All men of the parish are invited to join us on our annual retreat at White House. This will be a silent, guided retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. It’s a peaceful break from the chaos and confusion of everyday life. It’s like a 3-day vacation with Christ on their beautiful 80-acre campus high on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. All meals and private lodging are provided. Our retreat begins the evening of Thursday May 3rd and concludes at 2pm Sunday May 6th. There is no set fee to attend a retreat at White House! White House operates on a free will offering basis, asking those in attendance to simply give what they feel they can at the conclusion of the retreat.
We are blessed in our Archdiocese to have Bishop George Murry SJ join us Thursday evening March 22nd. Bishop Murry is the Chair of the newly formed Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism of the USCCB. He will be speaking on “The Church as a Consistent Voice to Eradicate Racism” at 7pm that evening at College Church where he will be joined by Archbishop Carlson. Parking is available at the Laclede Garage.
Friday, Jan. 5, marks 200 years since my predecessor, Louis William Valentine DuBourg, arrived in St. Louis. When Bishop DuBourg arrived, St. Louis had but one church which could only be described as “a kind of miserable barn falling into ruins.” Today, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis boasts one of the largest collections of mosaics in the Western hemisphere. In 1818, Bishop DuBourg was establishing a headquarters for his new diocese. Now, in 2018, the city of St. Louis is competing for a second headquarters of a major international corporation. We can imagine that those early settlers would be proud to see their once-fledgling frontier town transformed into a thriving, modern metropolis...
Near record cold in January has created havoc across St. Louis. Water main breaks, cars that won’t start and frozen pipes disrupted our lives. Even though temperatures have moderated, some of our neighbors will struggle to pay their high gas and electric bills. With your continued support, we can bring hope, light and warmth to our neighbors in need. Thank you very much for your continued use of the monthly blue envelopes. If you or someone you know needs assistance, please contact our office at 636-779-5616.
The Return of Fr. Binu Fr. Binu will be returning to St. Joseph and will celebrate the 9AM Mass on Sunday, January 21st. We look forward to having Fr. Binu join us even if it is for only one Mass.
Eucharistic Adoration “Thank you, Lord, for being with us this year. Help us stay close to you in the New Year as well.” Visit Our Newborn King during Eucharistic Adoration and grow in faith. To sign up for a Holy Hour or for more information contact Joan at 636-391-9747. Adoration is in the Holy Family Chapel 24 hours each day. On Wednesdays, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament begins after 8:30am Mass in the church. At 7:30pm there is a Holy Hour which concludes with Benediction at 8:15pm.
Artist Needed We were blest to be able to use one of the Parkway Schools for our Christmas Eve Mass and we hope to be able to use that space again. I would like to thank those who helped decorate the common area of the school in order to turn it into a great place to celebrate Mass. As we were decorating a couple of times, we wished that we had some religious art work (mainly a painting of St. Joseph and a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary) that we could have used to help us decorate. If you are an artist and are interested in painting two paintings that are at least 16 inch by 20 (preferably bigger) please let me know and submit a preliminary drawing of your work. Our decorating committee will then pick the design they like the best and commission that artist to make our paintings. Deadline for submissions will be February 14th (Ash Wednesday).
Planned Giving and Investment Committee The parish is looking for a four to five parishioners to form a new committee that will help elicit Planned Gifts and to help manager our new endowment from the Lily and Hammer Fund. We are especially looking for parishioners who are not currently on the finance council but do have some experience in financial investments. If you are interested please contact Fr. Tom Pastorius (tpastorius@stjoemanchester.org) or Joyce Jones (jjones@stjoemanchester.org.) We will have our first meeting sometime in January.
Let’s Get Rid of Our Debt and Plan for the Future Our parish has made some progress toward retiring our parish debt to the Archdiocese. Every month this year, you will find a gold envelope in your envelop packet. Please consider using this envelope in making a donation above and beyond your normal Sunday offering to help us get rid of our debt. The Lily and Hammer club also has over two hundred spots available. Please consider donating $100 dollars a year for a 1 in 400 chance each month to win a prize ($200 10 months of the year & $500 2 Months of the year). Money for the Lily and Hammer Club is being set aside to start a new endowment for the parish.