From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 18, 2023

Our Gospel today from Matthew reminds us to trust in Him even when it seems He is not answering our prayers.


God wants to lead us to the joy of heaven to spend eternity with Him. For that, we must be strong in faith and live our lives as an act of love and gratitude to Him. In other words, we must allow Him to transform us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to do. Sometimes, that will feel painful to us. Often, it will be challenging.


Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel passage from Matthew. She called out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was being tormented by a demon. What did Jesus do in reply to this mother’s desperate plea? Nothing. He “did not say a word in answer to her.” Undeterred, the woman continues to call out to Him, yet He still does not give her what she asks for. Instead, He continues to challenge her faith.


And she rises to the challenge to such an impressive degree that Jesus exclaims, “O woman [a term of deep respect in that day], great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Imagine hearing those words proclaimed over us by God. Truly there could be no higher honor than hearing our Lord say that to us.


So we must accept the difficulties that come with the stewardship way of life. Some days will be a true challenge to our trust in God. But those are the days when God is making saints of us. Let’s embrace the hard days during these difficult times. The deep joy that eventually comes, the eternal reward He promises, will be so worth it.


But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, letting go of a tight hold over our money, time, and talents, our lives become a grand adventure, rooted firmly and gratefully in the God Who always cares for us. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2023


Pastoral Pondering

A recent report in the Charlotte Observer noted that the three “hottest zip codes” for home buyers are all located in the greater Charlotte the three in order are, the 28269 in north Charlotte, 28078 (Huntersville) came in second and 28277 (Ballantyne) came in third. This creates both challenges and opportunities. We presently have 4500 registered families and have begun a process of pastoral planning that has been set in motion for all the parishes of the Diocese. The goal of the process is to help each parish develop pastoral priorities that harmonize and complement those of Bishop Jugis and the Diocese.


The Bishop’s new pastoral priorities, as announced in his letter of April 16, 2023, are six:


  1. To help the faithful of the Diocese to renew and anchor their lives in the Most Holy Eucharist;
  2. While strengthening our communion with Christ, we must turn to Him to strengthen the communion within our families and the Church. The Church cannot allow herself to be fractured by partisanship. We must follow Our Lord, who prayed at the Last Supper, “that they may be one, as We are one;
  3. We are a family of faith. As such, we must inspire youth to find their home in the Church, speaking to the meaning of a true Christian life;
  4. In a time of moral confusion, we must inspire lives of personal holiness highlighting the beauty of chaste love;
  5. We must learn to proclaim the faith in a digital age, that we may better evangelize a culture teeming with secular and contrary messages; and
  6. We must meet the challenges of an ever-growing Diocese. In just 50 years the Diocese of Charlotte has grown from 34,000 Catholics in 75 parishes to more than 500,000 Catholics in 92 parishes and missions spread across 46 counties.


On July 10th, I sent my letter to Bishop Jugis which opens our pastoral planning process. In that letter I identified the following priorities that we will continue to develop over the next six months:


  1. Continue promoting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in support of the National Eucharistic Revival;
  2. Asking our parish departments and apostolates to focus their efforts on strengthening family life through catechesis and adult engagement;
  3. In order to promote the unity for which Our Lord prayed, seek to accompany our parishioners in the pursuit of the good, the true and the beautiful as an antidote for the moral confusion in our culture. To do this through a robust adult education effort which includes engaging Evangelical Catholic and supporting our small group efforts along with missions and both formational and social opportunities;
  4. Continue our commitment to Youth Ministry through Edge, Lifeteen, Fraternus and Fidelis along with encouraging extra-parochial opportunities fostering strong support of our young people. Develop a stronger outreach to college-aged parishioners and young adults and encouraging them to take their rightful place in the life of the parish; and
  5. With the rapid growth of the Huntersville area, to begin considering the needs of the physical plant and making long-range plans, in cooperation with the Diocese, to examine the need for another parish in the North Charlotte area.


These are wide-strokes of priorities that we, as a parish, will need to “tweak” and develop as we prepare for our meetings with the Bishop and his staff in the Spring of next year.


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).