Day of Renewal:
Join us on Tuesday, October 5 for a day of prayer and reflection at the beautiful Campion Renewal Center in Weston MA . The day will include two presentations by a Jesuit on staff, Mass and an opportunity for the sacrament of Reconcilation as well as free time for private prayer in the chapel or walking the grounds of the Center. The cost is $35 and includes lunch. We will leave St. Charles parking lot at 8:30AM and return by 5PM. If interested please contact Christine McDonald at (401)766-5986 or e-mail her at cmcdonald9@verizon.net by September 29.

The Parish is Looking for Your Help:
Would you be willing to be a Lector at the 7:30 AM Mass? We also need Adult Altar Servers for the 7:30 AM Mass and also for the 4:00PM Vigil Mass. Training will be provided. If you can help, please call Anne Flood at 401-769-4532. Thanks!

Free Weightlifting:
Join the weightlifters at St. Charles, unloading and storing 25-30 pound boxes of food at our food pantry on Wednesdays from 10:20 AM to 12 Noon weekly, every other week or monthly. Reserve your space now!!! Leave your name and phone number at 401-766-3088 ...guaranteed call back.

Community Garden:
As you may have noticed, the work in the garden behind the rectory continues unabated. At the moment our trusty workers are painting the fence. They visited the garden next to the library recently and felt that the garden here compared favorable with it. Of course the grass sometimes looks greener in one's own yard. Since the planting began rather late this year, our harvest may be small. Nevertheless, it appears that there will be an abundance of tomatoes. Maybe we will have to sell some of them and give the proceeds to the parish.

Parish Council:
The Parish Council will meet on Sunday, October 17, at 11:15 AM in the parish hall.

Liturgy Meeting:
Would you like to help plan our liturgies? We welcome you! If interested, please come to the next LITURGY COMMITTEE MEETING which will be on Sunday, September 19 at 11:15 AM in the parish hall.

Job Available:
Do you enjoy cooking? Interested in part-time work preparing & delivering meals two hours per day - five days a week? If so, please call the rectory for details.

25th, 40th, 50th and Over Wedding Anniversary Celebration:
The Office of Marriage Preparation and Enrichment of the Diocese of Providence is sponsoring the fourth annual Wedding Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 1 PM at the Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul, Providence. Married couples who are celebrating their 25th, 40th, 50th and Over wedding anniversaries in 2010 will be honored at this celebration. Couples who would like to attend can register for this event through their Parish Office before September 3rd. The Wedding Anniversary Celebration will include Mass, renewal of marriage vows and a personalized certificate for each couple. Following the Mass, the Office of Marriage Preparation and Enrichment will host a reception for the couples and their families. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin will be the main celebrant and homilist.

Meditation on the Sunday Scripture Readings:
A Meditation on the Sunday Scripture Readings continues to take place on Friday mornings at 8:30 AM, followed by the 9 AM Mass.

Bible Study/Discussion Group:
Continues on Wednesdays after the 9 AM Mass at the Sacred Heart Brothers residence on Earle Street.

Holy Hour here at St. Charles:
A HOLY HOUR is held every Friday in our church from 1 to 2 PM. Feel free to join us!

Donations:
Want to donate funds for flowers or religious education? St. Charles is now capable of taking tax-deductable donations securely online:

Have Any Extra Plastic Grocery Bags?:
The Food Pantry is very low on bags again. Please bring in any extra grocery store plastic bags you may have and deposit them in the marked container at the back of the church. Thanks!

Sermons Online:
We are archiving printed copies of Fr. Finnegan's sermons here on the website.

Scripture Website:
You can make Sunday's readings part of your personal prayer during the week. Visit liturgy.slu.edu for prayer, spirituality, and scripture resources.

St. Paul's Prayer Group:
St. Paul’s Church, Blackstone, MA has recently organized a weekly Prayer Meeting in the charismatic tradition. It is held each Wednesday beginning at 7 PM in the rectory chapel, 48 St. Paul Street. We invite you to join us for an evening of prayer, song and fellowship! All are welcome! Feel free to bring a Bible. Participants are asked toe enter via the front door of the Rectory.

