CHARLOTTE — Lent for Ukrainian (Byzantine Rite) Catholics begins Sunday evening, Feb. 26. The Divine Liturgy (Mass) of St. John Chrysostom will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, followed by a brief period of fellowship. Members will gather again in the chapel to start the Holy Season of Lent with Forgiveness Vespers at 1:30 p.m.
All Catholics of any rite are welcome to join the St. Basil Mission community as we all enter into this holy season of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
Starting Wednesday, March 1, and continuing every Wednesday during Lent, the very ancient Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be celebrated at St. Basil Mission at 6:30 p.m. During this unique liturgy, Vespers is sung and Holy Communion consecrated on the previous Sunday is distributed to the faithful.
On the Sundays of Great Lent, the Divine Liturgy (Mass) of St. Basil the Great will be celebrated at 11 a.m.
All liturgies at St. Basil Mission are celebrated in English in the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, located at 1400 Suther Road in Charlotte.
Everyone is welcome to come and experience the various ancient liturgies of the Byzantine Rite.
For more information, go to www.stbasil.weebly.com.
— Catholice News Herald. File photo by Gretchen Filz, correspondent.
‘The consecrated religious leave everything behind in order to give oneself completely to God’
‘The consecrated religious leave everything behind in order to give oneself completely to God’CHARLOTTE — Habits, veils, rosaries and pins denoting religious communities were prevalent among the more than 50 women and men religious from around the Diocese of Charlotte who attended the Mass for the World Day for Consecrated Life with Bishop Peter Jugis Feb. 4 at St. Patrick Cathedral.
The annual Mass is an opportunity for Bishop Jugis to thank the religious jubilarians and members of their communities for their dedication and service to the Church.
During his homily, Bishop Jugis said, “I look forward to this day each year to honor the vocation of consecrated life and also I look forward to this day, personally, to thank God for the witness that you give to the Diocese of Charlotte to the beauty and the holiness of religious life.”
He noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the World Day for Consecrated Life. St. John Paul II celebrated the first World Day for Consecrated Life on Feb. 2, 1997.
“The one question I have always had from the beginning is: why did he choose the feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple as the special day to honor the consecrated life? There must have been some kind of special connection in his mind. There has to be something evident to bring together that feast day and the consecrated life. It has to have something to do with what is at the core of the consecrated life.”
That core, he continued, is the grace that each consecrated religious has received to make a total commitment to God, leaving everything behind to give their lives to God.
“The consecrated religious leave everything behind in order to give oneself completely to God,” he continued. “It’s a radical gift of self, as you already know, that is made by your consecration ‒ radical, or to the root, or to the core.”
“So we might say that all of you are radicals,” he joked, drawing laughter from the congregation.
Bishop Jugis took great care to share his reflection on the details of the official image published by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops for the commemoration of the World Day for Consecrated Life, depicting Jesus’ presentation in the temple and how the image illustrates key components of consecrated life, such as the vows of poverty and obedience.
The image of Jesus leaving the arms of his mother and being handed to Simeon depicts the choice of leaving everything behind, he said. “Total commitment to God seems to be illustrated so well…which signifies a person totally handed over to the work of God, to the work of salvation.”
One of the jubilarians honored at the Mass, Mercy Sister Therese Galligan, knows well what it means to give oneself fully to God. She is celebrating 60 years of religious life. She has worked diligently in the areas of education, health care and providing assistance to the poor in western North Carolina over the past 60 years, particularly in her work in the Charlotte area.
“It’s gone by so quickly!” she said. “I love the opportunity for the different kinds of ministries I have been able to be involved in. I felt called to each one. I feel very blessed. I feel very energized. I am very thankful.”
Sister Therese shared that her baptism was Aug. 16 and her vow date was Aug. 16. She entered the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 21.
“In today’s Mass, it was so apparent that this was God’s plan for me,” she explained. “I was not thinking about this when I was younger. I was not wanting to go the route of religious life. I wanted to be married with children, like my mother.”
“All of a sudden, I just felt this calling,” she said. “God just turned me around and brought me here. I am very thankful. I am very blessed…there are some wonderful women that I have lived with and ministered with. They have been great role models to me, too.”
She suggests that young women considering a vocation to “listen to the call, pray about it.”
Jubilarian Sister Pushpa Jose of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who works with the poor in High Point, is celebrating 25 years of religious life.
“I like to work with the poor and sick,” she said. “That is why I joined this congregation. We need to serve the needy and sick people.”
Sister Pushpa encourages young women who enjoy serving people in that way to consider a community like hers that is hands-on within the community. “if they enjoy that, then they should do it. I enjoy that.”
Missionaries of Charity Sister Mary Martinella, who has been in Charlotte for only a month, happily celebrated her 25th anniversary with the other jubilarians at St. Patrick Cathedral Feb. 4.
“I am really happy to be a sister, to serve the Lord and His work,” she said. “I was telling the sisters (here) I feel like I am just starting – I don’t feel like it’s been 25 years! It is wonderful! God has called us and we said yes to the Lord.”
Sister Mary also explained, “To love Jesus, to give your life to Jesus, there is no best man than Jesus Christ. He is the best man. The more you give, Jesus gives you more. He is the one working through us. We are just instrument in His hands.
