{"id":12639,"date":"2025-06-06T15:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/?p=12639"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:02:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:02:49","slug":"coffee-and-pick-up-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/coffee-and-pick-up-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee and Pick Up Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jerry<\/picture>
Fr. Gerry McCarthy during \u201cCoffee in company\u201d at the parish of the Magliana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Since last September, I have been living in our parish in Magliana, on the southern outskirts of Rome. Since I have been here, Tuesday has been one of the best days of the week. It begins like any other day: reciting Morning Prayer with my brothers in the house, adoration, personal prayer, and finally Holy Mass. This time is not something secondary, but a key moment to implore Christ to use me to encounter the people to whom we are sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spend mornings with Fr. Gerry. He has lived in Magliana for over 25 years and has Parkinson’s disease. Looking at him, I am struck by many things. First of all, the humility he shows in asking for help to get ready so that he can leave the house on time. Then, I am struck by how he lives his illness. He often says that difficulty makes sense if it is lived as an offering for the people of the neighborhood for whom he has given his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, I help Don Gerry with \u201cCoffee in Company.\u201d It’s an initiative for the elderly in the neighborhood: we have breakfast together and then do lectio divina<\/em>. During the week, everyone meditates and prays by reading a passage from the Gospel. On Tuesdays, we share what the Gospel has inspired in us and how it relates to our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It remains a big question that they cannot easily ignore<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is wonderful to see the passion they have in sharing their discoveries and the friendship that is developing between them. They often meet to help each other get ready for the \u201cCoffee in company\u201d and now they have also started accompanying each other to various medical appointments. After the elderly, I move to the young. In the afternoons, Fr. Paolo, the pastor, asked me to stay at our soccer field to meet the kids who come to play. I organize the soccer games and play when the older kids are there. I talk a lot with the kids between games. They have so many questions. The question I have been asked most often this year\u2014and which I did not expect\u2014is definitely this: \u201cBut do you \u2018make love\u2019?\u201d It is not always expressed with typical euphemism but rather with the \u201ccolor\u201d typical of the Roman dialect. For these kids, it is absurd that a 26-year-old man would choose a life of chastity. The question is often asked provocatively, but it is still a great help to me because it forces me to reflect on the reasons for my choice. They understand when I explain that there is an aspect of sacrifice in chastity, but that I am happy to give myself completely to God and respond to his love. This year, I am discovering how powerful the witness of a virginal life is in today’s world. It’s not that they now share my choice, but it remains a big question that they cannot easily ignore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesdays at the Magliana: encounters and witness from \u201cone of the best days of the week\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Coffee and Pick Up Soccer - Fraternity of St. Charles","description":"Tuesdays at the Magliana: encounters and witness from \u201cone of the best days of the week\u201d"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[471,522,729],"writers":[647],"regions":[385],"cities":[437],"class_list":["post-12639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testimonies","tag-comunione-en","tag-educazione-en","tag-parrocchia-en","writers-matthew-tobin","regions-italy","cities-roma-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12640,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12639\/revisions\/12640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12639"},{"taxonomy":"writers","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writers?post=12639"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=12639"},{"taxonomy":"cities","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sancarlo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cities?post=12639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}