas fast approaches, it is fitting that today’s readings demonstrate the intensity of the Father’s perfect and passionate love for each of us, culminating in the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Day. As we reflect on the enormity of this gift, let us ask ourselves what we can offer in return. In our first reading, from Isaiah, the Lord invites King Ahaz to “ask for a sign from the Lord, your God.” And not just any sign. The Lord says, “let it be deep as the nether-world, or high as the sky!” Ahaz, though, cannot arouse himself from his bleak and limited outlook, and actually refuses this invitation. Undeterred by his negativity, the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, that he himself will provide the sign: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” and his name will be Emmanuel which means, “God with us.” What great love and patience our heavenly Father has shown his people throughout all ages! In the second reading, from Paul’s letter to the Romans, St. Paul sends a blessing of “Grace…and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This — grace and peace — is precisely the gift we celebrate on Christmas Day. Through his incarnation, Jesus brings the intimate love of God right into our midst; and through His death and resurrection, He saves us from our sins and restores us to right relationship with the Father. This is the peace that the world cannot offer. In response to such an overwhelming gift, what can we do except offer our lives as a gift in return, embracing a stewardship way of life with all the love and strength we have to give? In our Gospel passage from Matthew, we find an unparalleled example of one who embraced this way of life in St. Joseph, as he responds to God’s call to him through the message of an angel. St. Joseph immediately and humbly obeys the instruction from the angel: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Open to this extraordinary role, he did as the angel commanded and “takes Mary into his home.” We never hear St. Joseph speak, but the Scriptures tell us he was always listening, attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit for his family. It was Joseph who found the stable where the baby Jesus would be born. No doubt it was Joseph who cleaned it up and prepared it for Mary and Jesus since we know that Mary was about to give birth. Joseph protected the family, guarded them, and tended to their safety, their comfort, and their well-being at the expense of his own plans and preferences. Though we do not hear any words from St. Joseph his actions clearly show that he offered himself, his whole life, as a gift to his family through his strong guidance, protection, and service. Let us imitate St. Joseph, then, as good stewards, giving our very lives to those around us in love and gratitude to God who has given us everything we have, especially His own Son, Jesus Christ. We will no doubt find that the more we give ourselves away, the more our generous Father will fill us with His grace and peace — these are truly the best Christmas gifts we could receive. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Christmas is upon us and as we enter into these last days before the celebration of the Lord’s birth, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude for the myriad ways each one of you makes St. Mark a wonderful place to pray, to worship and find a parish home. As I speak to people who visit us from other parts of the country or parishioners who, due to trips away, visit other parishes, it is nice to hear that St. Mark has something special about it. That “something special” has a great deal to do with the people who call St. Mark home. Christmas is a time to share the love of Christ, and over the past several weeks, you have done just that in our various charitable efforts, most recently our Christmas Giving Tree. Lives have been impacted for the better because of your generous response, and I know that God will bless you because He is never outdone in generosity.  Finally, please know that Fathers Angermeyer, Martinez, Huber and I wish each and everyone of you a very merry and blessing-filled Christmas!

From the Pastor - Third Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 12, 2025
Good news, Christian stewards — we are gaining ground on our Advent mountain climb and it is time to take a moment to rejoice in the Good News that our Savior will come again in triumph one day. Today’s readings on this Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday are filled with reminders of God’s final victory over suffering and injustice, and encouragement to remain steadfast in our mission to live as faith-filled disciples. Such a day almost seems too good to be true, especially when we look around at the dire circumstances we face in our world at present. But by faith, we know this day is coming. Lest we grow weary as we await the glorious day of Christ’s return, St. James, in our second reading, offers wise counsel. “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.” “Make your hearts firm… Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged.” This is excellent advice for us Christian stewards as we face the challenges of everyday life in our broken world, especially in the hectic days that precede Christmas when stress can make us and those around us less than our best selves. St. James reminds us that we can choose our response to both the great strains and the minor annoyances of life. In other words, we can be good stewards of our attitude, “making our hearts firm” by practicing patience with others and refusing to give in to the temptation to complain. We can choose to see and rejoice in God’s presence with us, no matter the circumstances surrounding us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Prior to the Hamas attack in Israel of October 7, 2023, I was planning to lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with our seminarians. The events of that day put that pilgrimage on hold even though we had already raised funds for the pilgrimage. Now that relative peace has been restored, we will be embarking on the pilgrimage on December 26 th . I wanted to thank all of you who supported the effort and wanted to let you know that we are finally preparing to go. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land are very special opportunities for everyone, but such a pilgrimage is especially significant for a man preparing for priesthood because it provides a completely different perspective on the Scriptures and is able to inform his preaching and teaching. Christopher Cross is organizing this for us, and I would recommend one of his trips to anyone who would like to go. Chris brings a unique blend of humor and deep faith that makes the experience come alive in a wonderful way. I have been on a number of pilgrimages, and those with Chris have been the most impactful by far.  Please keep all of us in your prayers as we prepare for the pilgrimage and certainly know that you all will be in ours as we spend the Christmas Octave in the Holy Land.