Christmas Mass Schedule

Mother Teresa will become a Saint!

Blessed Mother Teresa will be canonized a Catholic saint after a second miracle was granted to a Brazilian man who suffered multiple brain tumors.

Year of Mercy Logo

Presenting the official Year of Mercy logo:

In the words of Pope Francis:

Bicentennial Christmas Photos

Last night, the parish celebrated it's annual Christmas Dinner, but there was something special about this year's own. This year, our theme for the Bicentennial version of the annual gala was Celebrating our Gifts: Our Church and our Priests. Here are some photos.

The Season of Advent

The season of waiting in anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ is now upon us. This special season marks the beginning of a new church year for the Catholic Community. We are now in the Year C cycle and our Gospel readings will be taken from Luke. 

There are many ways you can make this season a special one for you and your family. First of all, you can attend Holy Mass as a family. This is our obligation as Catholics - to attend weekend masses. By doing this, we allow the graces of Christ to enter into our souls and make us aware how much in need we are of him in our lives. Another way is by availing yourself to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The season of Advent falls at a time where we see decorations going up around us - at the shopping malls and the houses to name a few, people are cleaning and painting their homes and many preparations are done at this time for the Christmas season which happens soon after. What we must realize is that, while it is good to have our physical homes clean, it is also as equally important to have our spiritual homes clean as well and this "home" which I speak of is our heart and soul. Sin blocks our connection with God and only the Sacrament can lift that sin away and make us sin-free in the eyes of God. Since, this season is a time of waiting, the Sacrament is very effective at this time to bring us back in gear with our relationship with God. 

The third way is to build your very own advent wreath at home and follow along with your own advent prayers as you light the relevant candles each week. 

The advent wreath is a special symbol which we use. The leaves represent the only leaf that remains blooming during the winter season, while the other trees wither away. This leaf is replicated in the form of advent wreaths. Also, the reason why the wreath is circular in shape is so that it represents our faith. A circle has no beginning and no end, so does our faith, which has no beginning and no end. 

The final way to make your Advent season special is by saying the Christmas Novena which begins 9 days prior to the start of the Christmas season (December 16th - December 24th). Our parish will be following the Christmas Novena every morning for the nine (9) said consecutive days at 5.30AM each morning, just before Morning Mass. Finally, make someone else's season a special one by spreading the love to someone who is less fortunate. This can be done via food hampers, monetary contributions or any other donation that you can make. 

Once you have followed along these steps, you can now enter into the Joy of the Christmas Season.

Happy Advent,

Brent Durham

Official Parish Notice - Communications Ministry

The St. Joseph Parish Community

"A Community Fired for Mission" - Celebrating 200 Years!

Message from the Communications Leg of the Parish

 

All God's Blessings to each and every one! We are in a year of celebration for our parish community because we are celebrating 200 years of witnessing our Catholic faith as the body of Christ. As such, many events are being held in the parish throughout the year to celebrate our past and look forward to our future. While many activities are planned, the virtual space for the parish will be undergoing a major restructure and what better time to relaunch our virtual platform than now, in our milestone year. As you are all aware, our parish reaches its target audience via the blog spot and the Facebook social media and for the past three (3) years, we have provided photos, faith articles, gospel reflections, video clips and news bulletins to keep you in the know and interested in the happenings of the parish and you all have responded with open arms and because of that, we appreciate your support. 

I am pleased to announce that our new initiative which the Communications Ministry will be launching this year is an official parish website and a newly revamped parish Facebook page (as a Religious/Church Organization page). For the Facebook followers, it will require you to manually log on to the page and 'Like' it and we would appreciate if you can help spread the news. The key words for the new parish facebook page is: St Joseph RC Church. You must type it as it is seen (in italics). Now, please bear in mind that nothing current is posted on the page just yet until the website is fully functional but in the meantime, we would like to rebuild our target audience. Photos, videos clips and bulletins will be included soon.

As I mentioned, a parish website is in the works at this time and this platform will be user-friendly but it will offer more services for the page viewers on a dynamic basis. No URL name is provided at this time but when the website is fully functional, all will be revealed.

We hope to have your patience and support through this transition and please continue to support the parish's activities throughout the Year of Bicentenary. May God Bless You! 

Brent Durham,

Parish Communications Officer

Good Shepherd Sunday

Good Shepherd,

Teach us to follow you

to care for all that are close to us,

to protect those who are threatened,

to welcome those who are rejected,

to forgive those who are burdened by guilt,

to heal those who are broken and sick,

to share with those who have little or nothing,

to take the time to really know one another

and love as you have loved us.

Good Shepherd,

Teach us to follow you

to spread compassion to those who are far away,

to speak for those who are voiceless,

to defend those who are oppressed and abused,

to work for justice for those who are exploited,

to make peace for those who suffer violence,

to take the time to recognise our connectedness,

and to love as you have loved us.

Good Shepherd,

Teach us to follow you

and to be faithful to calling you gave us

to be shepherds in your name.