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We have just completed our annual Mega Pack for Feed My Starving Children.  First I would like to thank the Egan Company for providing us great facilities again to do this wonderful venture.

Commitment to Parish Life is a bold venture recognizing the mutual relationship we have as parish towards people and as parishioners towards the parish.

Men’s Weekend February 21-24 • Women’s Weekend – February 28 - March 3 – St. Joseph the Worker is hosting Cursillo Weekends in February. Cursillo is an ecclesial movement in the Catholic Church which helps us grow in faith through piety, study and action.

Last week I wrote a bit about the mutual commitment we ask of parishioners at St. Joseph the Worker.  I mentioned praying for one another, vibrant worship, care for each other.  We also ask you to discern God-given talents and gifts and then to use them in the community as well as the parish.

​​​​​​​SJTW has added 50 ADDITIONAL spots for our community members to pack food at the FMSC Mobile Pack on Saturday, Feb 23 from 12:00-2:00 p.m.. We want you to join us! You need to go online and register yourself to claim your spot.

Our Plan to Support Rebuilding Our Sister Parish Church in Haiti/ A 60 Day Campaign Thank you for your outpouring of concern & prayers for our brothers & sisters in Bouzy, Haiti.

Several years ago the parish of St. Joseph the Worker embraced the concept of Commitment to Parish Life, or CPL.  This commitment takes on many forms.  On one of the pillars in the gathering space lists some ideas about the mutual commitment we make towards each other.

Thank you for being a part of the parish of St. Joseph the Worker.   If you regularly worship with us but have not yet registered, you can stop at the information desk by the front door or pick up a registration packet by that same desk.  It is easy to join and we are always looking for people to become a part of this vibrant community.

Many of you in the parish already give a great deal of your time in service to others. The Knights of Columbus, for example, regularly tally up all of the hours the more than 125 men in the parish volunteer every year.  It is well into the thousands of hours spent giving back to society.  

St. Joseph the Worker has about 2100 households. Every year 100 leave and just over that number join us. That means we have about 6000 parishioners.  I am good at recognizing faces but struggle to quickly remember that many names, plus the other folks who come to visit relatives or those who come to the cities for sporting or other events.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Fr. Don and I are so grateful for the outpouring of gifts this Christmas season.  We are delighted with all of the homemade goodies, the gift cards and the gifts of money you have given.

The world rejoices as we celebrate the birth of our Savior 2000 years ago. It was the Good News the world was waiting to hear. It was the clearest sign ever of God’s total and unconditional love for every person.

Do you know the first children’s toy that cost over $30?  It was a few years ago.  Tickle Me Elmo broke the cost barrier.  Now many children’s gifts cost much more than that.  We have no trouble spending much more than that on a toy for the child we love so much.  

A recent study asked people if they would rather receive gifts or give gifts at Christmas time?   Overwhelmingly people responded that they would rather give gifts.  That becomes very visible when we see how many gifts are carefully placed under the tree.

We have just celebrated Thanksgiving.  It was a time to give thanks to God for the generous gifts we have received from a God who loves us beyond measure.  Everything we have has been a gift from God.

St. Joseph the Worker is blest with so many parishioners from all over the Twin Cities and all over the world. Each comes with a particular perspective on life as well as ways things can be done. As a result our parish seems to enjoy the many ways we take simple things and give them a new approach.

The other weekend we asked you to sign up for the various ministries in the parish.  There were dozens of you who said you wanted to participate in one or more ministries.

The other day a study was released showing which age group felt the most alone. Surprising to me was that the age group was 15-25. It seems that they are the folks who are constantly on social media.

People are continually amazed by the number of ministries we have at St. Joseph the Worker. The team from our parish is currently in Haiti with our sister parish, St. Catherine’s.

This week you should have received in the mail a booklet that tells you of the many great things happening in the parish.  There are dozens of ministries listed and many more that are not. These ministries are successful because you thought of them in the first place and then invested many hours to get them rolling.