Manna Food Drive

My Dear Parishioners,

In one week we will host our annual Manna Food Drive over the weekend of July 3rd and 4th. In preparation for that weekend, we are asking you to take home the brown paper bags placed at each of the exits this weekend and return them filled  with non-perishable food items July 3rd -4th. Bags can be placed at the foot of the cross in the back hallway. This is an important food drive that helps to stock the shelves of our local food pantry, the Coordinating Council of Health and Welfare. It is more commonly known as, the Warminster Food Cupboard, and it is located at 75 Downey Dr. in Warminster. This is the closest site approved and recommended by the Archdiocese for this specific food drive. The Manna Food Drive helps to stock the shelves of the food pantry through the summer months when donations are typically lower. Canned food items are usually in greatest need such as beef stew, tuna fish, fruit, vegetables, pasta sauces, soups, pork and beans, etc. St. Joseph parish has consistently been one of the greatest contributors to this Food Drive.

Beginning June 22, the Feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops celebrates Religious Freedom Week. Religious freedom gives us the space to carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted to the Church. Religious freedom means that Catholics, and all people of goodwill, are free to seek the truth and to live in accordance with that truth, and so to strengthen our common life as a nation. In the midst of our current challenges, join us as we seek the kingdom and find Strength in Hope. Learn more at www.usccb.org/ReligiousFreedomWeek.

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us—this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

God Bless You!
Fr. Bordonaro