Saint Joseph Catholic Church - Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church

Saint Joseph Catholic Church
PO Box 464
Berwick, Pennsylvania 18603 • Telephone: 570.752-7000
Echoing Mary’s Decision
The angel Gabriel today confronts Mary with a
mystery. The mystery of salvation in Christ is not a
mystery that is solved,
but a reality beyond our
comprehension that we
must choose to enter
into. In the liturgy of the
Eastern Church, everyone
waits to see if Mary will
enter into the mystery:
God waits, Adam and Eve
and all the souls of the
dead who long for
paradise wait, angels
wait for new heavenly
companions. And there is
much rejoicing when her decision is “yes.”
We have less dramatic choices offered to us, but
the mystery of our salvation in Christ is by no means
“solved.” We may understand it a bit better due to
Mary’s “yes.” We may be a bit closer to it through the
passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it
still remains a mystery to which we all must give our
own “yes.” Soon we will be singing “O come, let us
adore him.” May our Advent prayer, our echo of Mary’s
“yes,” continue then, so we may enter into the mystery
of our salvation in Jesus Christ, God among us.
Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.
Treasures from our Tradition
By the year 800, when anointing was defined as
the proper office of priests, very complicated rituals
began to take shape. Perhaps this was to reassure
the laity, who had memories of an earlier practice
that the new way was not only better, but impossible
for a layperson to conduct. Blessings and sprinkling of
holy water, the singing of as many as seven psalms,
penance, anointing of all the senses, viaticum, all
capped off by the clothing of the sick person in
penitential garments, were part of the rite. This
proved unwieldy, and creative spirits got to work. By
the 1500s people made distinctions between visiting
the sick, anointing, and viaticum.
The attempt of the Church to be faithful to the
image of a healing Christ has some complicated
history, including centuries when the celebration was
rare. Most sick people had no access to the rites at
all; only monastics or the well-off had much hope of
this care. Today, those unhappy days are long behind
us, and the care of the sick is an essential task in
every parish’s life. As Christmas approaches almost
everyone comes in contact with someone who is a
candidate for pastoral care. You live out the best of
our tradition when you arrange for a sick person to
receive Holy Communion or the sacrament of the sick
and the consolation of regular contact with the faith
community.
Retirement Fund for Religious
Thank you! "We can certainly call you friends
because of the way you care for our retired
members," writes a religious brother. Your gift to the
collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious
benefits some 35,000 senior sisters, brothers, and
religious order priests. May God bless you for your
generosity!
Weather-related cancellation for Religious Education
Because our meeting times are a precious commodity in
Religious Education, I am going to be very conscientious
about calling classes off on any given weekend. I
certainly would not ask anyone to venture out on a
dangerous weather day—but I am asking parents not to
use the weather as an excuse for missing a session—
unless we call classes off from here. All you need to do is
call the parish office and listen to the message when the
automatic attendant picks up.
Classes for the new semester are scheduled to begin
on Sunday, January 4th at 9:00 AM.
In the charity of your prayers, kindly remember
the happy repose of the soul of:
+Addie Paolinelli, a faithful member of our parish,
who died on Sunday, December 7, and was buried
following a funeral Mass on Thursday, December 11.
May she rest in peace.
Planning Ahead 1
Diocese of Harrisburg – Annual Men’s
Conference at Bishop McDevitt High School in
Harrisburg. The theme for this year is: “Warriors for
Christ: Men After God’s Own Heart.” The keynote
speaker will be our Most Rev Bishop, Ronald W
Gainer, DD. The day is scheduled on March 21, 2015.
In addition to the keynote there will be 20+
workshops over two sessions. The day includes lunch,
fellowship, the Sacrament of Penance, Eucharistic
Adoration and Mass. Registration materials are soon
to be made available. For more information please
contact Jim Gontis at (717) 657-4804 x 227 or get in
touch
through
the
diocesan
website
at
[email protected].
Planning Ahead 2 (Just a thought.)
