March 20, 2021 | Weekly Update

Devotion to St. Joseph is one of the choicest graces that God can give to a soul, for it is tantamount to revealing the entire treasury of our Lord’s graces. When God wishes to raise a soul to greater heights, He unites it to St. Joseph by giving it a strong love for the good saint. 
—St. Peter Julian Eymard

• Father James is preaching at all the Masses this weekend except for the 10am Mass where Father Don will preach because of the Scrutiny.  We will be honoring Saint Joseph at all the Masses.  We look forward to seeing you in-person or on the livestream.
• Register ahead of time at this link or see you at the livestream.

• Pope Francis declared this a year in honor of St. Joseph. At all the Masses the weekend of March 20 & 21, we will recite the Prayer of Consecration to St. Joseph, and you will receive a holy card of St. Joseph as you leave Mass courtesy of Beidelman-Kunsch Funeral Home.
• Let us grow closer to St. Joseph; check out our St. Joseph page where you can get access to the following.
  • Go to Joseph Virtual Conference (speakers include Fr Don Colloway, Bishop Ricken, Dr. Mark Miravalle, Fr Chad Ripperger just to name a few)
  • Read the Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde”
  • Consecration to St. Joseph
  • Magnificat’s “Nine Days with Saint Joseph”
  • Links to watch on FORMED: the film “Joseph of Nazareth: The Story of the Man Closest to Christ” and a four-part series “Saint Joseph”  
  • myParish App ST JOSEPH button details

• 3/20th is the first day of spring, perhaps it’s a great time for our closets to go through a ‘spring cleaning for a good cause‘ for the St. Vincent de Paul clothing drive! Click here for items they will accept (whether in good or bad condition)
• Your donations go to the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shops where much of your donations are given away free to needy families in the community. Some are sold at reasonable prices at the thrift shops so that needy families can shop with dignity. “Proceeds” from the thrift shops go into a general assistance fund where St. Vincent de Paul Conferences at the churches help families with rent, mortgage, or utility assistance.

• Be inspired and share this beautiful “Letter from a Mom to Her Daughter In Honor of World Down Syndrome Day” by Lydia Schmitt.
• Do you know of parents who are expecting a child with Down Syndrome or have received a birth diagnosis of their baby will have Down Syndrome?  Please share this beautiful letter with them.

• Registration goes live on Monday 3/22.  Download our myParish App to get live alerts: text “App” to 88202.  We pray to see you either at the in-person services or at the Livestream on this holiest of weeks.  Praise God we are able to safely gather this year as compared to Holy Week 2020.
• Check out the Holy Week Schedule at this link (it is also where the registration links will be posted).

• We hope to see you Wednesday 3/24th 7pm at a Lenten MAGNIFY; where Jesus who is present in the Eucharist is personally waiting for you. He died on a cross to heal you and make you whole. Bring the family, friends, neighbors. Dive deeper into the last week of your Lenten journey at Magnify.  There will be Eucharistic adoration, praise & worship, scriptural reflection, and confession. Join in person or online, register ahead of time at this link.

• Let us be in prayer for our Father Don on Thurs 3/25th for he will be having surgery to remove part, or all of his thyroid.  Part or all of his thyroid needs to be removed. Because this surgery requires general anesthesia, he will be in the hospital overnight and discharged the next day.

• The St. Peregrine Ministry accompanies caregivers and those who live with serious illness, especially cancer, and chronic illness to provide prayer support, resources, education, and sacred space for sharing. Please come to the St. Peregrine Prayer Service led by Deacon Tony Leazzo on Saturday, 3/27th at 1pm via livestream.
  After the prayer service, join in a conversation via Zoom from 1:30pm to 2pm to learn more about the ministry and form a community of support for one another.  Zoom details will be posted during the livestream.
• For questions or additional information, contact Jolene LeRoy RN Director of Pastoral Care at jolenel@olmercy.old.diocesanweb.org or call 331-707-5380

• This Easter we will decorate the church with lilies around the altar. If you would like to make a gift towards the flowers please go to this link and log into Online Giving and choose “Flowers:”.
• If you wish to memorialize your loved ones you can add their names in the Comments section.
• The recommended donation is $10.00. Thank you for your generosity and for helping to make our church beautiful during the Easter season.

• We encourage you, please don’t wait at the last minute.  Here is the Lent Confession schedule and Confession Resources.  Or see the graphic below.
• Upcoming:  Saturday 9am – 10am and 1:30pm – 2:30pm.  Tuesday 7pm – 8pm.  Magnify 3/24th 7:30pm – 8:20pm.
• Last Confessions before Easter 3/28th Sunday 4pm – 5:30pm, Tuesday 3/30th 8:30am – 10am & 7pm – 9pm.

• Did you know we have Eucharistic Adoration at the following times?  Mondays and Thursdays immediately after daily Holy Mass through 6pm, and Wednesdays 9am – 12pm.  Sign-up here.

• We hope to see you at the Stations of the Cross on Fridays @ 7pm.  We will be using the “Way of the Cross” by Saint Alphonsus Liguori.  For those attending in-person, you may bring your own or you may take one that we have available for your own use.  They are for you to keep but we ask that you bring them with you each time you come to the church to pray the Stations of the Cross. 
• You can also scan the QR code when you come in to view the booklet on your cell phones or click on this link https://qrco.de/bbyN6k 
• Praying the Stations of the Cross is a wonderful way to enter more deeply into the life of Jesus and the Pascal Mystery; if it’s been a while or if you’ve never prayed the Stations of the Cross, we encourage you to embrace this powerful prayer this Lenten season to understand better what Jesus did for us.

• Don’t forget to check out Father Don’s insightful weekly Bulletin article is located here.

• The Diocesan Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal (CMAA) allows us, together, to do our part in building God’s kingdom here on earth.  Father Don and Bishop Hicks are asking us to join them in supporting the CMAA to help the poor and vulnerable, form our future shepherds, and spread the faith through our Catholic schools, faith formation programs in parishes, and programs for young adults.
• Our parish’s goal for the 2021 CMAA is $154,400, with 70 percent of any amount we raise over this goal returned to us for our use.
• If you wish to donate now, please click here https://bit.ly/2MOQHVY  Read the following report at this link https://bit.ly/3dd154X on how your gifts to the CMAA helps. For further details, please click here https://bit.ly/3jQxf7i Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting the 30 ministries and shining Jesus’ light brightly in our diocese.

• Support our teens on their Senior High Youth Ministry Mission Trip this summer who are traveling outside their comfort zone to experience the call of Jesus to serve the poor. Please pray for their trip and consider donating financially; donations can be made through this link.

• Please proceed here for the OLM Hispanic Ministry upcoming events and resources.
  Continúe aquí para conocer los próximos eventos y recursos del Ministerio Hispano de OLM.

• How can we be praying for you today?
  There are times when life is overwhelming when all we have is questions. In those moments, hope can feel far away. The great thing about prayer is that it shifts our perspective toward the One who stands ready to listen. No matter what you’re facing, we’d love to pray with you! Submit your prayer requests at this link