Our solemn prayer service, offered on the fourth Thursday of each month at 7:30 pm in the main church, includes the blessing with the relic of St. Peregrine. The next healing prayer service is Thursday, June 27.
St. Peregrine has been called the wonder worker for his intercession on behalf of those living with serious illness. He is the patron saint of all who are afflicted by cancer, leg ailments or any life-threatening disease. He is also the patron saint of youth at risk.
Wednesday, July 31, 7 to 9 pm
NLC Banquet Room
$10
Vibrant Faith in a Secular Age:
Today’s Challenges for Parents,
Families, and Parish Leaders (7 pm)
This talk engages the challenges we, our children, and our friends constantly face from the secular culture – challenges that, if not addressed, can choke the life of faith in the people we love.
This engaging and thought-provoking talk shows how parish ministry and faith formation in the home cannot be “business as usual.” We cannot simply teach the truth. We must pass on the Faith in a way that anticipates the cultural influences that affect the life of faith and give people the tools to thrive as intentional Catholics in a relativistic world.
No Greater Love (8 pm)
St. John Paul II said Christ’s passion is the fullest revelation of God’s love. It is also the fullest revelation of the love we are called to live – in our marriages, within our families, in the workplace, and in our parishes. How do we conform our daily lives to Christ? Learn how to find your life story in the climax of Christ’s story.
Note that there is a 15-minute break between talks.
Register online with credit card at https://membership.faithdirect.net/events/details/3061
To donate, volunteer or get more information, click here.
Check out the great segment on WBTV News about our World Hunger Drive!
www.wbtv.com/video/2019/06/15/world-hunger-drive/
Full-time Director of Adult Formation
St. Matthew Catholic Church is seeking to hire a Director of Adult Formation. This full-time position is responsible for creating an environment of evangelization, formation, and discipleship by providing opportunities for the faith education and formation of adults within the parish and local community. Please click here to see the full job description. Interested applicants should send cover letter and resumé to Katie Knoefel.
The purpose of the Diocesan Support Appeal (DSA) is to help provide the annual funding necessary to carry out the mission of our diocese – namely to fulfill our call to “grow ever more perfectly into a community of praise, worship and witness, and to become a leaven of service and sign of peace through love in the Piedmont and Western North Carolina.” The DSA provides funding for the ministerial arm of the diocese.
The DSA provides support for more than 20 services that Catholic Charities of Charlotte offers throughout the diocese. The appeal also provides funding for the Housing Ministry, Education Ministries (providing over 30 different services), Multicultural Ministries, Eucharistic Congress, and Vocations. Some of these ministries provide services beyond the scope of individual parishes and some exist for the sole purpose of assisting parishes in their own mission to teach, evangelize and serve.
To make your pledge, click here.
We have received notification from the Office of the Bishop that St. Matthew will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 20, 21 and 22. The celebration of each Mass will begin at 6 pm.
Please bear in mind that a youth will be eligible to receive the sacrament once all preparation is complete:
In addition, the following steps must be completed by March 31:
2019-21 Pastoral Plan Executive Summary
Get involved! Click here to see how you can help make the Pastoral Plan a success!
To the faithful disciples of St. Matthew Catholic Church,
I am pleased to offer for your consideration the 2019-2021 Parish Pastoral Plan for our parish family.
I was appointed as the pastor of this amazing community shortly over one year ago. In that time, I have experienced great joy in the fruits of the Holy Spirit that have been at work here since 1986. The vibrant liturgies, the sacrificial service, and the spirit of evangelization that is so evident here draws all who pass through our doors into a large, yet intimate, parish family, but most importantly, into a personal relationship with the Lord.
We are not unaware, however, of the challenges that we face in today’s world. Secular experts have declared the current times as the beginning of the “post-Christian” era. God is seen as no longer relevant in a culture that has determined truth to be subjective and the individual to be the only true god. Mass attendance is in decline, reception of the sacraments has become less common, and young people are leaving the Church in alarming numbers. Our parish community is no exception to this trend.
But we are not the first to confront a world that rejects Jesus. The first disciples, in fact, were met with skepticism, hostility, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Alone, they were powerless. And so they did what Jesus taught them to do—to seek an intimate relationship with the Father, who would fill them with the power that would transform the world.
Our 2019-2021 Parish Pastoral Plan, then, is based on that simple model. By fostering a deeper spirituality in our parish community, and by using the gifts we are given in our encounter with youth and young adults, we allow the Spirit to speak and act through us.
It worked 2000 years ago. With God’s help, it will work for us today.
I look forward to our future together.
Faithfully,
Patrick T. Hoare
Pastor
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Prayer is the key to all we do here at St. Matthew. If we are not praying for each other, and for our parish, we can’t hope to serve the Lord and his people to the best of our ability while drawing on his grace. I invite you to join in prayer for our parish and for each other every day at 3 pm. Set your cell phone alarm for 3:00 and stop…no matter what you’re in the middle of….and pray an Our Father for our parish and for intentions.
Let’s count on one another’s prayers!
The release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report this past week reminds us once again of the terrible crimes that were committed by some members of the clergy, and reveals inexcusable instances of poor judgment, deception, and negligence in the pastoral care of the victims of sexual abuse. This, and the recent accusations against former Cardinal McCarrick, once again open wounds that cause many of us great pain, and have led some to question our faith and trust in the institution of the Church founded by Christ Himself.
I have had multiple discussions over the past several days with priest friends of mine, and also with the clergy here at St. Matthew. These reports cause us great pain and in some cases anger toward those entrusted with the authority to administer justice and to keep vulnerable children and adults out of harm’s way. The priests that I know well answered the call to the priesthood to serve you, to share with you God’s love and mercy, and to bring you the power of the sacraments, and we can’t understand how such abuse and injustice was tolerated by those with the power to stop it.
I humbly ask you to pray with us above all for healing and consolation for those who have been harmed, for justice to be done in each case of abuse, and that the hierarchy would decisively institute additional reforms to prevent this from happening again. While the Grand Jury report itself acknowledges that much good work has already been done in the last 20 years in responding to reports of abuse, much more is still necessary at the highest levels of the Church to root out any element of evil from among us.
I also ask that, as you pray with us, you also pray for us, the priests and deacons who serve you at this parish, and for all clergy, that we would always live up to our high calling of serving you, the people of God.
Prayerfully,
Fr. Patrick T. Hoare
Pastor
Attached you will find a letter from Bishop Jugis and Bishop Zarama in support of immigration reform and the Dreamers. This is the first collaborative letter between the two bishops since the installation of Bishop Zarama in 2017.
Please take a moment out of your busy day to read and stay informed on the stated positions, formed by Catholic social teaching, of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB).
