Parish Feast Day Recap and Photos

On Sunday March 15th, 2015, history was made for the St. Joseph community since we had two (2) reasons to celebrate! Not only did we celebrate our Patronal Feast of St. Joseph but it was also the launch of our 200th Bicentennial Celebrations which will be a year-long event and will end with our annual Parish Christmas Dinner that will have a different twist this year.
This was the third year hosting the grand Patronal Feast Day so like the other years, it began with a procession with the St. Joseph statue which led to the First Capital Park where Mass was celebrated with Archbishop Joseph Harris serving as the Chief Celebrant and Bishop Robert Llanos, Msgr. Cuthbert Alexander (Parish Priest), Fr. Donnie McMahon (Past Parish Priest) and Fr. Hugh Joyeau all serving as concelebrants.
During his homily, His Grace began by thanking God for the 200 years of the church and for giving thanks for the lives of the saints, namely St. Joseph. He also took the opportunity to mention some 'sons of the the St. Joseph soil' which included Bishop Charles, Fr. Hugh Joyeau and many religious sisters who have taken the task of evangelizing the town of St. Joseph.
He continued on by saying that 'anniversaries are not only to look back but to look forward, especially for evangelizing'. He described St. Joseph as someone who was full of mercy and compassion and who did whatever it took to protect his wife, Mary. 'Being a man of faith', he continued, 'he was faithful and obedient to the will of God' and the challenge was then given to us to be like our patron Saint in that we are called to be trustworthy as St. Joseph was.
Our parish was then considered to be the 'Great Grandfather' of all the parish of our Archdiocese and that the people of St. Joseph must be known as 'compassionate people who give all their due'.  In closing, he instructed the community that 'by our lives, we must be a difference in this country and indeed, it will make a difference in our country''.
As the mass continued on, the official launch of our Bicentennial took place towards the end of Mass where the chairperson of the Bicentennial Committee, Carol-Ann Villafana gave an official opening statement and presented to the community the distinguished committee members who will be working for this year ahead. The members include: Brent Durham, Sean Julien, Michael Hill, Carol-Ann Villafana, Joanne Deoraj, Vernon Khelawan, Karen Ramlogan, Sr. Sandra Xavier, Jeffrey Supersad and Msgr. Cuthbert Alexander. To mark the official opening of our year-long celebrations, 200 balloons were released into the air as a sign of The Opening!
Following Mass, the community enjoyed a bring and share picnic and live entertainment from the community schools and parang Bands which included Nuestra Cosa and Flores.
The day turned out to be a wonderful and fun-filled day and it served as a great start for a fantastic year ahead! We look forward to all the support which you will show towards all our upcoming activities! On behalf of the steering committee, we would like to thank all those involved in the liturgy and, of course, all those who contributed their time, talent and treasure towards our event yesterday! Thank You!!!
Commemorative mugs and t-shirts/polos will be on sale throughout the year so please support in whatever way you can, especially since these can be used as great souvenirs to send to family members abroad!
Check our our photos from the feast day HERE and please remember that our parish lenten retreat continues from Monday March 16th until Wednesday March 18th at 6.30PM in the St. Joseph R.C. Church featuring Fr. Dwight Merrick as the re

-- B. Durham, 2015