A MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTOR

A Message from our Pastor, Fr. Andrew Umberg
 
 
St. Joseph Parishioners,
 
Well, our confinement continues!  If it is driving you crazy, you are not alone.  We are called again and again to turn to the Lord in prayer and to do what is best for ourselves, our families, and the wider community.  Let’s stay healthy!
 
Church Contributions
Thank you for the many financial contributions to St. Joseph Parish which many of you are making by mail or electronic transfer.  Unfortunately while our lives have been disrupted as a parish, the parish’s bills know no disruption!  If you can help, please do (if you would like to set up an electronic transfer for the first time, please call Karen Thorpe who is here weekday mornings.
 
Live-Stream Masses (and technical difficulties)
I know many of you have been watching our Masses at St. Joseph on your computer.  I also know that we have had problems, especially with the sound, and these live-streams and recordings. We are continuing to troubleshoot.  One problem beyond our control is that, right outside the church, they are replacing water pipe (or sewer pipe, I don’t know which—as long as they do, I’ll be fine!).  Hopefully, by this weekend’s Palm Sunday Mass, we will fix the sight and sound.  We hope that you will also watch the Masses for the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, 7:00 pm, Good Friday, 2:00 pm, and Holy Saturday Easter Vigil, 8:45 pm, and Easter Sunday, 10:30 am).  While I would hope that you would try St. Joseph first, know that you can watch these liturgies also on EWTN, The Archdiocese of Cincinnati website (catholiccincinnati.org), etc.
 
No Palms This Palm Sunday?
While I had plans to do otherwise, the word has come down from the Vatican that I must use the simple entrance option for the Palm Sunday Mass, which has no provision for the blessing of palms.  Why not? It was a (very restrictive) judgment call by someone in the Vatican worship office. My friend, Fr. Jason Bedel, pastor of St. Margaret of York Parish explained it this way: “This coming Sunday, the Mass of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord begins with one of three possible forms. Since the faithful will not be present, we use form number three which does not include the blessing of palms since the faithful are not there to hold them in participation. Blessed palms are a sacramental that is specifically linked to the Mass of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord; therefore, there is no provision for blessing palms outside of this Mass. Moreover, it would not be appropriate to distribute unblessed palms to the faithful as this could create confusion about their value as a sacramental when in fact they are not. In short, we will not have blessed palms on Palm Sunday.”
Sorry about that, folks!    
 
Hopefully this crisis will be over soon, with most of us healthy and unscathed.  Meanwhile, let’s continue to pray and try to make this Holy Week and Easter as holy and joyful as possible under the circumstances.
 
Sincerely yours in Christ,
 
 
Fr. Andrew Umberg