Pentecost Sunday
5/23/21
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Happy Pentecost Sunday! Today we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down as tongues of flame upon the apostles. From that moment the apostles start to evangelize the world and the Church starts to dramatically grow. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to live the Christian life and follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit is still with us, still operating within the Church, so let us follow His inspiration and seek the holiness He offers each one of us.
This week our summer student brothers arrive! We’ll have three brothers this year: Br. James, a deacon who will be ordained to the priesthood next Spring, Br. Benedict, who is in his 3rd year as a Dominican, and Br. Macarius, who’s in his 2nd year as a Dominican. Br. James will be serving in the parish as a deacon, helping with baptisms, Mass, etc., while the other brothers will be serving the Missionaries of Charity during the week and helping in the parish on the weekends. Please help them feel welcomed to our community.
Tomorrow we reenter Ordinary Time on the liturgical calendar, meaning back to green vestments. Ordinary time doesn’t really mean ‘ordinary,’ but instead comes from the Latin word for ‘ordinal,’ as in ordinal numbers, because the Sundays in Ordinary Time are counted and named by their ordinal number, so next Sunday would be the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time, although it’s superseded by Most Holy Trinity Sunday, which always follows Pentecost Sunday.
Have a blessed Pentecost,
Fr. Boniface
COVID-19 Restrictions Update
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
It's great that the world is starting to return to normal! The Archdiocese of New York has now issued new rules for parishes in light of the changing CCD and New York State & City guidelines. Here's a highlight of the changes at St. Joseph's that will start at the 5:30 pm Vigil Mass on Saturday, May 29th, Holy Trinity Sunday.
•For those who need or desire to sit in a socially distanced area of the church, the upper level and the narthex (the area behind the glass wall when entering the church) will retain social distancing rules. For those who do not need to retain social distancing, they may use the 1st-floor nave (the pews on the floor level of the church).
•The priest will again say the opening and closing prayers for the Mass at his chair instead of at the altar. A server will hold the Missal for him.
•We will keep the music to a cantor plus a musician until the end of summer – traditionally we have reduced the music during the Summer, so we'll start back with full choirs this Fall.
•The ushers will pass the collection baskets again. We will retain the collection boxes by the doors to the church so you may continue to use those too– as well as online giving. In the socially distanced areas of the church, the usher will hold the basket and offer it rather than passing it around.
•We will begin to have people bring up the gifts at the offertory again.
•Communion will return to the previous method where people line up to receive communion. We'll have a friar go to the upper level of the church to give communion so those in the socially distanced areas won't have to come downstairs to receive communion.
•The Archdiocese still will not permit us to put Holy Water in the fonts, but you can fill your Holy Water containers from the dispenser by the sacristy.
•The Archdiocese also still will not permit us to give the sign of peace, but we'll bring it back as soon as possible.
These new procedures go into effect at the Vigil Mass of Holy Trinity Sunday.
God Bless,
Fr. Boniface