Rev. Stephen F. Leva……………………………………..….Pastor Rev. Alexander W. Pancoast ……………………...Parochial Vicar Rev. John E. Donia………………………………………..Resident Rev. Francis J. Mulranen……………………………..…...Resident Deacon Jim Bogdan……………………………Permanent Deacon Deacon Matt Coyne……………………………Permanent Deacon Deacon Ed Schiappa…………………………...Permanent Deacon Phone: 610-269-8294 Fax: 610-269-2487 www.stjosephrc.org 332 Manor Avenue, Downingtown, PA 19335 March 28, 2021 | Palm Sunday Parish Staff School Mr. Allan Anderson Business Manager Phone: 610-269-8999 Fax: 610-269-2252 Mrs. Joyce Castaldi Parish Secretary www.stjosephrc.org/school Ms. Kelly Ennis Elder Care Manager Sister Lisa Ann Golden, I.H.M. Principal Mrs. Dodie Milano Receptionist Sister Diane Licordare, I.H.M. Vice Principal Mrs. Mary Beth Mostyn Administrative Assistant Mrs. Mary Jane McGeehan Administrative Assistant Mrs. Carol Orphanos Bookkeeper Parish Religious Education Program Mr. Darrin Preston Facilities Manager Phone: 610-873-8798 Mr. Matthew Riggio Parish Ministries Fax: 610-873-5466 Coordinator www.stjosephrc.org/prep Mrs. Kathy Thomas Director of Religious Parish Office Hours Education Mon-Tues: 8 A.M.-7 P.M.* Weds-Fri: 8 A.M.-4 P.M.* Convent *The parish office is currently closed to visitors. 484-593-4352 Please call 610-269-8294 during office hours for assistance. Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary BAPTISMS Parents of babies to be baptized are asked to please register for Pre-Jordan, a baptism preparation program at Saint Joseph Parish, recommended by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. You can find the class dates and register either online via our website. For more information, please visit www.stjosephrc.org/sacraments/baptism, or contact the Parish Office at 610-269-8294. MARRIAGE Couples planning to marry are asked to meet with their parish priest as soon as possible after their engagement and to enroll in a marriage-prep program (Pre-Cana) at least six months prior to the wedding. Registration forms can be found on our website at www.stjosephrc.org/sacraments/marriage. For more information, contact the Parish Office at 610-269-8294. PLEASE PRAY FOR: Celebration of the M a s s Every three months we will remove names from the Blessed Eucharist military and sick list. This is to help ensure that Saturday: 5pm Vigil Intentions our lists are always up to date. Please call the Sunday: 6:00 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 9:00 parish office to add/remove/re-add names. Thank a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12 noon, 4:00 p.m. you for your patience. Sunday, March 28 Mon-Fri: 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. ...those who are serving our country: Saturday: 8:00 a.m. 6am: For All Our Parishioners Brandon W. A’Hara, SSGT Steve Anderson, Petty 7:30am: Florence Creamer Officer Katesiree Cannon Boson, Caytie Castells, Holy Days of Obligation 9am: Pedro Quiroz PV2 Francesca Chindemi, Ensign Morgan S. 10:30am: Bernadine Quigley As announced Dankanich, Capt. Joseph S. DiBerardinis, Nicole 12pm: Benjamin Oathout Doyle, Pvt. Corinne Riley Estrella, Sargent Ian Fay, 4pm: Rose Valentino Reconciliation James Heisler, Nathan J. Horton, USN Victoria Saturday: 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Jones, Zachary Kish, Peter Kurtz, Lt. Col. Paul Monday, March 29 Wednesdays: 6:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 6:30 7am: David West, Jr. Lang,1st Lt. Sean Maddux, Krzysztof Malarz, Capt. Andrew C. Oddo, PFC Nicholas Odgers, Pvt. p.m. 9am: Amelia Regina Shubrooks Vincent Romano, 1st Lt. Joseph W. Rule, 1st Lt. Eric Anointing of the Sick Tuesday, March 30 F. Satterthwaite, Pvt. 1st Class Matthew Scalia, Cmdr. Christopher Schwarz, Jr., Corporal Jeremy Any sick or hospitalized parishioner 7am: Rose Valentino who is in need of the Sacrament of the 9am: Gretchen Metz Solnosky, LT Sean Sweeney and Aaron Thieroff and Sgt. Stephen Yori Sick should contact the Parish Office. Wednesday, March 31 7am: Geraldine Sturgill …those who are sick: Sylvia Anderson, Gloria and Delane Anderson, Perpetual Adoration of the 9am: James Merkens, Sr. Blessed Sacrament st Roseann Barnes, Gerard Boland, Be Bonner, Ashlyn Thursday, April 1 Brown, Baby Botero, Donna Buckalew, Marica Holy Family Chapel in the Holy Good Thursday Bukay, Kim Buttner, Connie Bull, Everett Burkhart, Family Center. No Morning Masses Joseph Cahill, Ellen Cassidy, Joseph Carter, Mike 7pm: Mass of the Lord’s Supper Cesario, Jim Conway, Frances Crawford, Anita Morning Prayer 11pm: Night Prayers Conant, Catherine Cutting, Baby Michael Corrigan, Monday—Friday at 6:30 a.m. in nd Matthew Dawson, Amelia D’Ginto, Lucy DeSacntis, Church. Friday, April 2 Good Friday Frank Elko, Cesar Estrella, Jack Falkner, Brooke Gabster, Marilyn Gallagher, Joan Garber, William Devotions No Morning Masses Gilland, David Grassey, Carrie Grosso, Michele Halis, The Holy Rosary: 9am: Office of Readings & Morning Scott Hastings, John Hatcher, George Hershey, Ryan Recited before the 9:00 a.m. Mass Prayer Hieb, Matthew Holzgrafe, Rhys Hopson, Danielle daily. 