We are planning to offer coffee and donuts after the 8:15 Mass on Wednesday this week. The goal is to encourage people to get to know one another, and a donut never hurts. Stop by the Community Room (the room off of the church Gathering Space) after Mass on Wednesday. Have a donut and get to know your neighbors in the pew.
Many people have signed up to take part in our Wednesday adoration time during Lent. You can sign up electronically at the top of the homepage of our parish website, stcharlesfortwayne.org, or with a pen on a clipboard in the back of church. The chapel will hold 30 or 40 people, but we need to be sure that we have at least two committed people to be here each hour, from 9:00-6:00 on Wednesdays in Lent. It has been pointed out that a plenary indulgence is offered to those who spend time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. The regular norms apply: a sacramental confession within 20 days, receiving Communion within a few days, prayers for the pope, and a detachment from sin.
As Lent is nearly here, I’m excited about the Cross Catholic Outreach effort to drill wells and provide clean water in remote villages in Africa. The average cost of providing a well is $8,000. Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and almsgiving. A challenge: I wonder if we can raise enough donations for a well this Lent. Anyone who would like to contribute to this cause can drop a contribution in the collection basket. Put it in an envelope or make a check to St. Charles and write “African wells” in the memo line.
I am leaving this Sunday afternoon for a short vacation. I’m meeting a priest friend for a canoeing adventure in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. There are wooden platforms built in the swamp where we’ll be able to set up a tent at night. We were told that this is a good time of year in the swamp; the biting flies are not too aggressive and the alligators are still pretty groggy. I’ll be back next weekend.