17th Annual Feast Day of the Shrine of the Little Flower:
Parishioners and friends of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church and Shrine, 35 Dion Drive, Harrisville, are celebrating the 17th Annual Feast Day of the Shrine of the Little Flower on Sunday, August 15. The event will include 10:30 am Prayers at the Holy Stairs, 11:15 am Stations of the Cross, 1:30 Living Rosary and 3:00 pm Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by Solemn Feast Mass. The day also includes a concert at 12:15 with food and refreshments.

Exhibit by Robert Ducharme:
At The Museum of Work & Culture, 42 South Main Street, Woonsocket on this Sunday, August 29 at 1:30—3:30 PM. All are welcome! Mr. Ducharme is a parishioner, a photographer and painter, well know to many in the city.

Flavors of Northern Rhode Island:
Come and sample your favorite foods from 20 of Northern Rhode Island’s best restaurants as the Haven of Grace hosts its 8th annual Flavors of Northern Rhode Island on September 8 from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Cercle Laurier, 165 East School Street, Woonsocket. Tickets $15 and available at the door.

HEART SPEAKS TO HEART: An Evening in Honor of John Henry Newman:
Pope Benedict will travel to Birmingham, England, on Sunday, September 19, to beatify Cardinal Newman, one of the greatest intellectual lights of the Catholic tradition. Come celebrate with us as we mark the special occasion of his beatification with an evening of prayer, song, fellowship and learning. Date: Friday, September 17, 2010—7:00PM at St. Philip’s Church, 622 Putnam Pike, Greenville, RI. There is no cost to attend the event, although reservations are required. Please call (401) 783-4411. The lecture at 8PM is entitled: “Knowing and Believing This Truth Entirely: Newman’s Abiding Contribution”. The presenter is Fr. David L. Stokes, Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College.

Save Your Empty Ink Cartridges:
Help us to make money for the Parish by bringing your used inkjet cartridges. We receive up to $4 for each cartridge recycled. Cartridges can be deposited in our collection bin located at the main church entrance. Simply place your old cartridge in a plastic sandwich bag and deposit in collection bin. No lasers and no Epson.

Fall Mini-Retreat Series:
Spirituality for Everyday Living: “Come to the Quiet” scheduled for Wednesday, September 15 from 10:00am to 12:30pm will be the first of four autumn mini-retreats led by Peggy Patenaude of Taking Time Out at Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham. Cost is $20 (or $70 for all four). Pre-registration required. Contact Peggy at 508-548-9149 or timeoutretreats@comcast.net. Come early for the 9:00am Mass and/or feel free to bring a lunch, stay longer and extend your retreat enjoying the beauty of the outdoors or the quiet and solitude inside. For details and descriptions of all four retreats, visit www.timeoutretreats.com.

Beacon Hospice Seeks Local Volunteers:
Beacon Hospice provides quality end-of-life care to local terminally-ill patients. We are looking for caring and compassionate individuals in your area to spend time with our patients. Over half of our patients have little to no visitors and really enjoy friendly visits from a volunteer. Volunteers can provide much needed support to patients and their families in a number of ways including: visiting with patients on an ongoing basis; sitting vigils, knitting crocheting, quilting and organizing craft projects. There is a free training course that is required on what hospice is and how to interact with hospice patients. The trainings are held locally. For more info, interested volunteers please call Kristy Corbett, Volunteer Coordinator at 401-438-0008 ext. 15 or khassell(at)beaconhospice.com

Respite Care - Help for Caregivers:
The Diocese of Providence, Community Services and Catholic Charities, provides assistance to family caregivers who care for a person over 60 years of age or older (or someone with Alzheimer’s Disease of any age). If you are one of the over 100,000 Rhode Islanders providing care, you may need a break! Respite care is arranged by bringing a trained worker into the home, arranging for Adult Day Services, or providing overnight care in a licensed care facility. For low to moderate income seniors, assistance in paying for respite care may be available. Take car of yourself by taking a break! Call 401-421-7833, Monday - Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and ask for Elder Services.

Retrouvaille...a Lifeline for Marriages:
Retrouvaille provides marriage help! It is a program to help couples heal and renew their Marriages. The program offers tools needed to rediscover a loving marriage relationship. It is for couples with marital problems including those who are considering marriage separation and those who are already separated or divorced that want marriage help. It will give you the opportunity to rediscover each other and examine your lives together in a new and positive way. The next program in MA is September 24, 2010 For more information go to: www.retrouvaille.org or call 781-209-0842.