“God called me. We sisters are unworthy creatures but God calls us to just serve Him.”
Bishop Jugis acknowledged the significant contributions and sacrifices the jubilarians have made to the Church in his remarks at Mass and also at the luncheon that followed in the Family Life Center.
“It’s a radical way of living the Gospel, the most radical way of all the states of life within the Church,” he said of consecrated life. “The most radical way of living the Gospel here on earth. To be a light of the kingdom which is to come and is already present.”
“You have given yourselves totally to God who is your light and your salvation, so may He give you His grace every day to help you grow even closer to Him,” he said.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Someone apparently stole mail from St. Matthew Church and tried to cash checks, according to a letter sent to parishioners from Monsignor John McSweeny.
It appears that a theft from the mailbox on the church property occurred at the end of January. Parish officials were made aware of the situation by two parishioners reporting that their online bill pay donation checks to St. Matthew were attempted to be cashed by persons unaffiliated with St. Matthew Church, Monsignor McSweeny said.
Both checks were mailed to the physical address, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Parkway, and not our post office box, PO Box 49349.
The church changed the mailbox on our campus to one in which mail can only be deposited, but needs a key to be retrieved.
They recommend mail to the parish be sent to the P.O Box: St. Matthew Catholic Church, P.O. Box 49349
Charlotte, NC 28277.
St. Matthew Church name and address is also being used in a fraudulent check scheme, where packages are being mailed to individuals with a check inside, Monsignor McSweeny said.
The parish’s name is not associated with anything relating to the check, it simply appears as a return address on the outside of the envelope, making it appear that the package has been sent by St. Matthew Church.
This is a common scheme, and these priority mail packages have not been sent by St. Matthew Church. The check in the envelope is fraudulent and should not be cashed.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and the United States Postal Service Inspector are aware of the incidents.
— Catholic News Herald
Faithful attended Masses on Feb. 3 for blessings of the throat at St. Mark in Huntersville and at Our Lady of Annunciation Church in Albemarle for the Feast of St. Blaise.
St. William Church in Murphy parishioners also received a blessing of the throats during weekend masses on the Feast of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr.
Blessing of throat with prayer for the intercession of St. Blaise was also conferred at Immaculate Conception in Forest City. The special candles used for the blessings were acquired by Deacon Andy Cilone at St. Blaise Church in Dubrovnik, Croatia, during a pilgrimage.
St. Blaise was a physician, and bishop who was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron combs, and beheaded. His feast day is Feb. 3.
Little is known about St. Blaise prior to his mention in a court physician's medical journal. The physician, Aëtius Amidenus, spoke of St. Blaise's aid in treating objects caught in the throat. He was also mentioned in the book of Acts, where he was aided by animals and treated people and beasts alike.
“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness;
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."
Rev. Fr. Peter Fitzgibbons said this prayer several times on during mass at Our Lady of Annunciation Parish Church in Albemarle on Friday.
Blessing of throat with prayer for the intercession of St. Blaise was conferred at Immaculate Conception in Forest City.
— Photosby Giuliana Polinari Riley, Craig Allen and Patrick Hession, coorespondents and provided by Amy Burger and Done Espina
CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Foundation recently reached the milestone of $40 million in assets.
The foundation, established in 1994, provides a means for people and organizations to provide long-term financial stability for the diocese and its more than 181 churches, schools, agencies and organizations.
Over the past 24 years, the foundation has grown to encompass 246 endowments that total $40,773,550 in assets as of Dec. 31, 2016.
An endowment is a permanent fund, the principal of which is never touched, but the income from which can be used in accordance with the wishes of the donor organization or individual. Endowments provide a way to generate income and help sustain the long-term strength and viability of the diocese and its parishes, schools, agencies and ministries.
“Surpassing $40 million in assets means the diocese and its many parishes, schools and ministries will receive more income that will be used to change lives and ultimately bring people closer to Jesus,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan director of development.
Those who make a planned gift to the diocese or any of its parishes, schools, ministries or agencies become members of the Catholic Heritage Society. The society is the diocese’s way of honoring the Christian generosity of Catholic friends who are providing for the future of the Church in western North Carolina.
The Catholic Heritage Society is comprised of more than 900 people in the diocese, many of whom are leaving gifts to the foundation in their wills.
The foundation sends reports out to all these endowment holders every quarter stating where their endowment stands and how much is available to distribute. As a rule, the foundation makes available 5 percent of a rolling three-year average value of its total assets. Since 1994, the foundation has distributed more than $7 million to the diocese and its parishes, schools and ministries.
One recent endowment bequeathed to St. Barnabas Church was received through the generosity of Dennis and Mary Kushler, who quietly left the parish a $3.6 million endowment after their deaths. It is the single largest estate gift in the history of the Catholic Church in North Carolina.
The Kushlers’ endowment will provide the parish with an estimated $175,000 annual income initially, and it will grow over time. It is a general purpose endowment, so the money can be used to help in whatever way the parish decides.
“We are finding more and more people in the diocese are remembering the Church in their estates. Many of them are establishing endowments in the foundation, where their gifts can have a lasting impact. Gifts made once in an endowment continue to give forever.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Learn more
For more information about establishing an endowment to benefit the Church in western North Carolina, contact Ray-Eric Correia, diocesan director of planned giving, at 704-370-3364 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..