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Dear Members and Friends of St. Joseph Church,
May the blessings and grace of God sustain you through this Lenten Season. Lent is the time of preparation for those who will be baptized, confirmed and admitted to the Eucharist during the Easter Vigil on Saturday, April 16, 2022. We will receive Nathan Ferguson (sponsor: Anton Donghia) and Victoria Vivo (sponsor: Kyle Benyo) into full communion with the Catholic Church this year at the Easter Vigil. Please pray for them and welcome them. For the rest of us, Lent is the time to increase our prayer, fasting and works of charity as a way of modeling our faith.
The season of Lent calls us back to the basic religious actions of prayer, fasting and giving alms. These actions, when performed in a grace-filled way, help us grow in faith, hope and love. Self-denial helps us to be emptied so that God may fill us with the Holy Spirit. Catholics in good health from the age of 18 to 59 are obliged to fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. They are to abstain from meat on all other Fridays of Lent. Youth, age 13 and older, are to abstain from meat on those days. “Fasting” means no more than one main meal is eaten that day, while in the same day no more than two partial meals are eaten which together do not equal the one main meal.
Ash Wednesday is March 2, 2022. The Eucharist will be celebrated at 9:00 am at Immaculate Heart of Mary. At Noon there will be a celebration of the Word with the distribution of ashes at both St. Joseph Church and IHM. The Eucharist will be celebrated at 6:00 pm at St. Joseph Church.
The Rite of Penance is available on Saturday, March 5 at Noon at IHM and at 3:30 pm at St. Joseph. Communal Penance Services, beginning at 7:00 pm., will be at St. Michael Church in Canfield on Monday March 21; at St. Joseph Church on Tuesday March 22; and at St. James Church in North Jackson on Thursday, March 24.
The Knights of Columbus will be selling take-out Fish Dinners on the Fridays of Lent, here at St. Joseph from 3:00-6:00pm. See details here. Take-out Fish Dinners are also available at IHM from 4:00-7:00 pm.
All are invited to pray the Rosary at Immaculate Heart of Mary on Thursdays at 6:00 pm.
The Stations of the Cross are prayed on Fridays at 7:00 pm at St. Joseph and at 7:15 pm at Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The vocal group, The Men of Independence, will hold a performance of popular music on Sunday, March 27, at 2:00 pm in the Social Hall at St. Joseph. Many people enjoyed their previous performance on Friday, December 10, 2021. Please come and experience this wholesome entertainment.
We are richly blessed in our parish by the grace of God. We have many active and generous parishioners who share their time, talent and treasure. We enjoy activities and events that enable us to experience Christian fellowship and support. Praying that this Lent is a powerful experience of God’s grace for each of you, I remain
