MAY 2017

In This Issue

News from the

Community Garden

Memorial Day

Florence Says. . .

HUMILITAS SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO CHURCH

5024 N. GROVE

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 73122

(405) 789-2595

Website: www.stcharlesokc.org

Go, therefore, and make

disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name

of the Father, and of the

Son, and of the Holy,

Spirit, teaching them to

observe all that I have

commanded you. And

behold, I am with you

always, until the end of the

age.”

Matthew 28:16-20

Gospel

The Ascension

of the

LORD

A priest, a rabbi and a scientist walk into a . . .

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, no? Well, the gathering on Sunday, March 26th at OKC First

Church of the Nazarene fortunately had more substance than one of those tired jokes. Fr. Richard

Rohr, Rabbi Vered Harris, and Dr. David Hoekman comprised the panel speaking about theology and

science and the being stewards of God’s creation.

So much was said in the two-hour presentation hosted by The 2 Windows Project* that provide a

framework to consider the issue of Creation Care. I hope you find a few of the highlights

(paraphrased) insightful:

From Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan out of Albuquerque, NM and internationally renowned speaker

and author:

Religion asks the question “Why?” Science asks the question “How?” The “Why?” needs

to talk to the “How?”

Science and theology allow for knowing in different ways. It is not the case of one field

being rational and the other being irrational. Faith is not irrational it is non-rational/

contemplative knowledge.

The intuitive mind (one of contemplative faith) can hold paradox. The Divine Mystery is

paradoxical.

From Rabbi Vered Harris, a Reform Jewish leader in Oklahoma City:

Many in the West are raised revering reason and logic and therefore seeing religion with

fear and distrust, as though those the faithful “cling to religion” and are “naïve.”

Faith needn’t be scientific, but really they have much in common. Faith too is “proved”

by experience.

Science and the new questions that it forces the faithful to pose and answer is part of

ongoing revelation of God.\

From Dr. David Hoekman, professor of biology and ecology at Southern Nazarene University:

Three key issues regarding creation care are energy sources, fresh water, and land use.

Nature compromised diminishes a witness to God. Nature is a witness to God

For more on the topic of the environment and the Catholic Church see the papal encyclical Laudato

Si’ (Care of Our Common Home).

—Kathy Judge

*2 Windows refers to a statement made by theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson:

“Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big

universe outside . . . two windows give different views but they look out at the same universe. . .”.

Page 2

News from the St. Charles Community Organic Garden

Visitors welcome! The community garden is beginning to bloom. This year each bed has been

adopted by an individual from the parish who will be responsible for its upkeep and distributing

the crops. With an agreement and partnership with the Regional Food Bank's Urban Horticulture

Program, each gardener agrees to donate fifty per cent of their produce to the Dorothy Day

Center or other food pantry. Please do visit, walk through and watch the plants and flowers grow

but please do not pick the veggies or flowers. If you would like to be on a wait list to garden

next year, contact Monica Knudsen, Coordinator at 431-9782

Also, the compost bin will remain closed until next fall when we will be happy to accept your bagged leaves. Please do not

bring food scraps or grass clippings due to problems with rodents that have been solved. We do not want to reintroduce the

problem with attractants. Thank you for your help and cooperation this season.

—Monica Knudsen

Florence says. . .

After the danger of frost has passed, it is the time to move house plants outside. Ferns, pathos

and the airplane plant enjoy the sun and especially the spring rain.

I hope you received an Easter lily this year. The fragrant white trumpet shaped flower is truly

enjoyable. After it has bloomed plant it outdoors in the flower garden where there is partial sun.

It will reward you the next year but will bloom later in the season.

Lilacs are hardy, easy to grow and require little care. They grow from 5 to 15 feet tall and they make a beautiful bouquet.

If you enjoy early blooming shrubs and trees plant a redbud. There are also the azaleas with their variety of colors. Plant it

where it receives partial shade during the hottest part of the day. Most fruit trees such as apple, cherry, plum and peach

should be pruned in late winter and early spring when they are leaf free. Pruning at this time means losing some flower

buds and fruit but you will be getting bigger and better quality of fruit later. Prune to open up the center of the tree so that

sunlight can reach every branch and air can circulate freely.

Dandelions are another sign of spring. This is an herb. It is a blood cleansing lymph tonic and has external uses for

treatment for warts. A diet of greens improves the enamel of the teeth. The dandelion (I thought it was a weed) helps other

flowers grow. It stimulates fruit to ripen faster. The tender greens in spring were lightly seasoned with onions, hot bacon

drippings, vinegar and salt. (Depression diet in the 1900s) They are very rich in vitamin A.

