February
Month of the Passion of Our Lord
Year of Prayer for Priestly Vocations

Important: Read Fr. Borkowski's lastest message to the parish.

MARDI GRAS WINE TASTING
The St. Joseph Musical Society will be hosting another benefit wine tasting on February 25, 2006, in the rectory. Click here for more information.

Don't forget Daily Mass!
Fr. Mark has reinstated daily Mass in our cluster. Mass is held Monday and Tuesday in Latin, and Wednesday in English at St. Joseph's at 12:10 p.m. Thursday noon Mass is at St. Josaphat's, and Fridays at Sweetest Heart of Mary, also at noon. Take the time for midday worship!

ADULT FAITH FORMATION
Adult faith formation is starting again in our cluster:
Time: 7:15 p.m., biweekly from October 6, 2005 through May 4, 2006.
Place: Parish hall at Sweetest Heart of Mary
Subject: The Gospel of Mark
Materials: Study guide to Ignatius Catholic Study Bible ($10.00)

We desperately need more advertisers for our church bulletin! At the present time we are down to one patron. We need 13 to pay for our printing. Suburban parishes are subsidizing the bulletins for St. Joseph & Sweetest Heart of Mary but will not continue to do so much longer. We will soon have a combined bulletin for our cluster. One unit of advertising 1 x 2 1/2 inches is $332.47 per year. A half unit 1/2 x 2 1/2 is $202.54. Please contact the parish office if you know of anyone who will advertise with us.

WE STILL NEED USHERS!
Mike Singelyn is the interim captain of the ushers' club. Men and women who are able to usher at our regular Sunday Masses and the monthly German Mass are asked to call Mike at 313-885-5333 to volunteer their services.

Choral Mass schedule

February 12 and 26
March 12 and 26
Easter Vigil Saturday, April 15

The music schedule can change, so keep an eye on it for updates and more details.

New choir members -- trained or not -- are very welcome!

News: February 26, 2006
EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Alex Hart
Parishioners have inquired about the health of Alex Hart, who suffered a stroke in December. Alex still cannot talk but physically is able to do most everything. He is in speech therapy but progress is extremely slow and frustrating. His home address is 219 Tuxedo, Highland Park, MI 48203

Feast of Saint Joseph
On Sunday, March 19th, we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph with our annual San Giuseppe Dinner in the Social Hall. The Bishop Plagens Council of the Knights of Columbus that serves our cluster family will cook the meal in the rectory basement and bring it over to the hall for serving. The Knights will donate the cost of all the food and beverages so that the price of the dinner ticket will be a fundraising event for the parish. Tickets for adults are $10, and for children 12 and under are $5. We will need a few volunteers to help with carrying the food over and to clean up the hall and kitchen afterwards. Contact Patrick Degens if you can volunteer (586) 463-6178. The schedule for the day will include the closing prayers for the annual nine-day novena to Joseph. This will take place after the dinner along with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Paul Ward will be the celebrant. Seating in the hall is limited to 96 persons. Make your plans now. Tickets go on sale next Sunday, March 5 and again on March 12. Come celebrate the Feast of our parish Patron. Menu is German Bavarian!

THE ST. JOSEPH CONFRATERNITY
The noonday Mass here every Wednesday is celebrated for the living and deceased members of the St. Joseph Confraternity. Enrollment for each year is on March 19th, the Feast of St. Joseph. The donation is $50 for each name submitted and this entitles the named individual to a one year enrollment of 52 Masses. Names can be added throughout the year but would only be included in the Masses remaining for that year. It is important to enroll loved ones or your beloved deceased on or before March 19th so that they gain the spiritual benefit of all 52 Masses for the year. The Mass is the greatest of all prayers known to man, its merits are infinite. We hope that many will take advantage of this opportunity and not only submit names to be remembered in these Holy Masses, but also attend them on Wednesdays in our church.

News: February 19, 2006
SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

MARDI GRAS WINE TASTING TO BENEFIT MUSIC PROGRAM
Last chance for tickets is today! This year you can celebrate Mardi Gras with special wines, delicious appetizers and music while supporting the music program at St. Joseph Church. As those who attended the tasting last year will attest, this is a wonderful way to sample wonderful wines, enjoy the music and meet some wonderful people.

