Dear friends,
The May Crowning will be celebrated at the outdoor shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located between the church and rectory, this Sunday morning, May 22, at 10:15 a.m. The students of the Parish School of Religion will be participating and all parishioners are invited. This celebration presents a wonderful opportunity to invoke the intercession of her who is the mother of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the mother of mankind in the order of grace (cf., Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 183).
This past year Miss Emily Kopff served well as the Director of the Saint Joseph Parish School of Religion program. Soon, however, she will be leaving us to take up the full-time responsibility of serving as the Director of Religious Education at Saint Joseph Parish in Imperial. Succeeding her here will be Mr. Gary Lang who has served in education—at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels—for 42 years. Mr. Lang holds graduate degrees from Washington University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He currently trains teachers and other leaders on restorative practices for the classroom and has a deep passion for sharing the faith. If you know of anyone interested in serving as a catechist or substitute catechist in our program for the coming year please let me know.
Our retired priest in residence, the Reverend Michael Donald, will be celebrating a Mass in honor of the Golden Jubilee of his Ordination to the Sacred Priesthood this Sunday afternoon, May 22, at 1:00 p.m. On this occasion, we give thanks to God for the fifty years of priestly ministry that Father has given to the Church and we ask the Lord Jesus to continue to bless him in his ministry.
In Christ,
Father Bené
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Clayton MO 