From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 6, 2021

Our readings today continue to educate us on the Eucharist.


Jesus tells us in our Gospel that He is this Food that sustains us as He says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven…and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” This bread He is referring to is His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity that we receive. This bread becomes the flesh of Christ Himself.


And in consuming Him, we receive every grace we need to live forever in eternal life. We are strengthened in virtue and united more closely to Christ. This is the Food that will fill us as we journey through this life.


Mistakenly we often take the Eucharist for granted. Maybe we come to Mass to “check the box” instead of actively partaking in this intimate exchange or we receive Jesus in the Eucharist and then forget about Him the second we leave the church after Mass.


To receive all that God wants to give us in the Eucharistic, we must do our part in being receptive to His grace and living out active discipleship in our day-to-day lives.

Let us approach the Lord acknowledging His Divine Presence and be open to all the graces He desires to pour out on us. Then we must go forth, being attentive to the moments that the Holy Spirit is calling us to act as He acts — in total love and sacrifice.


The Eucharist affects our lives more than we can comprehend. We are receiving God Himself. Let us strive to receive Him reverently and with open hearts. © Catholic

Stewardship Consultants, 2021


Pastoral Pondering

Back in July Father Gamez and I along with a few others, attended a seminar on the role of the priest in Catholic schools. It was one of the best seminars that I have attended; albeit it was like drinking water from a fire hydrant!


The seminar began with a summary of Catholic education in the United States and then proceeded to discuss the characteristics of Catholic education and the importance of the faith imbuing every aspect of Catholic schools. This is true because the purpose for which Catholic schools were created is the formation of the whole person and the salvation of souls. The Catholic education movement began in the United States as a response to the anti-Catholic sentiments that were rampant during the waves of immigration of the 19th and 20th centuries.


Parents as we know are the primary teachers of their children, but the Church has the responsibility to assist parents and cooperate with them in this essential task. The Church understands then, that parents have the right to choose those forms of education that is most beneficial for their children in terms of their formation of body, mind and spirit.


Governments have an obligation to allow this right to be exercised freely and without impediment or coercion. This right has been affirmed in some jurisdictions with the implementation of various tax credits, but it is certainly not universal, and the majority of Catholics who choose Catholic schools for their children often have to support the public education system via imposed taxes. As a Church we have an obligation to support efforts to assist families to choose Catholic schools via dollar-for-dollar tax credits given directly to parents who are the taxpayers.


I offer all of this because it has become more and more apparent that we find ourselves once again dealing with a public education system that is becoming increasingly hostile to traditional morality and without question to Christian morality. In some jurisdictions, it can be argued, a parent who entrusts his or her child to the public education system is endangering that child’s soul. The Church then has the obligation to make our schools affordable and accessible so that their children can be formed and equipped to respond the toxicity of contemporary culture; a culture that denigrates the natural order as created by God, that imposes views of the human person that are diametrically opposed to the law of God, and which often distorts history in order to support these ends.



The Diocese of Charlotte, via Mecklenburg Area Schools, offers a robust financial aid program that is supported by each of the participating parishes. Hence, I would encourage everyone who might be considering our present situation, to consider our Catholic Schools. The Diocese of Charlotte is committed to offering a truly Catholic education that forms the entire person with the goal of helping that student, get to heaven.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 14, 2026
Today's Gospel from Matthew reminds us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is not answering our prayers. God desires to lead us to the joy of heaven and eternal life with Him. To prepare us for that day, He calls us to grow in faith and to live each day as a grateful response to His goodness. In other words, He is forming us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to accomplish. At times that process is difficult. Often, it stretches us beyond our comfort. Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She cried out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. How did Jesus respond to this desperate mother's plea? At first, He "did not say a word in answer to her." Undeterred, she continued to seek Him, and He continued to test her faith. She responded with such remarkable trust that Jesus proclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Imagine hearing those words spoken to us by our Lord. There could be no greater affirmation of a life lived in faithful discipleship. The stewardship way of life will test our trust in God at times. But those are often the moments when He is doing His greatest work within us. Let us persevere in faith, trusting that His plan is always leading us toward the joy He has prepared for us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering As the school year begins and we move into the post-summer routine, I wanted to give you an update on a few things which may be of interest to you. Building projects The rectory build is going well. Grainda Builders are projecting the project to finish by November (I am hoping for earlier!). We do plan to have an open house so that folks can see the new rectory upon its completion. The preliminary work for the second phase of our building projects is occurring with the installation of the water lines that will feed the new buildings. This will hopefully be done by Labor Day. We should be able to hold a groundbreaking shortly after the first of the year. Everything depends on when the present rectory sells and where we are with funding. The Diocese requires 60% of the project to be in cash, 30% to be in pledges and 30% allowable for Diocesan loan. We will keep you posted. Obviously, as we move forward, there will be growing pains that cannot be avoided due to the disruption of some parking. We are working with the general contractor to keep disruptions to a minimum, but we cannot avoid all of them. Thank you for your patience. Church Maintenance  As many of you know, we have been battling issues with the church roof for some time. There have been numerous leaks over the years that have been patched and patched again. We have been battling the insurance company for over a year, and it is clear that, after a minimal payment to repair water damage, they are not going to approve a claim for roof replacement. Kudos to the Pastoral Council and Scott Bruno for making a significant investment of time and energy to try to do the groundwork to provide justification for the claim. With that being said, we have already replaced a portion of the roof that was causing significant problems (the lower roof closest to the driveway). Nonetheless, the whole roof really does need to be replaced. Estimates for replacement are in the neighborhood of $250K. At present with the other projects going on, we do not have this in reserves or the operating account to cover this expense. Should you wish to assist, donations can be made on the website. We will continue to monitor and do what we can to manage the problem until we are able to fully address it. The second significant issue that has arisen is the foundation of the Kerin Center. Over the last several years, due to water and drainage issues, we have had to address foundation instability. Reinforcements were added a couple of years back to the school-side of the building, but we have been seeing some issues on the church-side of the building over the past year. We are watching it very carefully and trying to ascertain the root cause of the problems. We are appreciative of those parishioners with engineering expertise who have assisted in this effort. There is also a link on the parish donation website for Kerin Center repairs.

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.