Please turn in your Parish Census Form!
There were only 110 responses to the parish census! If you have lost your census form, there are more on the radiators in the church vestibule, or you can download one here. Please, we need to know how many parishioners we have in order for Father Borkowski to plan Mass schedules and to manage the daily affairs of the parish. This census is vitally important to the future survival of the parish! Mail your form to the office address at the top of the first page, or drop it in the collection basket at mass. If you are not currently a parishioner and would like to register, simply fill out the form and write "NEW PARISHIONER" at the top of the first page.

Download a census form.

Concerned about parish clustering? Read the archdiocese's reasons and goals for implementing this policy. They're better than you may have been hearing!

And if you think priest shortages are only a modern problem, just look at how parishioners dealt with them in 391 A.D.!

New thoughts posted on the Meditations page.

Our Cluster Makes the News
On Sunday, August 29, The Detroit News had a profile on Fr. Borkowski and our parish cluster. Read it here.

News: September 26, 2004

Special Thanks to Fr. Kiselica!
Attendees of today's 10:30 service are heartily grateful to Fr. John Kiselica for stepping in without advance notice to say mass when there was a schedule emergency. The liturgy was not in Latin, but the music was as wonderful as ever, and Father's beautiful, clear, very focused preaching made for an unusually rewarding experience. We are very lucky to have Fr. Kiselica with us each Sunday.

Choir Season Has Started
This is the first Sunday of the choir season for the Schola Sancti Josephi. We welcome the men back for a new season of musical worship. The Schola Sancti Josephi sings next at the noon Mass on October 10.

The St. Joseph Cappella invites you to join with them in singing 10:30 a.m. Latin liturgies here at St. Joseph's Church on the following Sundays:

October 3: The Twenty-seventh Sunday of the Year

October 17: The Twenty-ninth Sunday of the Year

October 31: The Thirty-first Sunday of the Year

The annual Anniversary Mass is on November 14 at NOON, celebrating the 149th anniversary of the founding of the parish and the 131st anniversary of the dedication of the church. The music will include the Missa in honorem Sancti Josephi for soloists, choir and orchestra by Karl Greith, (1828-1887) Kappellmeister of the Munich Dom.

Wedding Banns
III Justin Ferguson & Karen Drummy

Be sure to read the latest installment in Patrick Degens' History Corner.

News: September 19, 2004

Change in Meeting Time
Because of Father Mark's pilgrimage to the religious shrines of Canada, the Saint Joseph Parish Council meeting has been rescheduled for September 22nd at 7:00 p.m.

Call to Holiness' 9th Annual Conference
CTH is holding its 9th Annual Conference on October 1-3, 2004, at the Best Western in Sterling Heights, Mich. Tickets for the 3-day event are $70. There is also a youth conference for $35. This year's conference also offers the option of attending the national opening of Therese. Tickets will cost an additional $8 to $13 depending on transportation. Featured speakers this year include Phyllis Schlafly, Fr. Pablo Straub, Mother Assumpta, Marlene Elwell, Teresa Tomeo, Bud Macfarlane Sr., and Leonardo DeFilippis. For more information phone (800) 427-2024 or visit the web site at www.calltoholiness.com.

Wedding Banns

II Justin Ferguson & Karen Drummy
III Paul Eric Belanger & Lorenza Messina

History Corner
There are over 50 statues in our church and most of them can be easily recognized by their name-plates. Did you know that the statue of Our Blessed Mother to the right of the sanctuary with her heart exposed is called The Sweetest Heart of Mary in the parish archives?

Perpetual Novena to St. Joseph and Answers to Prayers
Wednesday is the traditional day in the Church that is dedicated to Saint Joseph. The perpetual novena here at Saint Joseph Church is prayed every Wednesday after the noonday Mass. In years past it was also repeated at 7:30 in the evening until attendance fell off in the early 1960s. At the end of the devotions, the faithful have always been invited up to the communion rail to venerate a relic. This relic consists of particles of clothing from a garment of the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph. The church archives are filled with testimonials from people who have received favors from Saint Joseph, many of them as answers to prayers by people making the novena. One of the most extraordinary was recorded by Father Arnold Schneider in the early 1940s. A 17-year-old girl was suffering from cancer and had to take anesthetics for her pain. Upon kissing the relic after the novena devotions, her pain completely disappeared.

