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Fr. Harlow will lead the Stations of the Cross each Friday evening during Lent at 7:00 PM in the upstairs Church. Prayer cards with the Stations of the Cross are available as a way of meditating on the Stations during the week as well. Please make attendance a priority.

Ash Wednesday is February 26, 2020. Please bring in old blessed palms to Mass and give them to the ushers. Holy palms blessed by the priest are holy objects or sacramentals. Please do not throw them away. They are considered to be in the service of God and should be treated with respect, and disposed of following the rules of the Church. Therefore, it is considered sacrilegious to throw a holy item in the trash. Holy palms need be returned to nature: you may burn them and spread the ashes outside, or bury them. Some parishes invite parishioners to bring their palms to church, and leave them to be burned for ashes to distribute on Ash Wednesday service. If you want to keep your palms, consider placing them behind a holy picture or crucifix.

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Wednesday, February 26. Masses are at 12:05 and 7:00 PM upstairs in the main church. The following is a list of Guidelines to help Catholics observe this special season of prayer, penance and works of charity. · Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, in particular, are the most important penitential days of the liturgical year. They are days of both fast and abstinence. All Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence. · The rule of fasting states that only one full meal a day can be taken. Two small meals, “sufficient to maintain strength”, are allowed, but together should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals breaks the fast, but drinking liquids does not. The rule of fasting obliges all Catholics from 18 to 59. · Abstinence refers to the eating of meat. The common estimation of the community is used to determine what falls under the category of meat. The rule of abstinence binds all Catholics 14 years or older. · The substantial observance of the laws of fast and abstinence is a serious obligation. · Self-imposed fasting on the other weekdays of Lent is recommended. Abstinence on all Fridays of the year is also highly recommended. · Parents and teachers should see to it that, even those who are not bound by the laws of fast and abstinence because of age, are brought up in an atmosphere that is conducive to a sense of penance.

With many prayers of thanksgiving for all of our donors, volunteers and supporters I would like to share with you our final statistics for 2019. Joseph’s House was blessed to serve 491 Visitors with a total of $38,026.88 being given out in Direct Aid. Please know that without all of you, this would not be possible! - Lori

On January 29, 2020, more than 600 students, teachers, principals and staff from 12 Catholic schools from around the state celebrated Mass for Catholic Schools week at St. Joseph Cathedral in Burlington. Jeanne Gearon, superintendent of Catholic schools, welcomed the crowd and acknowledged what a treat this was to celebrate Bishop Coyne’s five year anniversary of his installation as 10th Bishop of Burlington in this way. (click title to link to Vermont Catholic story)

Members of the Cathedral of St. Joseph’s Vietnamese community celebrated the Vietnamese New Year last weekend with a Mass and activities at St. John Vianney Church and hall in South Burlington. The Vietnamese Choir, led by Loc Nguyen, sang at Mass, and then enjoyed music, dance, and food in the parish hall. Photos courtesy of Loc Nyugen. Click on the title to see more photos.

Next week on Super Bowl weekend, February 1 and 2 the Cathedral religious education students again will collect non-perishable food and money before and after the Saturday 4:00PM and the Sunday 10:00AM Mass. Donations from this “Souper Bowl” will benefit the North End Food Pantry. If you want to bring a check, please write it to the Cathedral of St. Joseph. Thank you for your contributions for our hungry neighbors as we prepare for our food and fun-filled football celebrations.

Monday, the 3rd of February, 6th, 7th and 8th graders are invited to attend our 10th annual High School for a Day (HS4D) program! Participants choose from a variety of specially-created programs designed to familiarize them with Rice faculty and extracurricular offerings. Program options include performances by the Rice Chorus and Jazz Ensemble, Geometry Origami, science experiments, a community service craft project, and a mini pep rally. Space is limited for this popular program. Register by Tuesday, January 28 at www.rmhsvt.org or by calling Katie Chapa at 862-6521 ext. 2246.

This period in the Church’s year begins the Monday after the Sunday feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It’s called “ordinary” from the Latin word Ordo meaning “order”, because the weeks are numbered in sequential order – 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. The priest’s vestments are green. Usually, at this same time, our church’s Christmas decorations come down and we all have returned to a regular home, work, and school schedule. Ordinary Time, however, is not at all plain and simple. On the contrary, week after week, we see all facets of Christ’s life, a change from celebrating and delving into one aspect, His birth, as we did at Christmas. What could be ordinary about exploring the full sweep of Christ’s works and teachings? The green of Ordinary Time, like the green of nature, also encourages us to grow and mature in our faith, and as the color of hope, to anticipate the gifts of God’s kingdom. In a few weeks, Ordinary Time gives way to Lent. We return to Ordinary time after Pentecost.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the donations placed within the Christmas Angel who sits at the very edge of the Manger scene here at the Cathedral of St. Joseph?  I would like to share one of the blessings which came from that Christmas Angel. Several months ago, we began working with a Joseph’s House visitor who was homeless, living in a local shelter.  This person desperately wanted to work and get off the street. We have built a relationship and the Lord has blessed the help we were able to give. Through hard work and determination, this person has recently found a job, left the shelter and made arrangements for more stable, temporary housing.  One of the greatest challenges this visitor finds to moving forward is transportation; the new job is in Burlington and the temporary housing is in Shelburne. Often without the availability of a Bus Pass, the trip to work is on foot. Through the generous Christmas donations, held so secretly by the Christmas Angel, I was able to purchase a monthly Bus Pass for the above visitor, enabling this person to continue the journey forward!  With your help and generosity, lives are being changed. ----- Lori Daudelin

