14th Sunday in Ordinary Time & Independence Day

7/4/21

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

Happy 4th of July! I hope you get a chance to enjoy a good grill out and time with friends and family. Today we celebrate the many freedoms our country enjoys– let us be grateful to God for what our ancestors have bequeathed to us. May we build on what is most noble about our nation and overcome the many challenges that face us as a nation.

Especially let us be thankful for the religious freedom we enjoy and our ability to live our faith unfettered. May that freedom endure. This Friday we celebrate St. John of Cologne, who did not enjoy that freedom. During the chaos and violence of the Protestant Reformation St. John of Cologne was caught bringing communion to Catholics captured by the Calvinists in the Netherlands. They hanged him in a barn with many of the Franciscan friars. They are known as the Martyrs of Gorkum. I have a devotion to St. John of Cologne because he is the only Dominican saint who was also a parish priest.

Please see the Cardinal's clarification of the current state of the Sunday Mass obligation. The bottom line is that if you feel safe going out and about in the city then you should be attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation; however, if because of health concerns you're still living in a state of semi-quarantine then you do not need to attend Sunday Mass until you can safely go out.

I leave this week for vacation. I'll see you all again the weekend after next– the weekend of the 18th. I won't be writing pastor letters the next two weeks, but I'll resume writing once I'm back.

God Bless,

Fr. Boniface