The Church of St. Peter is entrusted to the care of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo. The Fraternity arrived in North St. Paul in 2017 and has enriched our liturgy, faith formation and school with their presence.
About the Fraternity
The Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo is a Society of Apostolic Life of pontifical right. The Fraternity has its origins in the charism of Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of the movement of Communion and Liberation. The young men who ask to be admitted into the Fraternity to become priests have met in this movement the definitive form of their belonging to the Church. Through their missionary activity, they work to spread this charism, drawing from it the method of their apostolate. The priests of the Fraternity live together in houses of three or more. The communion among them is meant to sustain their daily missionary work, inform how they live their priesthood, and be a path towards conversion. They must always be willing to be sent wherever the Church has a need. They carry out their priestly service in parishes, schools, prisons, and hospitals, according to the wishes of the bishop of the diocese in which they reside. The words that best express the life of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo are contained within its very name: fraternity, priestly, missionary. Here is how each is described by the founder, Msgr. Massimo Camisasca:
Fraternity
“The Fraternity is a companionship made up of people that are placed together by an Other, by the action of an Other who has had mercy on their lives. It is the effective sign of God’s mercy. Each of us has been gathered and is continually accompanied by Christ through his brothers. Thus, the Fraternity is the place which, through our conversion, makes the memory of Christ easier and continuous.”
Priestly
“The priestly vocation is one of the highest and most beautiful paths that one can travel. It is a continuous communion with God and man. Like all vocations, it can be subjected to weariness and human weakness. If it is adequately sustained and aided, it acts as a bridge between heaven and Earth, represents a fundamental link in the history of salvation, and also serves as an important figure in the journey towards unity among men.”
Missionary
“Mission is not something that we invent; it isn’t the expression of our particular talents or passions, even if it draws from all the gifts that God has given us. It consists simply in entering within the same mission for which God sent His own Son into the world, for which the Son sent the Apostles, and for which, in turn, the Apostles sent other brothers, until the visible echo of that event touched even us.”