Happy Mother’s Day

My Dear Parishioners,

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

We give thanks to God for the special gift of love He has showered on us in our mothers. A mother’s love is unlike any other. I hope you enjoy the day celebrating motherhood and families.  We remember not only our mothers that are still loving us here on this earth, but also those that are loving us from heaven. We pray for their souls and any healing that they may need to enjoy the all-encompassing love of God. Your Mother’s Day envelopes with their various intentions written on them will remain in front of the Blessed Mother Statue as a symbolic way of consistently praying for these women through the month of May. The Respect Life Committee has placed a vase of flowers in front of the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for Mary’s fiat or willingness to say yes to God and become the mother of Jesus and as a witness to the sanctity of all human life from conception through natural death.

This Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord. While normally this is a Holy Day of Obligation, the obligation to attend Mass remains lifted because of COVID until further notice. We will still offer Mass here at the parish and  you  are  encouraged  to  attend.    The  schedule  for  the Ascension is: Vigil Mass on Wednesday, May 12th at 5:30 p.m. and on Thursday May 13th at 8:00 & 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

I am pleased to announce that starting Monday,  May 10th we will resume our Monday night rosary at 7:30 p.m. This means that the church will remain open on Mondays during the day for adoration from the Morning Mass at 8:00 a.m. through the evening rosary. Please make use of the opportunity to be with the Lord Jesus during the day/afternoon. It is not good to leave the Blessed Sacrament unattended. The remaining weekdays the church is closed at 4:00 p.m. Also on the first Monday of the month we will celebrate Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament after the rosary. Thank you to the volunteers who will be leading the rosary and locking up the church.

St. Joseph Parish has provided the Mass interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL) for the hearing impaired of the area two times a month. Unfortunately COVID has affected attendance across the board including within the hearing impaired community. We are suspending the ASL interpretation of Mass for the summer. If you are interested in having the interpreted Mass return to St. Joseph at the end of summer, please let me know, or contact Sister Kathleen Schipani the Director of the Office for Persons with Disabilities for the Archdiocese at 215 587-3530.

This past Tuesday was the last day for our CCD in home classes. It has been an unusual year and I want to thank all those who helped out especially our teachers, assistants, and parents. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Cathy Cain, our Director of Religious Education. She does an excellent job organizing all the catechists, volunteers, aides, children, parents and schedules. If anyone is interested in joining the team, we can always use the help, please contact Mrs. Cain at the rectory, or leave a message at the CCD office. I hope the students and catechists enjoy a restful summer and we look forward to seeing you next year.

Next Saturday the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will ordain two men to the priesthood. While this is a blessing for our Archdiocese it is also somewhat concerning that there will only be two new priests this year.  Please pray for vocations.

You may have noticed that our bulletin is now in color. This is being provided by the publisher at no extra charge. If you are one of the advertisers who supports our bulletin, I suggest that you resubmit your ad in color. Likewise, our parish groups are welcome to submit notices and photos in color.

May God Bless you,
Fr. Bordonaro