Editor's Note: As next weekend's gospel reading focuses on “The Cost of Discipleship” (Luke 9:51-62), this week's 'The Thought' video from Ascension Press is "Focus on Following Jesus."

Click on video above to view: "Focus on Following Jesus"

Carissimi,

In church yesterday (Sunday) I made the following announcement, and wanted to make sure all had a chance to read it or view it as it is pertinent to changes that will soon be upon us here at St. Ignatius. To view video of the announcement, click here, or read announcement below.

"I have an important announcement for the parish that will come as a surprise and maybe a shock.

We have walked together these last seven years. I’ve given you every bit of my energy and my love. I have never worked harder or enjoyed it more.

One of the creative tensions Jesuits live with is absolute commitment to the mission he is given and absolute detachment and availability for a different mission.

From the 1st day, a parish isn’t yours. It belongs to the community and your job is to nurture and guide it so that it can thrive when you leave it.

Well, that time has come. Fr. Provincial has appointed me to be his assistant for the 18 Jesuit parishes in our province from Maine to Georgia. He is counting on my three stints as a pastor and my many years in province governance to be useful.

We are still going to have some time together. My last Sunday with you will be St. Ignatius Day at the end of July.

I’ll be visiting every parish in the province every year, so you will still see me around, but it’s going to be very hard to move from being your pastor and working with Fr. Watters on the new school to visiting once a year.

The good news is that the archbishop has accepted the provincial’s nomination of Fr. Brian Frain, SJ as my successor. You will be learning more about him in the coming weeks and you will meet him on St. Ignatius Day.

He is not and EYE-talian, but you’re going to love his dedication, warmth, and Irish wit. His main hobby is Irish dancing and music. There is a wee bit of the leprechaun about him.

Brian is 58 years old, has a doctorate in education and is currently the Director of the Thomas Moore Center for Catholic Thought and Culture at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. He has taught at every level except pre-school and had several international assignments. His special focus is on the education of students most in need.

I’ll share more details with you as they become available. I look forward to having this month to grieve, say good-bye and prepare for a new chapter both in my life and the life of the parish. God bless us. Everyone."

Homework

Your homework this week is an article by Franciscan Fr. Daniel Horan: Perhaps being spiritual, not religious, is not such a bad thing?

Here is the opening paragraph:

"Church leaders often wring their hands over fear that withholding public condemnation of individuals about sexuality, politics, Communion or some other issue could be the potential source of "scandal" to the faithful. Yet many young adults, affiliated and disaffiliated Catholics alike, regularly point to such condemnations — particularly when they target the most vulnerable and marginalized — as the real stumbling block to faith in general and religious affiliation in particular."

As ever, 

From the Justice & Peace Committee

Native Plant Sale at St. Ignatius

by Theresa Furnari, Chair Environmental Justice Subcommittee

The Native Plant was hosted by the Environmental Justice Committee, a subcommittee of the Justice and Peace Committee during the weekend of May 21-22, 2022, after the 5:00 p.m. Mass and 10:00 a.m. Mass. Parishioners purchased a variety of beautiful native plants and received information for planting from committee members and vendors who sell native plants. Plants were sold at Saturday Mass, with the balance of plants all sold in approximately 15 minutes after the Sunday Mass. The proceeds from the sale were used to pay for the plants and the small profit was contributed to the church. Sincere thanks to Father Jim Casciotti, S.J. and the St. Ignatius Catholic Community for supporting this valuable event and the Environmental Justice committee members who contributed to this successful event. 

Here are pictures from the event.

What "Jesuit" is all about...

Jesuit 101: I heard the voice of God in jail

by Justin Prom, SJ

I sat alone at a table in a small concrete room with white walls and bright institutional lights. I passed through several large, steel security doors that an officer had remotely buzzed open for me to get to this part of the county jail. I entered a meeting room next to the large pod that housed a few dozen residents of the jail. From my seat, I saw many of them through large windows, mostly dressed in orange jumpsuits, milling about in the common area, playing checkers or watching TV. As I sat there dressed in my clerics, at the time a second-year novice in the Society of Jesus, I wondered to myself, “How am I qualified to talk to any of these men as a chaplain?”

The short answer is, I wasn’t. But I did have one thing going for me: I had completed the 30-day Spiritual Exercises. Among many things, the Spiritual Exercises provide a roadmap to the human heart. They are filled with wisdom from St. Ignatius about how the heart responds to different inputs, whether they be nudges from God, our own thoughts, or temptations from the world. READ MORE

Dear members and friends of St. Ignatius Parish,

You are invited to join Embracing God’s Gifts, our parish’s LGBTQ+ ministry, and walk in this year‘s annual Baltimore pride parade. We would love to have family members and allies of LGBTQ+ individuals to join us once again. As in past years, we will assemble in Charles Village in the early afternoon on Saturday, June 25th to walk in solidarity with other welcoming faith communities in the greater Baltimore area. In this collective effort, we strive to remind the LGBTQ+ community that there are many faith congregations who welcome, affirm, and celebrate them.

Please contact Gordon Creamer at [email protected] for more details and to register.

Women Who Stay

June 28 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

More Information

Spiritual Growth Opportunity

From the Office of Evangelization

In the Area

POOR BOX

This week's collection: "Loaves & Fishes"

Learn More

In the Media

THE APOCALYPSE ISN’T ALL DOOM AND GLOOM

by Josiah R. Daniels

It’s the end of the world! Or at least, it certainly feels like it. When thinking about the apocalypse, it’s tempting to think of it in terms of director Adam McKay’s 2021 film, Don’t Look Up: One catastrophic event that sees our world come to its fiery conclusion. The apocalypse, for many people, revolves around the world coming to an end and Jesus returning to judge those who the King James Bible calls “the quick and the dead.” Maybe others simply think of the world ceasing to exist. For most people, there isn’t anything constructive about the apocalypse.

I’ve always read Jesus as the most apocalyptic person in the history of the world. You can’t get more apocalyptic than pronouncing “woe” to people, something Jesus says often, especially in the book of Matthew. In Matthew 18:6–7 Jesus casts woe to those who present “stumbling blocks” to “little ones.” Lately, I’ve been saying “woe to the world” quite a bit as our leaders seem nonplussed by kids being shot to death while at school. READ MORE

No confusion about a new poll: Most U.S. Catholics disagree with church leaders on abortion and L.G.B.T. issues

The danger of “confusion” over the church’s teaching on abortion is one reason Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has given for his decision to ban Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from receiving Communion in her home diocese of San Francisco. As he told Gloria Purvis, the host of America Media’s “The Gloria Purvis Podcast,” “someone who is strongly advocating for something as evil as abortion and taking Communion creates confusion among people. And they can begin to think that it is acceptable for a Catholic to believe this.” READ MORE

‘God may be calling us’: Meet the women aspiring to become deacons

I recently attended a listening session for the synod in which the global church is now participating. The priest taking notes for the bishop began the session by saying something along the lines of: “Don’t waste your time coming up here and making a comment that asks the church not to be Catholic. Women cannot receive holy orders. This is an infallible teaching of the Catholic Church. No generation in the church will ever see a woman at the altar.” READ MORE