Enjoy the beautiful spring!

—Florence Botchlet

Where do sharks go on summer vacation? Finland!

What do you call a fish that lives on another planet?

A Neptuna!

Why did the worm cross the ruler? To become an inchworm!

Why couldn’t the flower ride it’s bike? It lost its petals!

The newsletter team is looking for a layout

person.

Do you like working on the computer?

Join our team and help create the newsletter

every month.

Only one meeting a month!

Work at home on your own time!

Call Margaret Phipps @ 384-3809

Page 3

Parish Life New Parishioners — January

Dillon and Maura Andrews Canali and Bosungmeh Ndalle Sergio and Ana Lara Karen Dodd Wilfredo and Janice Flores Tatiana Gillespie Carlos and Mariana Ramos Jude and Shamila Kurukulasyriya Luis Escobar Ubaldo and Cassandra Hurtado Jose and Maria Rodriguez Ruben and Ana Munoz Cory and Gabriella Drain Fernando and Melisa Fausto

Anniversaries — March

2 Joshua and Cecilia Bridge 10 9 Marvin and Jean Conway 58 Ted and Georgette Dion 64 Alan and Sharon Wood 19 12 John and Judy Click 50 14 Donald and Catherine Keefe 51 17 David and Tama Wilson 31 19 Frank and Anna Evans 44 20 Richard and Linda Clark 50 22 Thomas and Kathleen Steece 35 24 Lance and Valerie Lassiter 20 28 Marcelo and Liliana Sauceda 11 Sutanto and Naomi Subianto 35 Chris and Erika Vandersypen 23

Weddings — January

Humberto Estrada and Diane Lopez Deaths — January

James E. Russell Madeline Judkins

Just want to let you know Catholic Singles and Friends has a dance

scheduled for Saturday May 20th in Beckman Hall at 7:00 p.m. Thank

you so much. . .Dorothy Taylor

Our Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who

have died in service of the United States of America. Let’s remember and pray for those who

have served our country.

After the Civil War, there was desire to honor our dead. Decoration Day was officially

proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army

of the Republic (GAR—a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army,

Union Navy, Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil

War for the Northern/Federal forces). His General Order No. 11 declared, “The 30th of May,

1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves

of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies

now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard.” The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen

because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000

participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern

states. Most of the South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I

(when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died

fighting in any war). It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the

National Holiday Act of 1971.

What’s a computers favorite dance? Disco!

What did the scientists conclude when they found bones on the moon? The cow didn’t make it!

We submit this issue with thanks to God and humility, your Newsletter Team for this month: Sue Bartlett, Florence Botchlet, Greg Brunsman, Kathy Judge, Monica Knudsen, Andrea McCoy, Margaret Phipps, Charlene Smith.

Page 4

MAY DATES OF INTEREST

1 St. Joseph the Worker May Day

2 St. Athanasius 3 Ss. Philip and James

5 Cinco de Mayo 7 Fourth Sunday of Easter

10 St. Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka’I 12 Ss. Nereus and Achilleus

St. Pancras 13 Our Lady of Fatima St. Julian of Norwich

14 Fifth Sunday of Easter Mother’s Day

St. Matthias 15 St. Isidore

18 St. John I 20 St. Bernardine of Siena

Armed Forces Day 21 Sixth Sunday of Easter

St. Christopher Magallanes and his companions 22 St. Rita of Cascia

25 Ascension of the Lord St. Bede the Venerable St. Gregory VII

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi 26 St. Philip Neri

27 St. Augustine of Canterbury 28 Seventh Sunday of Easter

29 Memorial Day Observed 31 The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A Prayer for Memorial Day

God of power and mercy, you destroy war and put down earthly pride. Banish violence from our midst and wipe away our tears, that we may all deserve to be called your sons and daughters. Keep in your mercy those men and women who have died in the cause of freedom and bring them safely into your kingdom of justice and peace. We ask this though Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen —from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers

Red Poppies

Have you ever wondered where the idea of the VFW to sell

poppies came about? In 1915, inspired by the poem “In

Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael wrote her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

She then decided to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in

honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She

was the first to wear one and sold poppies to her friends

and co-workers with the money going to benefit

servicemen in need. Later in France a Madam Guerin made

artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned

children and widowed women. The wearing of red poppies

spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American

Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war

orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a

year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for

help.

On Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first

veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years

later their “Buddy” Poppy program was selling artificial

poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post

Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the

National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage

stamp with her likeness on it.

What did the tree say to spring? What a re-leaf.

Why is the letter A like a flower? A bee (B) comes after it!

Where did Tarzan go on summer vacation? Hollywood and Vine!