FASCHING / KARNEVAL MARKT!
There will be a pre-Lenten sale of “treasure” from Germany and Austria after the 9:00 a.m. German Mass on Feb. 26th. All proceeds go to St. Joseph Church. Stop in the Social Hall for Gemütlichkeit while shopping for German Tracht (clothing), beer steins, musical CDs, tapes and more all bargain priced. Treat yourself, friends, family and help St. Joseph Church at the same time. Sponsored by Rosemary and Germaine Dorr. Their brother, Fr. Richard Dorr was a lifetime member of St. Joseph Church. In 2005, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination and sadly, passed away a few months later. The walking stick that he used to climb the Alps can be seen in the display cabinet in the Social Hall along with his hiking hat.

February is Black History Month but the secular media seems to be unaware of the richness of Black Catholic History. Of the one billion Roman Catholics throughout the world, almost 25 percent are of African descent. The United States has only 3 million black Catholics. Contrast that with Brazil’s 65 million, and Mexico’s 12 million. Latin America boasts 105.9 million black Catholics. Africa has 141 million, while North America only has a total of 21 million. There are 1,300 African American Parishes in the U.S. African American Priests number 250, nuns 300 and deacons 380.

News: February 12, 2006
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

MARDI GRAS WINE TASTING TO BENEFIT MUSIC PROGRAM
Many of us at St. Joseph’s take for granted the beautiful music we enjoy each Sunday—the magnificent sound of the organ, the wonderful voices of the choir and the majesty of the orchestras on Christmas, Easter and other special feasts. Music enhances our worship and praises God in a special way. Although the efforts of many volunteers contribute to the music program, there are out-of-pocket costs that must be met. You can help keep the magnificent music alive at St. Joseph’s and enjoy a special Mardi Gras celebration just before Lent begins. Join the St. Joseph Musical Society for an evening of wineand song at a Wine Tasting to be held on Saturday, February 25, 2006 starting at 7:00 p.m. in the rectory. Tickets are available for a donation of $35 per person of $60 per couple before and after Sunday Masses or by mailing your check to St. Joseph Musical Society, P.O. Box 43708, Detroit, MI 48243. For additional information contact: sjms@ameritech.net

LITURGICAL MEETING TODAY
Fr Paul will have a meeting on the liturgy today after the noon Mass. Anyone interested in special liturgies for the upcoming liturgical feasts is welcome to attend. The meeting will be held in the Social Hall.

Bake Sale update!
Even though the Mass attendance on Super Bowl Sunday was less than normal, we had a great variety of baked goods for sale and made a profit of $300.00. Some of the Super Bowl fans who parked in our lot, patronized our sale, helping to make it a success.

Update! St. Joseph Super Bowl Party.
Thanks to volunteers from Sweetest Heart of Mary, St. Josaphat and St. Joseph’s parish, we had enough help to park Super Bowl fans in our parking lot for Super Sunday. We made a profit of $660.00. The wind howled, destroyed several of the signs we had throughout the neighborhood, gave us numb fingers and toes, but never dampened our enthusiasm. We worked from 1:30 to midnight. Special thanks to all the helpers from your team captain, Patrick Degens. Thanks also for all the great food that each of you contributed toward our lunch and supper. And God bless Cheap Charlie’s Store for staying open Super Sunday. There where we were able to buy more socks for layering our very cold feet, scarves and some warmer hats.

News: February 5, 2006
FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

BAKE SALE TODAY! Don’t miss it!

St. Joseph Super Bowl Party.
We are renting out our parking lot today to Super Bowl fans from 3:00 p.m. to midnight. We can still use more volunteers. Anyone willing to come back later in the day or evening would be a great help. Hopefully this will be a great fund raiser for our church.

LITURGICAL MEETING
Fr Paul will have a meeting on the liturgy next Sunday at 1:00 pm. Anyone interested in special liturgies for the upcoming liturgical feasts is welcome to attend. The meeting will be held in the Social Hall.

New Parking Lot Guard
Have you noticed a Chuck Norris look-alike walking around our parking lot and along Orleans Street? His name actually is Charlie, and he is our new parking lot guard. Father Mark hired him so that our premises will be more safe. It is a sad fact of life today that almost every church in Detroit requires a parking guard, and many churches in the suburbs also. Of course this is an added expense to our already overburdened winter budget.

Here are the amounts of our January utility bills.
GAS BILLS for church, rectory and hall…….$4,414.93
ELECTRIC (also includes exterior lighting)…$1,010.68

Special Thanks to our faithful band of loyal volunteers who stayed after Mass on January 22 to take down the Christmas decorations. What would St. Joseph Church do without each and every one of you? Anyone who donated a poinsettia in memory of their beloved deceased. may take it home at any time.

In the charity of your prayers, remember the sick

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