Dear Parish Family,

  I would like to congratulate all of the children of our parish who recently celebrated the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation for the first time. I am grateful for their families, their teachers and catechists as well as our Religious Education staff and volunteers. Let’s keep them in our prayers as they prepare for their First Holy Communion.

  In a new Apostolic Letter dated December 8, 2020 entitled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.

  The Letter marks the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To celebrate the anniversary, Pope Francis has proclaimed a special “Year of St Joseph,” beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same
feast in 2021 (https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-12/pope-francis-proclaims-year-of-st-joseph.html).

  One of things that makes this year so special is that special indulgences can be received through more than a dozen different prayers and actions. This includes praying for those who are unemployed and entrusting our daily work to St. Joseph. Among these special indulgences also includes performing a corporal or spiritual work of mercy or reflecting prayerfully on the “Our
Father” for at least 30 minutes.

  One of the most beloved prayers to St. Joseph was composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1889 in his 1889 encyclical, “Quamquam pluries.” The prayer is ordinarily enriched with a partial indulgence. During the Year of Saint Joseph, however, the use of this prayer has been included among those enriched with a plenary indulgence. It may be said on any day of the Year of Saint Joseph, but especially on his various feast days or other devotional days dedicated to St. Joseph:

   Prayer to Saint Joseph

  To you, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke your patronage also. Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child
Jesus, we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

  O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be kind to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness. As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously, to die in holiness, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen. (https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/prayer-to-st-joseph-
after-rosary)

God Bless You.

Fr. Dan Redmond