Monday Evening Flocknote - August 24, 2020
Dear St. Charles Family:
First of all, let us pray for all who are adversely affected by the California wildfires, and by all of the other natural disasters in the world today. Please stay tuned to local evacuation notifications, and prepare an evacuation plan for yourself and your family, just in case it is needed.
In the event that the air quality is good on Sunday morning, we will provide outdoor seating to view our 9:30 am Mass. You may sign-up for reservations now, and we will notify you in advance if the outdoor component of Mass will be canceled.
Meanwhile, below, you can read Part II of the stories of my own vocation, and it includes several pictures of the locations described within my stories.
Meanwhile, below, you can read Part II of the stories of my own vocation, and it includes several pictures of the locations described within my stories.
Blessings to each of you, and have a safe and healthy week!
-- Fr. Kwame
Make Your Reservations by
Clicking on the Appropriate "Sign-Up" Button
At Least 24 Hours in Advance
August 30, 9:30 AM SUNDAY MASS - Outdoor Seating
Arrive no later than 9:15 am
Sunday 9:30 am Mass
Friday, August 28th: RECONCILIATION (Ten Minute Appointments)
Friday Individual Reconciliation - Lawn Area. The reservation deadline is 9:00 PM on Thursday evening.
10:00 - 10:10 AM Reconciliation Appointment
10:10 - 10:20 AM Reconciliation Appointment
10:20 - 10:30 AM Reconciliation Appointment
10:30 - 10:40 AM Reconciliation Appointment
10:40 - 10:50 AM Reconciliation Appointment
10:50 - 11:00 AM Reconciliation Appointment
Enrollment for Our
Faith Formation 2020-2021 School Year
is Now Open!
REGISTER HERE
Class Format
Classes will start out with online courses. Please note that our Faith Formation format for the entire 2020-2021 season is still undetermined and may include virtual classes, a modified classroom setting, or both. Class days and times have yet to be finalized.
Classes will start out with online courses. Please note that our Faith Formation format for the entire 2020-2021 season is still undetermined and may include virtual classes, a modified classroom setting, or both. Class days and times have yet to be finalized.
Sacraments
Be sure to re-enroll your child(ren) for sacramental preparation (First Communion, First Reconciliation, Confirmation, or RCIC/T).
Sacrament fees are charged only once. If you have paid fees last year, you do not need to pay for this year.
Be sure to re-enroll your child(ren) for sacramental preparation (First Communion, First Reconciliation, Confirmation, or RCIC/T).
Sacrament fees are charged only once. If you have paid fees last year, you do not need to pay for this year.
Download Brochure
Early Bird Discount
Take advantage of our $25 off Early Bird discount for registering your child(ren) before Thursday, October 1, 2020. After October 1, fees go up to $125 per child (excl. Pre-School).
Take advantage of our $25 off Early Bird discount for registering your child(ren) before Thursday, October 1, 2020. After October 1, fees go up to $125 per child (excl. Pre-School).
Financial Aid
Due to the hardship that COVID has brought to some families, scholarships are available. Do not hesitate to contact us if you require financial assistance. All cases will be handled in a discreet and confidential manner
Due to the hardship that COVID has brought to some families, scholarships are available. Do not hesitate to contact us if you require financial assistance. All cases will be handled in a discreet and confidential manner
Please reach out to our Faith Formation office for more information:
Carmela Chy: (925) 447-4545 ext.115
carmela@stcharlesborromeo.org
carmela@stcharlesborromeo.org
Aug
26
WEDNESDAY Evening: "Come and See"
Adult Faith Formation Zoom Meeting
Are you going?
Yes
No
Maybe
going.
not going.
might be going.
Adult Faith Formation Zoom Meeting
"COME AND SEE"
We welcome all who are interested in walking with Jesus
Wednesday Evenings at 7:00 PM
If you have a friend or family member who wants to learn more about the Catholic faith we invite you all to “come and see” - Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM.
To Join Zoom Meeting, Click HERE
Meeting ID: 321 832 6812
Password: Jesus2020
Password: Jesus2020
Questions? Contact Daniel Goodman at gotfordtires@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Aug
29
MEET at 7:30 AM SATURDAY MORNING
Heaven's Angels' Motorcycle Ride
Are you going?
Yes
No
Maybe
going.
not going.
might be going.
Heaven's Angels to Ride Again!
The Men of Faith ministry at St. Charles and the Heaven's Angels are excited to announce our second ride of the season on Saturday morning, August 29, 2020.
We will meet at the church at 7:30-7:45 AM. for a route overview, a safety talk, and the blessing of our bikes by Father Kwame.
“Kickstands Up” will occur promptly at 8:00 AM. We will take a break in Moraga for coffee and a light breakfast before heading back home.
Aug
31
MONDAY Evening - Walking with Purpose
Are you going?
Yes
No
Maybe
going.
not going.
might be going.
Angela Layton's Zoom Invitation:
Walking with Purpose
Bible Study Program
Monday Evenings at 7:00 PM
To Join Zoom Meeting, Click HERE
Meeting ID: 821 4834 5945
Password: WWP2020
Regular Telephone?
+1 669 900 9128
Meeting ID: 821 4834 5945
Password: 6033117
If You Missed Sunday's Video...
Bulletin Message From
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Stories of My Vocation, Part II
B. Kwame Assenyoh
Religious Community Life and Ministry
When I was newly ordained, my first assignment was to work in the Southern Province of the United States. Hence, I never pastorally worked in Ghana. Instead, I started in January of 1999 as associate pastor of Notre Dame Catholic Church, a black Church in rural Saint Martinville, Louisiana. There, my pastor, Father Thomas Mullally, instilled within me the spirit of pastoral collaboration and dedication.