Marriage Encounters:
Upcoming weekends are September 17-19 and September 24-26. For more information or to register, call 1-800-710-WWME or visit www.wwmeMA.org. Worldwide Marriage Encounter is endorsed by the Archdiocese of Poston and The Dioceses of Manchester, Fall River, Springfield, Worcester and Providence.

Cleaning for a Reason:
If you know any woman currently undergoing Chemo, please pass the word to her that there is a cleaning service that provides FREE house - cleaning - 1 time per month for 4 months while she is in treatment. All she has to do is sign up and have her doctor fax a note confirming the treatment. Cleaning for a Reason will have a participating maid service in her zip code area arrange for the service.www.cleaningforareason.org... please pass this information on to bless a woman going through treatment. This organization serves the entire USA and currently has 547 partners to help these women. It's our job to pass the word and let them know that there are people out there that care. Be a blessing to someone and pass this information along.

Story about St. Charles Borromeo in the Providence Journal:
Article by John Hill called The Blackstone Canal: 175 years of ripples.

Lector Schedule:
Now posted for the spring/summer of 2010 (PDF)

MASSTIMES.ORG:
Going to be away this weekend? Find out beforehand the times of Mass at your destination at www.masstimes.org.

Prayer of St. Francis:
Click here.

Guestbook:
Please leave a note in our parish guestbook.

Picture Gallery:
The collection of pictures (i.e. Christmas, All Saint's Day, Memorial Day, World Marriage Day, Christmas, Easter, etc...) has been moved to its own page. Click here to visit.

Church Bulletin Bloopers:
Very funny stuff...  click here.

Your kind contributions received last weekend (8/1/10):

A Few Good Links:
Worth checking out: www.masstimes.org, The Sisters of Mercy, Catholic Relief Services, the Diocese of Providence, Vatican Radio English and United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops.

From Fr. Finnegan's Desk:

Dear Parishioners,

We continue our review of the newness which the Second Vatican Council brought to the Church. Last week we spoke of the Council’s acceptance of a document which embraced religious liberty as the right of every human being. By doing that the Church distanced itself from the traditional position which said that a person’s religion was determined by the country or government in which a person lived. The Latin phrase for that position was “cujus regio, ejus religio,” (“whose region, his religion”), and it played a great role at the time of the Protestant Reformation. If a prince turned Protestant, his subjects were also, by that very fact, Protestants. To us today such thinking seems almost incredible, yet some bishops at the Council, though a minority, fought to retain it because of the favored position it gave to the Church in Catholic countries. Finally the majority of bishops prevailed and the newer position was accepted.

A second important change was the acceptance of the principle of collegiality which states that all the bishops of the world, together with the pope, share responsibility for the guidance of the Church. This too was fought long and hard by some bishops, especially those who were members of the Roman Curia. They felt that the acceptance of this principle would weaken the pope’s authority and go against the thinking of the First Vatican Council held in 1869-70. This earlier council established the principle that the pope, when speaking with the full force of its office, could proclaim something as belonging infallibly to the basic beliefs of the Church. Once that was done, this Council had to disband because Italy was forming itself into one country and in doing so claimed areas belonging to the Church.

In the hundred years since Vatican I the spiritual power of the papacy grew. Bishops were more and more considered to be simply the pope’s representatives in different parts of the world and were often treated by members of the Roman Curia as their subordinates. Clearly, the present members of the Curia at Vatican II did not want this situation to change. It was good for the Church, they felt. Of course, it also maintained their own importance.

This Week's Readings:

Sunday: Sir 3:17-18, 20, 28-29/Heb 12:18-19, 22-24a/Lk 14:1, 7-14
Monday: 1 Cor 2:1-5/Lk 4:16-30
Tuesday: 1 Cor 2:10b-16/Lk 4:31-37
Wednesday: 1 Cor 3:1-9/Lk 4:38-44
Thursday: 1 Cor 3:18-23/Lk 5:1-11
Friday: 1 Cor 4:1-5/Lk 5:33-39
Saturday: 1 Cor 4:6b-15/Lk 6:1-5


Mass Intentions