Thank You For This Past Year

My Dear Parishioners,

I hope that you were able to celebrate the real joy of God’s presence among us. It is sad that we are still managing the Covid virus, but even still we have many blessings for which to thank God. We have been consistently praying for all those suffering from the coronavirus whether from illness, isolation, or anxiety. Now is also the time to pray for a Healthy New Year.

At this time of year, I like to take the opportunity to thank those who made this year’s celebration a worthy expression of our faith. In particular I would like to recognize all of our musicians and cantors. Thank you to Mrs. Maria Lennon, our Music Director, for all her time and effort in coordinating our worship. I also thank the priests who have helped us out throughout the year including Msgr. Richard Bolger, Msgr. Jim McCoy, Fr. Rich Connors and my friend, Fr. Tim Christy. Special thanks to all the other Ministers of the Mass including our adult altar servers, Lectors, Ushers, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Thank you also to those who help to count the collection and do other supportive things behind the scenes. Thank you also to Mrs. Carla Venditti, Mrs. Karen Baranowski and their team of helpers for all the beautiful Christmas flowers and decorations. By the way, we purchased a new figure for the nativity scene; I wonder if you can identify which one is the recent addition?

I also want to thank you for your extremely generous support of our Advent Giving Tree. Special thanks to Joe and Lynn Ranweiler for coordinating the Giving Tree every year. We were able to help many families in our local area directly with their Christmas celebrations. In addition, we were able to help the following charities: Guiding Star ministries in Philadelphia, which helps pregnant women and children; Gift of Mary, which provides a similar ministry in Chester; Blessed Margaret of Castello Home, which is a crisis pregnancy center in Bensalem; St. Ignatius/Our Mother of Sorrows Church, which is a merged church in West Philadelphia and provides outreach to many families in need; and Mother of Mercy House which provides outreach to those in North Philadelphia. We are also able to help many more families in the future through our own Hope Committee and also through the tuition assistance provided. The remaining gifts and cards were given to Catholic Social Services located in Levittown.

Please remember to pray for all those names listed on our “Christmas Flowers” envelopes. Your memorial envelopes will be placed in the manger for the duration of the Christmas Season. I also want to thank a student who was responsible for recording our Sunday Masses, editing them, and putting them up on our website when attendance was not obligatory due to the virus. Mr. Carter Junod did an excellent job seeing that the people of the parish could still attend church virtually. I am also grateful to his parents, Joe and Kim Junod, who helped him in this effort.  Finally, I thank all who sent cards, gifts, and/or food to the rectory; your expressions of care, love and concern are sincerely appreciated. In addition I want to recognize and thank those who continue to make financial sacrifices for St. Joseph parish especially in these difficult circumstances. Your generosity at Christmas and throughout the year is a true testament to your faith and witness of God’s blessings.

May God Bless You and Happy 2022!
Fr. Bordonaro