December 10, 2023
Second Sunday of Advent
by Fr. Boniface Endorf, OP
Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,
Below is a brief financial statement for St. Joseph’s parish. Thank you for all your support this year! We’re in a decent place financially and we hope to remain financially solid going forward. Again, thank you for your generosity that makes that possible and for providing us the resources to continue our mission of spreading the Gospel to Greenwich Village and the wider city.
This year Christmas is on a Monday. On the Saturday just before Christmas we’ll have our normal 5:30pm Vigil Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent. On Sunday, Christmas Eve, we’ll have our normal 9am and 11:30am Masses for the 4th Sunday of Advent, and that Sunday evening we’ll have a 5pm Christmas Vigil Mass and a 10pm Christmas Night Mass. On Christmas day, Monday, we’ll have a 9am Christmas Morning Mass and a 11:30am Christmas Day Mass.
Catholics are obliged to attend Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent and for Christmas. The Saturday 4th Sunday of Advent Vigil Mass and the Sunday 9am or 11:30am Mass count for that obligation. The Sunday evening, Christmas Eve Masses, at 5pm and 10pm can count for Sunday or Christmas, but not both. The Christmas Day Masses, on Monday, count for the Christmas obligation. The bottom line: attend 2 Masses.
God Bless,
Fr. Boniface
Mass Tidbit:
Whew, we’ve made it through all the names in the Roman Canon! This second list of names concludes with “admit us, we beseech you into their company, not weighing our merits, but granting us your pardon, through Christ our Lord. Through whom you continue to make all these good things, O Lord; you sanctify them, fill them with life, bless them, and bestow them upon us.” Our hope is to be with the saints in heaven through Christ’s mercy. All good things come from God and grow in goodness through God’s work. Let us stay close to Jesus, who calls all things back to Himself, blessing us as we make our way to our true homeland in heaven.
