Greetings! Attached is our bulletin for this Sunday, March 9 (First Sunday of Lent), a reflection from Fr. Canisius, and a Lenten video reflection from Seminarian Thang.
Please note: We are still working to address the heating issues in the church. Unfortunately, there will be no heat in the church again this weekend. Please dress accordingly. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
**Coffee & Donuts has been cancelled
for this Sunday**
Our Sanctuary Lamp is lit this week:
For the Healing Intention of
our Holy Father, Pope Francis
There is one regular collection this weekend.
You may also support our collections via online giving. Just click the button below to make your offering.
We are grateful for your continued generosity.
Stations will be led this evening by the Filipino Devotion Community. Their First Friday Mass and Novena will immediately follow.
You’re Invited to a Pastorate Listening Session
All are invited to participate in a pastorate synodal listening session this weekend, March 8th & 9th after all masses in the church.
This synodal journey is a special time of prayer, listening, dialogue, and recommendations. This is your opportunity to dream about the pastorate we are called to be. By gathering as a people of faith, we hope to weave new and deeper relationships, to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, to warm hearts, and to restore strength for our common mission. By the end of our time together we aim to capture your answers to the basic question: What is the Holy Spirit saying to our pastorate today?
The pastorate of St. Charles and St. Gabriel are excited to embark on a strategic planning process. We will be working with facilitators from the archdiocese for the next 12 to 18 months. This process begins with these Listening Sessions. Please join us as we call on the Holy Spirit to guide us in our Pastorate Planning for the future.
If you have any questions, please contact our Parish Council Chair, Tim Fish, at tim.fish@gmail.com
Children's Liturgy of the Word (CLOW) takes place at the 11:00am Mass this Sunday, 3/9.
The Parish Office will be CLOSED this coming Wednesday, March 12, for our Pastoral Staff Day. It will reopen on Thursday.
Feed the Hungry
Lenten Challenge
Parishioners at St. Charles are being challenged to provide 100 casseroles during Lent for the guests at Catholic Charities' Our Daily Bread Center in Baltimore. You can prepare Texas Hash casseroles using the pans and recipes available in our church foyer. We also accept frozen store-bought banquet-sized pans of Macaroni & Cheese and Lasagna. Bring your frozen casseroles to the parish office during normal business hours (M-F, 9a-3p). Let's aim to provide 100 casseroles to Our Daily Bread between March 5 and April 20.
"When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat." (Matthew 25)
Lenten Food Pantry $$$ Match
This Lent your monetary donation to our Food Pantry will go twice as far! An anonymous donor has offered to MATCH all cash donations made during Lent to our Food Pantry (up to $2,500)! Your dollar will become two, just like that! So, when you give up that extra coffee at Starbucks, or skip a meal in solidarity with the hungry, why not take the money you didn’t spend and donate it to our Food Pantry? You can track our progress in the weekly bulletin (attached above), as we turn our fasting and almsgiving into food for the hungry!
Easter Flower Memorials
Easter flower memorial envelopes are included in the March offering envelope packet and can also be found in the church vestibule. Please return yours to the parish office by April 10. You may also make a flower memorial donation via online giving—just select the fund “Easter Flowers” and enter the name(s) of your loved one(s) in the space provided.
From the Message of the Holy Father Francis
for Lent 2025
We begin our annual pilgrimage of Lent in faith and hope with the penitential rite of the imposition of ashes. The Church, our mother and teacher, invites us to open our hearts to God’s grace, so that we can celebrate with great joy the paschal victory of Christ the Lord over sin and death... This Lent, as we share in the grace of the Jubilee Year, I would like to propose a few reflections on what it means to journey together in hope, and on the summons to conversion that God in his mercy addresses to all of us, as individuals and as a community.
Parking reminder: in addition to the lot next to the church, parking is also available on the lot behind the rectory, and on the weekends, in front of the YTS school building on Sudbrook Lane. Access to these lots is available from Church Lane or from Sudbrook Lane.
The 2025 Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries continues! Pledge envelopes are available in the back of church and can be placed in any of the collection baskets, handed to an usher, or mailed to the address on the envelope.
We thank all those who have already made their pledge/donation. As of 3/3/25, 45 families have donated/pledged $21,623 (71% of our Standard Goal!). Every family's involvement, no matter the amount given, is crucial and valued! It's our hope and prayer that we can exceed our goals, reflecting our commitment to both our parish and the broader Church community.
You can support archdiocesan parishes and schools, and more than 100 worthwhile life-affirming ministries by making your pledge or gift today to Go Forward with God’s Mission, the 2025 Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries.
