Dear St. Joe’s parishioners,

This Christmas, many of you will return to church for the first time since the start of the pandemic to attend one of our four liturgies, while many others in our community are not yet able to be here in person. Our Christmas mail-out includes material for all parishioners, perhaps most notably a very special virtual performance by the St. Joseph’s Parish Choir, edited professionally for us by Orange Crow Productions. “Child of the Poor/What Child Is This” is performed by members of St Joe’s Music Ministry featuring our cantors and instrumentalists (both current and former).

Soloists in order of appearance: Liam Kennedy-MacDonald (Ottawa, ON), Andrea MacWilliams (Ottawa, ON), Daniela Gunn-Doerge (Vancouver, B.C.)

Guitar: Jim McIntyre (Ottawa, ON)

Oboe: Heather MacDonald (Toronto, ON)

Violin: Nollaig Walsh (Seoul, South Korea)

Piano: Jamie Loback (recorded in St. Joseph’s Church, Ottawa, ON)

Special thanks to Orange Crow Productions for producing this presentation and to the members of St. Joseph’s Parish Music Ministry for their generous financial support to bring this special piece of music to our parish community during these challenging times.

The St. Joe’s Music Ministry wishes all in our community a Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Homily by Fr. Jim Bleackley OMI — Filmed in the Rectory Chapel

Christmas Liturgical Resources 

Nativity of the Lord – December 24 25 2020 – Liturgy of the Word for use at home

READINGS FOR THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

READINGS FOR CHILDREN – Nativity of the Lord

Christmas 2020 – Prayers of the Faithful

What to expect when you attend mass on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Mission Prayer

Organ Music performed by Tom Fagan at St. Joseph’s for Christmas

Parish Update

Provincial Lockdown

The Province has announced a lockdown beginning December 26, 2020 and lasting 28 days. We will not be able to celebrate public Masses at St. Joe’s during this period. This also means that the Holy Family, New Year’s Masses and the Solemnity of Epiphany Masses are cancelled. If you have Mass intentions scheduled for this period, please know that these will be included at private Masses celebrated by Fr. Jim. During the 28-day lockdown, we will produce online recordings of reflections and also music for our community, and will share these with you each week. Following guidelines from public health officials and the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, for the period of the lockdown, the Parish office will operate with reduced hours and several of our staff members will work from home and be available by email.

Beginning January 4, 2021, the Parish front office will be staffed Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. To access Parish services or to collect items from the front office, please call in advance to make an appointment. For information, please call 613-233-4095, ext. 251. Volunteering will resume after the lockdown.

A warm welcome to new members of the Christian community

During the month of December, we received two new parishioners into the Christian community through infant baptism:

• Émile Cencig, son of Carl Cencig and Maria Guzman, and brother of Steffan was baptized on December 12.
• Jacob Frank Brichta, son of Jean-Paul and Jessica Brichta was baptized on December 19.

St. Joe’s welcomes with great joy these precious additions to the parish community!

Would you like to chat with someone from our Parish?

The pandemic has been a trying reality for many, and some of our parishioners remain isolated from friends, family and this church community. If you would like to talk with a member of the St. Joe’s staff and if we might be able to help, please contact Andrew Pump at apump@st-josephs.ca. We would be happy to reach out to you!

A Christmas Message and Story for Children from Ryan Mitchell of the St. Joe’s Supper Table

Thank you to our volunteer Liturgical Space and Decorating Committee for doing a lovely job preparing our church for Christmas!

If you have not seen our video of the church interior and the memorial poinsettias, we invite you to watch it below.

Sunday Offering for December 20, 2020: $8,379. Thank you for your continued generosity! If you are not currently attending Mass or will be away, please consider using Canada Helps. You may choose the Parish fund of your choice through this form: http://www.st-josephs.ca/about/donations/. You can also read more about the donation of securities here.

Special Offering for the St. Joe’s Supper Table — Service of Nine Lessons and Carols:

A total of $1,105 was raised through a Special Offering for the St. Joe’s Supper Table on December 20, 2020, at the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Thank you to all the talented choristers, musicians and lectors involved, to Fr. Jim for presiding and to Jamie Loback for spearheading this initiative.

Warm wishes for a safe and Merry Christmas. May the light of this season help guide your way to a brighter 2021!

Peace,

Chris

..
Christopher Adam
cadam@st-josephs.ca