Welcome to St. Joseph's Church

Dear Parishioners,

Today we have the monthly second collection to support St. Joseph School. Thank you for your generosity!

I will be away on vacation from August 3-22. During my absence Fr. Jean Didier will be in charge of the parish.

From the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

363. What is freedom?

Freedom is the power given by God to act or not to act, to do this or to do that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. Freedom characterizes properly human acts. The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. Freedom attains its proper perfection when it is directed toward God, the highest good and our beatitude. Freedom implies also the possibility of choosing between good and evil. The choice of evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to the slavery of sin.

364. What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility?

Freedom makes people responsible for their actions to the extent that they are voluntary, even if the imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or sometimes cancelled by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, inordinate attachments, or habit.

365. Why does everyone have a right to exercise freedom?

The right to the exercise of freedom belongs to everyone because it is inseparable from his or her dignity as a human person. Therefore, this right must always be respected, especially in moral and religious matters, and it must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and a just public order.

366. What place does human freedom have in the plan of salvation?

Our freedom is weakened because of original sin. This weakness is intensified because of successive sins. Christ, however, set us free “so that we should remain free” (Galatians 5:1). With his grace, the Holy Spirit leads us to spiritual freedom to make us free co-workers with him in the Church and in the world.

God Bless you!

Fr. Gerald E. Murray, Pastor