News: September 12, 2004

Baptized into Christ
On August 28, 2004, Father Mark Borkowski baptized Isabella Ariel Dimmer. We welcome this new member into the Christian Community.

Fundraiser Results
We published the results of our cookout and ice cream social in the bulletin on August 29th, but there were so many people at Mass that Sunday that we ran out of bulletins. Many parishioners missed out on the following information: We realized a profit of $2,336 from our fundraiser picnic. Parishioners, friends and patrons donated the funds to purchase all the food and beverages. German potato salad and sauerkraut were cooked and donated by Father Mark along with all the strudel. A parishioner cooked and donated the baked beans. In addition to this good news, the parish received a check last week for $22,000 dollars from Father Bresnahan's estate.

News: September 5, 2004

Make Your Reservations!
LAST CHANCE to go on pilgrimage with Father Mark to the religious shrines of Canada. The bus leaves next Monday, Sept. 13th for 6 days and 5 knights for $645.00. Call the parish office at 313-831-6659. The trip includes a stop at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. This was the home of Blessed Andre Bessette, the Holy Cross brother who was called "the Miracle Man of Montreal." Brother Andre's reputation as a healer spread to the point that thousands flocked to him daily. On January 6, 1937, over a million people attended his funeral. "A daily crowd of the sick, the afflicted, the poor of all kinds -- those who were handicapped or wounded by life -- came to him. They found in his presence a welcome ear, comfort and faith in God. Do not the poor of today have as much need of such love, of such hope, of such education in prayer?" -- Pope John Paul II.

Holy Name Society
Next Sunday, the men of the Holy Name Society will attend the 10:30 Mass. Any man wishing to join in prayer with the men of the Holy Name are invited to process up to the front with them and to pray the Holy Name pledge at the end of Mass. Father Charles H. McKenna 1835-1917 became the American Apostle of the Holy Name. He taught and urged the true principles of Catholic Action. He obtained the Holy Father's blessing for the establishment of the Society in every parish of the land. Holy Name men became an army of Christ, imbued with Christ's own zeal for souls. Knowing that if they had not been redeemed by Christ and by Him given the light of the true Faith, they would be afflicted by doubts and questions and indifference. They began to crusade for Jesus whose Name they were vowed to honor. Instead of praying and living for their own needs, they busied themselves in the interest of the many starved minds and hearts in need of the Truth and Love and Life of Jesus. By reverencing the Holy Name, they besought Our Lord to fix deep in their souls such a personal love for Him that they might act always for the salvation of other souls.

Loyal Toil for the Parish
Special thanks to Jack Dunne, who is 80 years young. For many weeks Jack has been digging out all the weeds and small trees and wild shrubs that have taken over the parish property. So far he has filled over 200 bags with yard waste and he is still at it. Your parish family salutes you Jack!

Saint Joseph’s Oil
The tradition of anointing with sacred oil is very old. It is used in sacraments and also in some places, as a devotional practice. Brother Andre used to invite some of the sick people who came to him to apply oil on the part of their body they wanted healed but, as they did so, he always told people to pray to St. Joseph. He always insisted on the fact that the oil itself did not have any miraculous power. He would remind people that it is God who has the power to heal. He underlined the fact that prayer and a gesture of faith, like applying oil, are important ways for us to express our faith in God's power. "We receive many letters from people who say that they have been cured after using the oil and praying to Brother Andre and Saint Joseph. A few years ago one of our priests, now working as a missionary in Ghana, had a cancer of the vocal cords. He made a no-vena to Brother Andre and St. Joseph and today he is completely cured and continues his work." -- Fr. Claude Grou, c.s.c. (Director of pastoral care)

Saint Joseph Oil is available from: The Oratory Postal Counter, 3800 Queen Mary Road, Montreal Canada H3V-1H6. 2-oz. bottle $3.00 (each additional $1.50), 8 oz bottle $8.00. These prices include bottling, shipping, handling and taxes. As it has been done since Bro. Andre's time, the oil is placed in front of a statue of St. Joseph and bums for some time before it is bottled and offered to pilgrims.

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