News - May 2024 RSS Feed

Council #279 won two of four state awards for their Faith in Action programs - the Community Award for the Boxes of Love campaign; the Life Award for the ASAP drive (Aid and Support After Pregnancy), under way in the Cathedral parish with barrels for baby supplies and money donations.

Luan Tran will be ordained to the transitional diaconate Saturday, June 1 at a Mass beginning at 10:00 AM, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. The Mass will be livestreamed from the diocesan website. https://www.vermontcatholic.org/news/communication/tv-mass/ There is no 8:00 AM Mass and no 8:30 AM Confession that Saturday.

Monsignor and Deacon Dennis are back from their 11-day pilgrimage across France. Photos of Chartres, the Miraculous Medal Shrine, Lisieux, Mont-St.-Michel, Orleans, Nevers, Lyon, and Paris are on the website. Monsignor, with Deacon Dennis assisting, celebrated Mass every day in chapels and churches visited during the tour.

Msgr. Routhier will celebrate the holiday Mass at 9:00 AM at the cemetery. Please bring a chair. Rain site is the Cathedral. There are no 11:30 AM Confessions and no 12:05 PM Mass. The parish office and Joseph's House are closed.

Fr. Mandato will hold a healing service, be present at Eucharistic Adoration and hear Confessions, give a talk, display a St. Padre Pio relic for veneration, and celebrate Saturday and Sunday Masses with Pastor Father Justin Baker. Please visit this internet link at the Diocese website to read the full schedule of events. https://www.vermontcatholic.org/event/fr-pio-mandato-retreat-weekend-healing-service-with-st-padre-pio-relic/ Fr. Mandato has family ties to St. Padre Pio, including receiving his First Holy Communion from Fr. Pio. Please find more information about Fr. Mandato's background at the web page cited above.

This period is called “ordinary” because the weeks are numbered in order – 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. The priest’s vestments are green. After Pentecost Sunday, our church’s Easter decorations come down but Ordinary Time, however, is not at all plain and simple. On the contrary, week after week, we see all facets of Christ’s life, a change from celebrating and delving into one aspect, His Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension and the sending of the Advocate, as we did during Lent, Holy Week, and the Easter Season. What could be ordinary about exploring the full sweep of Christ’s works and teachings? The green of Ordinary Time, like the green of nature, also encourages us to grow and mature in our faith, and as the color of hope, to anticipate the gifts of God’s kingdom. We use daily Mass readings for Year II in 2024, and Year B for Sundays, when we read mostly St. Mark's and some of St. John's Gospels.

Please gather in the parish hall after Sunday's Mass to honor our young people who recently received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

I would like to wish all of the Parishioners of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, our visitors and guests a very Joyous and Blessed Easter! I would also like to thank everyone who helped to make our celebrations during Holy Week beautiful in so many ways. I am most grateful to all our ministers and those who helped with the decorating. May we continue to spread Easter Joy throughout the entire season. He Is Risen, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Easter season comprises Easter Sunday, the Easter Octave, and the weeks following through Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter), ending at Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter. During the Easter season, we hear at Mass stories of the Resurrection from the Acts of the Apostles: Mary Magdalene and the apostles at the tomb, the Lord’s appearance on the road to Emmaus, His meeting with the apostles on the shore of Lake Tiberias, and other familiar accounts. If you usually pray the Angelus, you will replace it during the Easter season with the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer. The Easter season offers plenty of time to celebrate the holiday, with Easter egg hunts, flowers, springtime animals such as lambs, rabbits, and baby chicks in toys and baked goods, and special treats from the Easter basket, a homemade lamb cake or Easter bread. The Easter season also is the time for making one’s Easter duty, the Church’s requirement that we receive Holy Communion during this season.

At Mass this last Sunday of Easter, before we celebrate Pentecost and other great Sunday feasts, we hear first from Peter, who recounts the choosing of Judas Iscariot’s replacement, Matthias. This apostle’s feast day is Tuesday, May 14. The psalmist reminds us of Our Lord’s majesty: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.” St. John also delivers a familiar message: “if we love another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” Last, we return to Jesus at the Last Supper in John’s Gospel, where Our Lord in his last discourse gives us so many gems of faith – “ Consecrate them in the truth.”

The vigil Mass will be at 5:30 PM Wednesday, May8 in the upper church. There is no 12:05 PM Mass that day. On the feast day, Thursday, May 9, Masses will be at 12:05 and 5:30 PM in the upper church. Ascension Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Three candidates received Our Lord for the first time at the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass April 28: Savannah Ducharme, Emeline Ingabire, and Beni Mukiza. Please pray for these children. A reception and coffee hour followed the Mass.