3/7/21

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

We're now in March and heading towards our patronal feast day, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, on Friday, March 19th. This year we'll celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph during the year of St. Joseph so it'll be doubly special and full of grace. To prepare I encourage the whole parish to pray a parish novena to St. Joseph – we'll put out special St. Joseph novena prayer books published by Magnificat. For the feast itself, we'll have a Vigil Mass on Thursday the 18th at 7 pm and Mass at 12:10 pm on the feast day itself, Friday the 19th. That evening at 7 pm we'll have the usual Stations of the Cross for Fridays in Lent, but we'll add special St. Joseph prayers. 

Normally at this time, we'd have our parish St. Joseph dinner, but because of the pandemic, we'll have to cancel that yet again. However, once the new parish hall is completed, sometime in early June, we'll host a belated St. Joseph parish dinner to celebrate the year of St. Joseph and our new McGuire Hall. I'm looking forward to it already! 

Please note that because St. Joseph's day is a solemnity, it trumps a Friday in Lent, so we can all eat meat on Friday the 19th. Make sure to have a special dinner in honor of St. Joseph!

Finally, this Sunday is our Cardinal's Appeal in-pew weekend. This annual campaign raises money to support the Archdiocese of New York: archdiocesan ministries, charities, financially vulnerable parishes, archdiocesan administration, and the tribunal. It also supports the training of diocesan seminarians and retired diocesan priests (not Dominican friars though – they are supported through the Friars' Appeal that will be this Spring). Our parish goal is $91,500 and so far we have raised 10% of that goal. 

Please pray about supporting the appeal. There are videos about the appeal by the Cardinal at: http://www.cardinalsappeal.org/2021-videos. The number of parishioners who give is also important, so please give even if you can only give a small amount. Make sure to list St. Joseph Church in Greenwich Village as your parish. There are pledge cards on the tables in the narthex of the church, or you can go to www.cardinalsappeal.org. Thank you for your generosity!