Converse Home, a Senior Living Facility on lower Church Street in Burlington, is looking for a volunteer who would be willing to go there on Monday mornings each week to lead their residents in praying the Rosary. If you are interested in this ministry, please contact the Parish Office, and we will put you in contact with the Converse Home representative. Thank you for your kind consideration.

The Parish office will be closed Monday January 20 in observance of Martin Luther King Day. Beginning January 7, 2020, the Parish Office hours will be altered while Dorothy Barewicz is recuperating from knee replacement surgery. The office will be open from 9 AM to Noon, Monday through Friday. It will be closed in the afternoon. However, if you need to reach Fr. Harlow, or someone in the Parish Office, please leave a message with the answering service and your call will be returned. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Saturday, January 18, 2020, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM Location: St. Augustine - Montpelier Join us for Mass at St. Augustine in Montpelier. Following Mass Vermont Right to Life will sponsor a prayerful walk to the Statehouse with a program to follow inside.

Saint André’s feast day is January 6, this year the day after Epiphany. The date also is the anniversary of the saint’s death in 1937 in Saint-Laurent, Montreal at 91 years old. Saint André Bessette is distantly related to our Cathedral’s unofficial historian, John Fisher - a fifth cousin four times removed.  Saint André may be your relative too. Click the link (name) above to read the full story.

The Octave of Christmas is the eight days beginning with Christmas Day and ending on New Year’s Day, January 1. Feast days and solemnities mark the period:  the Nativity, December 25; St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr on December 26; St. John the Evangelist, apostle, author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation, December 27; the Holy Innocents, December 28, the male child victims slaughtered by King Herod; the Holy Family, Sunday, December 29; St. Sylvester, December 31, and Mary, Mother of God, January 1. We recite the Gloria each day of the Octave. We then continue the Christmas season through Epiphany, January 5, and officially end with the Baptism of the Lord, January 12.

"We walk with them, versus just serving them", Lori Daudelin, Executive Director of Joseph's House in Burlington, said of the rapport of the staff and clients. "We're connected to the Church. We're part of the Church, and they know that." (click title to link to Vermont Catholic story)

With a congregation of faithful gathered, Fr. Lance Harlow, Rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph, blessed the Cathedral's new stairs and steeple on a cold and cloudy morning Sunday, November 10 before the 10:00 AM Mass. The new stairs were finished and inspected two days earlier, and now are open for use. Weekend Masses and other parish devotions return to the upstairs main church after using the lower chapel for the last four and a half months. Fr. Harlow checked in daily with the many trades people on the job site, getting to know them personally, learning about the process and even cooking them breakfast. He said "It's my way of evangelizing". He said the workers were nice people laboring in the heat of summer and the cold drenching rain the last week before inspection. Cranes, excavators and jackhammers made the work easier than when the stairs and steeple were constructed more than 100 years ago but the time honored craftsmanship and dedication went into the latest projects to beautify our Cathedral. The new stairs have a shorter rise making them easier to climb while retaining the red stone facade from the original building. Bushes and flowering shrubs have been added on either side and the vintage lighting was also restored to keep the historical look.

Congratulations to Celia Asbell, our Parish Music Director, for winning the Loyola Institute for Ministry Scholar Award, recognizing excellence in Scholarship, Leadership and Service in a graduate from the Ministry. Celia's final project for her Master of Pastoral Studies degree focused on "building a vibrant parish community starting with a strong music ministry to engage with the parish." Through her research, she found that music ministry can be the beginning of a vibrant parish. Our congratulations to Celia on this achievement!

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Flu Shot Clinic has had to be cancelled at St. Josephs for this year. Please contract Lori Daudelin at Joseph's House on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM at 802-951-4290 if you were planning to attend this event. In partnership with Walgreens, Joseph's House was going to sponsor a flu shot clinic on Tuesday, November 19 in the Parish Hall from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. Pre-registration was required. There was no cost through most insurance coverage. If you are uninsured or under insured ask Walgreen's about obtaining a Walgreens Flu Shot Voucher to get the shot free.

Out Congolese community has started French and English conversational practice with students from Rice Memorial High School. It's a bilingual learning opportunity with the students improving their French and the community members bettering their English. The group so far has met on two Saturdays, October 19 and November 2, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm in the St. Joseph Cathedral parish hall. The y plan to continue these conversations every other weekend. The next meeting will be November 16. For more information about the conversation group and the French Mass, please contact Juleswetchi2007@yahoo.fr or (802) 310-3672.