3pm: Celebration of the Lord’s Prayer Horack, David Horack, Ryan Jennings, Kathy Miraculous Medal Devotions: 7pm: Stations of the Cross Johnson, Lucy Perkinson Karvois, Terry Kapilla, Every Tuesday after the 9 a.m. Mass. Saturday, April 3rd Anita Kelly, Michelle Larkin, Delores Leifholt, Novena to Saint Joseph: Holy Saturday Crystal Leff, Ellen Lis, Chris Litwinko, Sue Loch, Every Wednesday after the 9 a.m. No Morning Mass Veronique Lopinski, Jeffrey Lloyd, Anne Mace, Mass. 9am: Office of Readings & Morning Michael Manley, Michael Martin, Kellie Martin, Divine Mercy Chaplet: Prayer Wendy Martini, Justin Matthews, Mary McDonald, Every Thursday after the 9 a.m. Mass. Jim McGrath, Jim McGowan, Rose McKenna, Pat Litany to the Sacred Heart: 1pm: Blessing of Easter Food Melcher, Lori Mergen, Rob Mersereau, David Mulder, First Friday of the month after the 9 8pm: Easter Vigil John Mullen, Deborah Nejman, Katie Nejman, a.m. Mass. Sunday, April 4th Meredith Olseski, Kathleen Ott, Julian Quiroz, First Saturday Devotions: Easter Jeanette Randall, Mary Raysor, Joanne Regester, Sue The First Saturday of each month at Mass Celebrated at: Rizzo, Dave Robey, Chris Samuelson, Joan Scalia, 8:30 a.m. 6am, 7:15am, 9am, 10:45am, 12:30pm Msgr. Francis Schmidt, Margaret Schmidt, John Schreiber, Erin Selcher, Mary Setzer, Tyson Sirlopte, Justin Smith, Mike Smith, Carmen Spadaro, Agnes Timothy, Neil Thomas, Jwn Tomalavaje, Lucia Vacchiano, Bobby Voldish, Lily Walker, Kyle Webb, Daria Talucci-Weeks, Pat Wood and Thomas Zech The Sanctuary Candle burns in loving memory of: Please remember in your prayers all those who have died. Anne Petrella Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may Perpetual Light shine upon them! View this bulletin online at www.DiscoverMass.com W E E K L Y L E T T E R March 28, 2021 Dear Friends, The Church tells us: “Holy Week is ordered to the commemoration of Christ’s Passion beginning with His Messianic entrance into Jerusalem. The days of Holy Week have precedence over all other celebrations.” With this understanding as our starting point, it is clear that Holy Week is the most sacred time of year for us as believers. Therefore, I invite all of us to enter with Jesus into this holiest of weeks. It has been a long Lent and we have traveled the road of prayer, fasting and alms giving and now we come to the summit of all that we long for, during these days of Holy Week Jesus will suffer, die and because of God’s goodness and mercy, rise from the dead to save us all from death and give us new life. On this Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, let us listen to the cries of the crowd who gathered to welcome Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem and praised Him with “Hosanna in the highest.” May we see this entry by Jesus as the beginning of Jesus’ redemptive actions for our sake. Our response hopefully will be one of pure joy as we welcome Jesus at the beginning of Holy Week, and then follow Him and walk the way with Him as He goes to suffer and die for us. Then, may God who loves us cause our hearts to overflow with his love as Jesus rises to give us new life and salvation on Easter Sunday. These are blessed and sacred days my friends, may we live them for all that they are for us and allow them to shape us into God’s people redeemed by the blood of Christ. Just a reminder about the paschal fast, “which should be observed everywhere from Good Friday and continued, where possible, on Holy Saturday. In this way, the people of God will receive the joys of the Lord’s resurrection with uplifted and responsive hearts.” May we all desire to make these days of our “Holy Week” special days, different than any other week of the year. This is what we hope for all year long, this is what we live for as Catholics. I pray that these days of Holy Week and especially the Triduum will renew each of us and fill us with the love of Jesus who gave himself so that we might have new life in Him. If you are able to join us here at Church, we invite you and look forward to being with you. If you can join us on-line, we are grateful for your presence and your prayers. Whatever our participation looks like this year, I pray that this sacred time will bring peace and joy to each member of our Saint Joseph family. A Blessed Holy Week, Fr. Steve Leva St. Joe's BSA Troop 2 Easter Flower Sale Holy Thursday, April 1, 2021 through Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021 (while supplies last) Walk-Ups Welcome During Holy Week! Pickup for Pre-Orders beginning on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (April 1-3, 2021) at the flower tent in St.