I have been in contact with “Trapane Tours” to
discuss the possibility of a “pilgrimage” (not as part of
the world-wide Year of the Family—but just as the
family of Saint Joseph Parish (and others who may
want to join us,) to Philadelphia. Stops could include
the Church of Saint Peter (Girard Ave) to visit the
remains of Saint John N Neumann; the
Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
to pray at the tomb of Saint Katharine Drexel, in
Drexel Hill, a visit to the Shrine of Saint Rita on
Broad St and a stop at the Cathedral Basilica of SS
Peter and Paul on Logan Circle—close to the
Philadelphia Art Museum where the Holy Father is
expected
to
celebrate
Holy
Mass.
No final
plans or dates
have
been
determined and,
I repeat, this is in no way connected with the Family
celebration connected to the Holy See in the fall. We
are taking names only to see if we can fill a bus. Call
if you are interested. Price will be determined by the
number who join us. You will have a very wellinformed guide for this religious journey.
Volunteers are needed for the following
projects:
Keeping ahead with our NEW Parish Website.
This individual(s) would come to the parish office as
needed—or work from home—to keep our website
current. Confidentiality is a must. Please call Father
at the parish office. This web site is provided, free of
charge, through the bulletin company.
Gibbons, Bob Phillips, Toni Phillips, Gloria Dendler,
Tony Thomas, Stephen M Lazar, Graham Burrell, Lou
Dalessandro, Camilla Schleicher, Al Creveling, Tim
Legg, Pia Buffone.
We will certainly include anyone on our prayer list, whether a parishioner or not.
Please get their permission to add their name here. Underlining and bold print
indicates someone new has been added to the list. If anyone can be removed from
this list please notify us as soon as possible.
Vigil Intentions
Sanctuary Lamp
+Nicholas Sacco
Wife and Family
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Intention of Jack Canfield
Jeannette Lewis
Infant Jesus of Prague
Vocations to the Priesthood
Consecrated Life
Anonymous
Our Lady of Fatima
Intention of Marie Derkosh
Frances Zinich
Saint Anthony of Padua
+Paul Levitski, Jr
Members of the CCW
Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus
+Regina DiGiandomenico
Kathie DiPippa
Stations of the Cross
+Jim and Connie Cerase
The Cerase Family
Mass and Confessions
Mon 22 8:30 AM*
Tue 23 7:30 AM*
+Michael Cicini Sr
+Merry Gotto
We need painters (around the middle of January,)
to continue/finish some of the work begun during the
summer on the first floor walls in the former convent.
Sacrament of Penance:
Monday, December 22, 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Tuesday, December 23, 6:30 – 8:00 PM
We could use volunteers to remove the old
varnish and re-varnish (or whatever might be easier)
the steps in the front inside of the convent. We
would like to maintain the beauty of both sets of
stairs and not have to replace what is already there.
*Confessions will follow both morning Masses
on Monday and Tuesday, upstairs
until all have been heard.
Please keep the following individuals in your
prayers during the coming week:
Marianne Schwoob, Steven Klinger, Bob
Gower, Doug Shrader, Steve Felix, Stephen J
Lazar, Siobhan Sheehan, Dr Jack Canfield, Maria
Tossini, Frank Bolick, Debbie Beaman, Raymond Ash
Jr, Q A Keck, Mya Dendler, Olga Prushinski, Benny
Cerullo, Seenie Dalto, Lucille Whitmire, Debbie
Thennes, Mariann Waselus, Louise (Cashman)
Martin, Butch Karpenski, Patrick Mattucci, Aaron
Cadman, Nick Marnejon, George Atkins, Nester
Urban, Connie Fetterman, Donna Hutton, Susan
Hart, Dorothy Dalessandro, Jim Whitmire, Suzanna
and
Wed 24 4:00 PM
10:00 PM
Thu 25 8:00 AM
10:30 AM
Fri 26
Sat 27
Sun 28
For the People
Special Intention
Special Intention
Intention of the Celebrant
8:30 AM +Mary Youshock
No Morning Mass
3:30 PM Confessions
4:30 PM +Domenic & Catherine
Mazzochetti
7:45 AM +Yvonne Seesholtz
10:30 AM For the People

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