My Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

Yesterday and today you heard from parishioners Kathy Messina, Diana Armstrong and Michael Lambert who gave you a brief testimonial of why and how attending daily Mass is so powerful and important in their daily walk with Jesus. 

The foundation of Intentional Discipleship is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. And through the Mystery of the Mass, we encounter him more deeply, more personally, in ways that transform us to live out that Discipleship day in and day out.

The Saints of our Church understood well how vital the Mass is to the soul. If we understood what takes place at every Mass we would, like St. Padre Pio said, “Risk our lives to attend the Mass.” And just like the Saints who went before us for centuries, these three parishioners who strive for saintly holiness, understand just how important daily Mass is in their 21st Century walk with Christ. And this is precisely why I am e-mailing you tonight…

In order to continue to grow as Intentional Disciples in 2019, I would encourage you to do the following:

1. Attend Dr. Paul Thibault’s presentation on the Mass. More information here and here.
2. Attend DAILY Mass. If you cannot come every day, maybe start with two or three times a week and ask our Lord for the grace to do so without distractions or interruptions:
Here are the daily Mass times for St. Joseph’s:
Mon-Fri: 6:30am
Tues, Thurs, Fri (Traditional Latin Mass), & Sat: 8:15am
**And if you cannot make daily Mass at our parish, EVERY SINGLE OTHER PARISH IN THE COUNTY offers daily Mass. You can reply to this e-mail if you have questions about specific daily Mass times and locations. I hope you find this to be helpful!

Below I have included some excerpts from all three parishioners’ testimonials for you to reflect on. Here is what they had to say about the single greatest gift given to us – the Mass:

I hope and pray that this e-mail and these testimonials will encourage you to join Fr. Olkowski, Fr. Deogratias, dozens of parishioners, and myself for daily Mass… I would LOVE to see you!

In the Love of our Savior,
Fr. Wolfe

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy New Year! As we usher in a new year as Intentional Disciples, my hope and prayer for you is that you grow in your knowledge of God’s unending love for you, and in turn, share that love with a world who needs to know of His love now more than ever.

The month of December was very busy for our parish. With Advent and Christmas happening, staff, volunteers and parishioners prepared joyfully for the arrival of our Lord! Below I have included photos, accompanied by a brief update on what took place…

1. Advent Giving Tree (top row; first picture) – Thank you to parishioners who organized this year’s  Giving Tree and who selflessly gave!
2. Procession with the Christ Child & Blessing of the Creche (top row; second picture) – the origin of this  started with St. Francis, who made the Christmas crèche (or manger) for Christmas Eve of the year 1223. And although we at St. Joseph’s in Lancaster have not had this tradition for nearly 800 years, we have had this tradition for many, many years at our parish. For more information on this, visit here.
3. Fr. Olkowski celebrated his first high mass! (middle row; first picture) – Ten servers joined 140 faithful for the 11 a.m. Christmas high mass!
4. Christmas Mass celebrated Ad orientem (middle row, second picture) – This picture says it all, doesn’t it? You can still view the entire Christmas Mass here, as we filmed it though Facebook Live. Thank you to parishioner, Timothy Quigley, for volunteering and helping us to film!
5. Poinsettia Delivery (Bottom row, second picture) – Thank you to all of those who delivered poinsettias to our parishioners who are in a nursing home and thank you to those who delivered fruit baskets to the homebound and sick!
6. St. Joseph’s Choir (bottom row; third picture) – Led by the ever talented Dorothea Parrish, the St. Joseph’s Choir did an outstanding job, again, performing at several of our Christmas Masses! Thank you to Dorothea and her incredible team of choir members!

Although this does not cover everything that took place, it it my hope that this gives you a glimpse in to all of the work that our Lord is doing at our parish. He is doing so very much… we are grateful!

Gratefully Yours,
Fr. Wolfe

Details on Men’s Steak Night:

Friday, February 22, 2019. SNOW DATE is March 1, 2019

Tickets are $15 each ($20 each from Feb 18-on). Tickets will only be on sale after all Masses during the weekends of Feb 9/10 and Feb 16/17. Phone orders will not be accepted.

Thank you to our current sponsors: Certified Carpet & Charles F. Snyder Funeral Homes

On behalf of the parish and staff of St. Joseph’s, I want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! 
Today we are united with the Universal Church and the choirs of Angels in praising God for His marvelous work that He has accomplished through His Word made Flesh – Jesus! The birth of Jesus reminds us that God humbly took on flesh, taking the form of a child so that we might be saved; so that we might have everlasting life!

In Christ Jesus, born in Bethlehem, nailed to the cross and risen from the dead, the Lord God has come close to us, that we again might be close to Him. How God longs for each of us individually. And through the birth and death of Jesus, He gives us Himself completely.

We rejoice because the Manger & Cross are both connected…

The reason for our Joy at Christmas is that the ‘people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;’ – that Light is Jesus, who is both Christ and LORD, who illuminates the way for us to live in harmony with God and with one another.

Through Jesus we encounter Joy in a new way…

This Christmas, let us open our hearts to Him. Let us let Him reign in our hearts not only at Christmas, but every day throughout the year so that we can be His Joy to all those He wills for us encounter as we go about our days. Let us be open to Him and His plan for each of our lives…

For Unto Us a Child is Born… let us rejoice!

In the Joy of Our Lord’s Birth,
Fr. Wolfe
PS: Last night we broadcasted, through Facebook Live, our Midnight Mass. You can watch it here. EnJOY!