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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 3, 2021. 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.
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 on Wednesdays at 6:00pm at Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On Friday, March 19, Bishop David Bonnar will preside at the Eucharist to mark the celebration of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mass will begin at 7:00pm. We are looking forward to the new Bishop joining us to honor our patron saint.
The Spaghetti Dinner on Palm Sunday, March 28, will be take out only this year. More information will follow in the weekly bulletin.
The schedule for Holy Week will be as follows:
Wednesday, March 31, Tenebrae will be prayed at IHM at 6:00 pm.
Easter Sunday, April 4 will follow the normal schedule, 8:00 and 11:00 am Masses at IHM and 9:30 Mass at St. Joseph.
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
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Very Rev. Gregory F. Fedor
Pastor
St. Joseph Church
4545 New Rd
Austintown, OH 44515
