Welcome to St. Joseph's Church

Dear Parishioners,

On Thursday October 22nd our new Archbishop, Ronald A. Hicks, will preside at a Vespers Prayer Service at 7 PM at Immaculate Conception Church located at 414 East 14th Street. Catholic parishioners who live south of 96thStreet are invited to attend this celebration. The Archbishop will preach. After the ceremony there will be a reception in the auditorium. 15 tickets have been issued to our parish. They will be distributed on a “first come, first served” basis beginning on Monday October 5th, with a maximum of two tickets per family. You can request a ticket at the rectory office, which is open from 8:30 AM to 6 PM.

Fr. Jean Didier Sohotode will be in France this week to defend his doctoral thesis in the Philosophy of Education at the University of Montpellier 3. His thesis is about the educational philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Edith Stein, who is better known as St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, a convert from Judaism who became a Carmelite nun and was martyred by the Nazis in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Congratulations in advance to Fr. Jean Didier for achieving this high academic distinction. He will return to the parish on October 17th.

We have resumed the Family Mass every Sunday at 10 AM, at which students help with the readings, altar serving and bringing up the offertory gifts. After each Family Mass there is a gathering in the church basement for coffee and doughnuts. All are invited!

For those who would like to join the Catholic Church, and for those Catholic adults who have not yet made their First Holy Communion and/or Confirmation and would like to do so, our parish online class is available. Please contact me for more information and to register.

On Tuesday October 13th there will be a Eucharistic Procession beginning and ending at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. All parishioners are invited. At 3 pm, Father Gregory Pine, OP, and Father John Burns will give meditations accompanied by beautiful choral music. At 4 pm, Bishop Joseph Espaillat, Auxiliary Bishop of New York, will celebrate Mass and preach. After the Mass, at about 5 pm, there will be a Eucharistic procession in Midtown, culminating with Benediction of the Most 

Blessed Sacrament. 

God Bless you!

Fr. Gerald E. Murray, Pastor