Parish Update - Novmeber 20, 2020
Dear Parishioners of St. Joseph:
1. Baptisms -- Congratulations to Brennan Moffett, the daughter of Courtney and Craig Moffett, who was baptized this past Saturday and congratulations to Jonathan Ferguson, the son of Meg and Connor Ferguson who was also baptized this past Saturday. Both baptisms were here at St. Joseph.
2. 5:30 PM Sunday Mass -- We will not have the Sunday evening Mass or confessions after this coming week, until January 3, 2020.
3. Daily Masses next week -- There is no Mass on Monday and there will be a Thanksgiving Day Mass at 9 AM, but not at the regularly scheduled 5:30 PM evening Mass time. I hope everyone is able to enjoy Thanksgiving while remaining safe.
4.
OSV Online Giving --
Second Collections -- If you go to
StJosephStarkville.org and click GIVE, then you will be taken to our funds. The first four funds are our local St. Joseph funds (Weekly Fund, Food Pantry, Campus Ministry, Surrounded by the Saints). The other funds are the Second Collections that are planned for the year. You can see the dates and if you click on each one, you can see a description. These will be remitted to the appropriate organizations.
5.
No Advent Penance Services -- Advent begins next Sunday. Like Lent this past year, there will be no Penance Services. However, confessions will continue to be offered on Tuesdays from 4:30 PM until 5:20 PM in the Mary Room and will be extended for the same times on Thursday -- 4:30 PM until 5:20 PM. You can also make an appointment by emailing me at
frjason@stjosephstarkville.org.
Currently, we have about 6 or 7 commitments for windows. We are hoping the first set will be completed in the next few months.
You can see the first set of concept designs below.
6. Master Plan -- I just wanted to offer an update on this plan. Many of you have provided some feedback and we appreciate that. We have begun this Master Planning process because in order to have some direction for us to go in. Since the Church was built in 1998, our parish has acquired quite a bit of adjacent property. We as parish leadership, the Finance Council and Parish Pastoral Council decided it was best to have a long-term direction for all of these properties, as you see now on both the east and west sides of the church property there are gravel parking lots, for which, we hope to one day soon have plans to either pave, or put. a building on. Some parish programs require dedicated space, and we'd like to have that in mind for future planning.
Thanks to all of you for your feedback. The planning committee is going to review that feedback and begin making some decisions.
7. Food Pantry -- The Food Pantry will be running tomorrow are 9 AM.
8. 2021 Lector Workbooks are in -- The LTP Lector Workbooks are in and are in the sacristy. If you are registered as a lector, please check in with one of us to get your workbook.
9. Catholic Extension Parish Calendars are available as well. Please take one.
9. Magnificat and Word Among Us -- Both of these resources are in the back off the Church.
10. Reverse Advent Calendar -- The Food Pantry has a reverse Advent calendar you can pick up in the back of the church with items needed for their work.
I also wanted to share a story with you that I read recently:
"A little boy, about 10 years old, was standing before a shoe store, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the young boy and said, “My, but you’re in such deep thought staring in that window!” “I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boy’s reply.
The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little boy to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.
By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “No, doubt, you will be more comfortable now.” As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand and, looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her, “Are you God’s wife?”
With all of the problems we've faced with the pandemic and the other confusions of our world, let us remember to be a people of gratefulness and allow that gratefulness for God and what he has done for us to help us to transform the world. I believe this is God's will for us in these days -- to encourage each other, to offer one another hope, and enrich the world.
Peace,
Fr. Jason