Divine Mercy Sunday: In celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, you are invited to virtually participate in a Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers with the Sisters. It will begin at 3 pm on April 19th.
Food pantry: The St. Joseph Food Pantry will open on April 22nd. Hours are Wednesdays 10 am to 11:45 am. If you have limited resources and are unable to come when food pantry is open, please call the parish helpline so that food can be delivered to you.
Requiem Mass: We will offer a Mass on Wednesday, April 29th @ 6 pm for parishioners who have passed away since the beginning of the quarantine. Please keep our recently departed parishioners in your prayers: Juan Pablo Hernandez, Bill Levins, Marie Wiest, Dorothy Brown and Laura Storch.
May Crowning: May 2nd. Parishioners are invited to bring flowers on Friday, May 1st for use during the May crowning ceremony. A receptacle will be placed in front of the chapel from 9 am until 5 pm. Photographs of the crowning will be posted here after the ceremony. May is a Marian month traditionally dedicated to the peaceful Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Recognition of graduates: We will recognize and pray for our middle school and high school graduates at the 8 am Mass on Sunday, May 17th. Submit names to our Director of Youth Ministry Omar Carmona by noon on Friday, May 15th.
Church hours (unchanged): The church is still open from 7 am to 7 pm.
Confession schedule (unchanged): The Sacrament of Penance is celebrated Sundays @ 7:30 am, 10 am, 1:30 pm & 5:30 pm. Wednesdays @ 8:30 am & 6:30 pm. Fridays @ 8:30 am. Saturdays @ 8:30 am & 5 pm.
Office hours (unchanged): Phones answered 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.
Priest hours (unchanged): Priests available by phone, as usual. During office hours, ask to be transferred to a priest. After office hours, follow answering system prompts to be transferred to a priest’s cell phone.
Private Mass schedule (unchanged): Sundays @ 8 am & 6 pm. Mondays @ 6:30 am & 8 am. Tuesdays @ 6:30 am, 8 am & 6 pm. Wednesdays @ 6:30 am & 8 am. Thursdays @ 6:30 am, 8 am & 6 pm. Fridays @ 6:30 am & 8 am. Saturdays @ 8 am & 5:30 pm.
“When will public Masses resume?”: The bishop, in cooperation with health authorities, and after consultation with his advisers, will determine the best time to resume public celebrations of the Holy Mass. This is not likely to coincide with resumption of in-store, non-essential commerce.
Pastor’s Easter Challenge: Eighteen parish households have accepted the challenge so far. Keep up the momentum! It’s fun to be Catholic! If you accepted the Pastor’s Easter Challenge, then please remember to call Father Shelton each week to keep him updated and impressed!
Religious Education: The families in the Parish Religious Education Program have received all lessons through the end of the year. As a gift from the parish, all SMS and RE 2nd grade students will receive a year long subscription to MagnifiKid, published by Magnificat. There will be an outside, drive-by distribution on May 1st from 1pm-4pm. Those who are not available at that time may pick up at the parish office vestibule from 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.
Medical masks: Since our last update, the “Mask Sewing Friends Group” have donated several masks to the lab and other staff at Methodist Medical Center, The Free Medical Clinic, and 1st responders in Nashville. Friday afternoon we will send over 100 masks to NYC to be divided between the Tent Hospitals and 1st responders. In total, members of the mask sewing group have produced 1,300 masks so far.
Hands of Christ Crisis Response Team: The Hands of Christ Team continue to make “check in” calls to all the members of our parish families. We have had a few families in need of groceries, which was taken care of right away. There are now several avenues of community assistance programs as well as our own volunteers. We are in planning for a way to advocate the use of small business owners when possible.
Holy Water: We use Holy Water to prayerfully call upon the mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection, mysteries which mystically flow through us because we are Baptized into them. Our church font is empty at this time due to health concerns, but you can keep Holy Water in your home by bringing bottles of water to the chapel porch on Sunday mornings, labeled with your name. You can then pick these up after 1 pm.
Essential contributions: Those of you who are continuing to make your financial contributions to the parish during this difficult time are very much appreciated by our staff who depended upon your generosity. For those who haven’t already done so, you can drop off your contributions in the office vestibule mail slot, or we encourage you to make online donations. Our third quarter financial report will be published by the end of this month.
Saint Mary School: “Learning at Home” will continue for the rest of this academic year. We are sad that the students can’t return to school this year, but are grateful that we can stay connected through video conferencing. Our hearts go out to our 8th graders. All of our students continue to learn from home, have interaction with their teachers, tune in to Mass on their Mass days, and hopefully, help out at home more. At the end of Morning Prayers, the students are given a special task to do that day, for example: make something in your house or your yard more beautiful, do something nice for someone in your house. We are trying to keep our SMS family united through fun school videos and a message made by all employees and emailed home. Also, see image below.