Although my community life with Father Thomas was flawless, I quickly began to wrestle with tension in my own ministerial role as an African in regards to the daily experience of our all-African American parishioners and their struggle with the white population of the town, who were fewer but dominant.
This feeling of tension led me to seek and develop a strong bond with African Americans, their history, their experience in the Church and in the United States, and how I, as an African, could effectively minister with and among them.
The same tension left me no choice but to enroll and study at Xavier University’s Summer graduate programs on black Catholicism during the years of 1999, 2000, and 2001. Later on, I spent my days-off from pastoral work to studying for a Master of Arts degree in religious studies from Loyola University New Orleans.
When I was reassigned to New Orleans, as pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle Church, SVD community life became secondary to working on my role as an African missionary among African American Catholics.
At the time, I felt culturally inadequate and inexperienced to minister within a 100% African American Catholic community. Here, I was more concerned with my association with and disassociation from the African American experience in all its dimensions: cultural, economic, social, political, and above all, religious.
Winds of Revelation and Further Studies
For myself, hurricane Katrina in 2005 became the extreme winds of revelation and change in my religious missionary experience. Because of the devastation caused by this storm of the century, my Church and school lost all the contents of its buildings, and our parishioners were forced to evacuate to locations all over the country.
Before returning to rebuild Saint Paul's Church in New Orleans, I spent a month and a half as pastor of Holy Ghost Catholic Church. I returned because I feared that the only 100% African American Catholic community in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans would be closed if no one with prior knowledge of its history led a recovery effort.
To raise the necessary funds, I traveled all over America and preached at Catholic churches, telling the story of our loss and need for recovery.
Quickly, I rebuilt the interior of the Church and began to hold Masses there. This drew some of my parishioners to come home. After the rebuilding process progressed, I felt it was time to delve into the role of the Church in African American cultural experience and find my place in that experience. So, after the rededication of Saint Paul's Church in July of 2006, I left New Orleans for Boston.
By 2008, I had completed the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from the now Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, by writing a thesis on “Theology and Disability in Ghana.”
At this point, the academy attracted me as a potential area to share my experience as an African in the United States. I took advantage of the interdisciplinary program at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), to study the Roman Catholic missionary approach and practice toward African Americans. During these studies, I discovered that a “foreign mission” is outliving its usefulness unless it is, once again, aimed at rolling back power, authority, day-to-day permanent leadership, and management - to the “local Church” and the local clergy – diocesan secular leadership.
Becoming Local and Diocesan Priest
I've spent a substantial portion of my life in the United States in studies, after my initial eight years of full-time pastoral ministry in the South. Religious life in the SVD placed me in a position to experience the phenomenon of a “foreign mission” in the USA.
By 2014, in my prayerful reflection on my experiences, I realized that I needed to disengage from institutional religious life in order to engage and promote the “local Church.” Although I still cherish and live the evangelical counsels – religious vows – I now felt the need to personally and privately control and live in the spirit of those vows. In this spiritual direction, I came to believe that it would be best to practice what I had discovered in the secular priesthood in the Oakland Diocese where black Catholicism is acutely disappearing.
While I was finally concluding my dissertation, I also filed my application to depart from religious life and be accepted into the Diocese of Oakland. Bishop Michael Barber agreed to accept me on an experimental basis, and in 2016 I was appointed associate pastor of the Catholic Community of Pleasanton. Thus, I was back to full-time pastoral work. Consequently, I stopped teaching in African Studies at Stanford University, tabled the completion of my dissertation, and attended to the needs of adult faith formation at CCOP. It was there where I also discovered that adult Catholics are hungry for learning the deepest significance of their faith and the Bible and making them relevant to our socio-political world.
Coming to Saint Charles Borromeo
In 2019, I lost my dear friend and pastor Paul Minnihan to cancer. It was only on the day he breathed his last breath when I realized that we were like brothers. During the 6:30 evening Mass on that Sunday, I found myself wailing and crying out loud for about three minutes before I could continue with the Mass.
Father Paul’s death meant I had to take the reins at CCOP, which I did for five months with the help of the talented and experienced leadership and staff. At some point, it appeared that CCOP would be my place of ministry forever - that is - until the bishop informed me of my transfer to Saint Charles Borromeo.
Of course, I grieved the loss of CCOP, but then looked at Saint Charles and felt consoled, optimistic, and joyful. That mixed experience has become the way I approach every challenging adversity and storms of life: grieve the loss but look forward to the new way ahead.
Today, I am 53 years young and 22 years in the priesthood. My prayer at this point is for the restoration of health and end to the COVID-19 pandemic in the world. But, more importantly, I pray that we Christians may take this tragedy and use it to deepen our understanding of God and our spiritual life.
I believe it is time for us to be Christians in the true sense of the word - spiritual! That’s my prayerful wish for you, my dear family of Saint Charles!
-- Fr. Kwame
Interfaith Interconnect:
(Video Link)
Everyone is invited to view the video of "Together Now", our August 9th virtual event featuring clergy, musicians, poets, and storytellers who represent a variety of ages, races, religions, and cultures, and shared ways their faith traditions guide them through challenging times.
Presenters include Fr. Kwame, musician Jesse Manibusan, and representatives from Buddhist, Episcopal, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Unitarian Universalist groups.
"Together Now” was presented to address this difficult time we are living in, with the aim of leaving viewers feeling connected, hopeful, and empowered to make a difference in today’s world. You may view it here.
Interfaith Interconnect of the Tri-Valley was established in 2011 to bring people of different faiths and cultures together and now comprises over 20 member congregations. Its mission is “To enrich, inform, and educate ourselves and others about the great diversity of faiths and cultures in our valley.”
For more information, contact:
Marcia
Marcia
(925) 321-0730
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Community
1315 Lomitas Ave.
Livermore, CA 94550
