School begins this week. It will be good to have our classrooms filled and to have all of the life and joy which surrounds a building filled with kids. Enrollment has been great, with waiting lists in several grades. The first school Mass will be on Friday morning.
We have a security officer who watches over our school. He is out on the playground and in the halls all through the school days and during big events. We have also asked him to watch over our Sunday morning Masses. His name is Collin Bundy. He is a friendly Catholic with police training. You may remember his brother Thomas Bundy, a seminarian who spent a summer at St. Charles.
Diocesan committees will be meeting this month to look over our new building plans. If all goes smoothly and we get an approval, we’ll be ready to hire a construction company and start to work on the new Borromeo Center.
As I reported in last weekend’s bulletin, our parish is now a sponsor parish for Hallow, an app which is very useful in building a life of prayer. I reported incorrectly, though, that parishioners can sign on for free. It is free for a few months, and then there is a discount for those who belong to a sponsoring parish. Click on “churches” and indicate that you are from St. Charles, Fort Wayne for that discount. For parishioners who are already using Hallow, you can get the discount by canceling your subscription and then opening it anew.
You will recall that in June we hosted a priest from Unbound. He invited us to take part in a program of sponsoring children in poverty. We have had speakers from Unbound in the past and many parish families are already sponsoring a child. I was happy to hear that an additional 34 new sponsors signed up this year. As I state again and again, this is one generous parish.
I will be leaving on Thursday afternoon for some time away. First, I’m going to North Carolina to visit my left kidney. I have been in touch with the fellow who is using my left kidney and I’m anxious to meet him and his family in person. Then, I’m going to spend five days in silence at a Trappist monastery in Georgia. I will return on August 24.
