100th Anniversary Committee
My Dear Parishioners,
I pray that you had a Blessed Easter. While it certainly was not the celebration that we may have been used to, it is clear that people were feeling more confident about gathering to offer praise to God. While the obligation to attend Sunday and Holy Day Masses remains lifted until further notice, more people were present for our celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord and the following Divine Mercy Sunday. With more people getting the vaccination, hopefully those numbers will continue to grow. I want to thank all those who helped our community celebrate the Sundays in Lent and also the solemn liturgies of Holy Week and Easter via our videos uploaded to the parish website. This includes those that helped with the filming, editing, recording and uploading of the various celebrations, arranging of the altar and its decorations, as well as all the ministers who assisted at our video and audio broadcasts – lectors, organist, vocalist. The music and singing helped people to feel that they were still a part of their local celebration. I continue to hear from many people how much they appreciate it. I also want to thank you for continuing to support St. Joseph Parish. Your weekly and Easter donations are essential to keep our parish operating.
We recently formed a 100th Anniversary Committee. It is hard to believe it, but St. Joseph Parish will be a century old in the year 2022. We will be meeting to prepare our celebrations for the upcoming year. We will mark our Anniversary year, starting in the Fall of 2021 and run it through the Fall of 2022. Please stay tuned for more information. We will be reaching out to the parishioners for assistance with all the facets of this celebration.
As our numbers increase in church, I am looking to restart our weekly Monday evening rosary and monthly Benediction. Because of COVID, we stopped gathering, but I think that we can responsibly start it up. The problem is that we are in need of one person to organize and coordinate the prayer leaders, we also are in need of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to repose the Blessed Sacrament and lock up the church, and we also need additional prayer leaders. If you can help with this effort, please contact me.
Please keep our young 3rd graders in your prayers for the weeks to come. In two weeks they will be making their First Holy Communion. This is a special time in the spiritual life of a Catholic. We ask that Jesus will stay close to these 12 young people as they take Him into their hearts and souls. Please pray for their families too, that they will facilitate these relationships by bringing them to Mass regularly. I am sorry that we will not be able to have the May Procession this year. This was a special time for the parish to honor the Blessed Mother, but also a good opportunity to acknowledge the young people who recently received their sacraments in the Catholic Church. We ask that parents bring their first communicants to Church for Sunday Mass dressed in their Communion outfits so that we can congratulate them.
If you have not yet returned your Rice Bowls, please deposit them in the bins in the back hallway. We will be forwarding those donations to Catholic Relief Services.
God Bless you,
Fr. Bordonaro