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Our need for hygiene items is constant as we serve over 60 families every month. Many of our clients leave emptyhanded when hygiene supplies become depleted Often, families must decide between purchasing hygiene supplies or food. Every item donated is important. No donation is too small. Could you help replenish our supplies by dropping-off hygiene items to Joseph House? Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated. Over the past several months, thanks to Mater Christi School’s Lenten Hygiene Supply Drive and Saint Catherine Parish in Shelburne’s donations, Joseph’s House has been able to provide many hygiene items to families in need. Many thanks to the families who participated in this much needed charitable act! God Bless you and thank you! Diana Charboneau, Director

Memorial Day Mass May 30th at 9:00 AM at the New Mount Calvary Cemetery. In case of inclement weather, Mass will be in the Chapel. There will not be 11:30 confession or a 12:05 Mass. The parish office is closed for the Holiday.

The Diocese of Burlington joyfully celebrates the ordination of two men to Holy Orders as Deacons Brandon Schneider and Gregory Caldwell are ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ by Bishop Christopher Coyne. All are invited to join us in the Cathedral for this solemn liturgy of Ordination. Both men will offer their first blessings in the church following Mass. A reception follows in the parish hall. On Friday evening before the ordination, we invite you to a Holy Hour for Deacons Caldwell and Schneider at the University of Vermont Catholic Center. The devotion will take place at 5:30 PM. Please come and pray for these men. This Holy Hour location is a change from earlier information - it is no longer scheduled for the Cathedral but will be at UVM.

Es Chanteurs de Lorraine, a choral group from Quebec, will present their spring choral concert “Et si on chantait” at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph on Sunday, May 22nd at 4:00 PM. The doors will open at 3:30 PM. The emotional concert will be a celebration of renewal and human warmth, punctuated by hymns of praise, peace and hope that will touch hearts and lift souls -- a beautiful variety of works from various continents and eras, in five languages, created by renowned composers. Admission to the concert is free. There will be a free-will offering taken to support the work of Joseph’s House, an outreach ministry of the Cathedral serving those in need in the Burlington area. For more information: www.leschanteursdelorraine.ca Sandra Penner Choir Director and Airane Benoit Bastien Pianist.

Join us on Sunday, May 29th for an old-fashioned all-you-care-to-eat pancake breakfast featuring bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, breakfast potatoes, French toast and more. Coffee, juice, butter and real Vermont maple syrup are included. Admission is by donation with a suggested gift of $8.00 for adults. Breakfast will be served from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM in the St. Joseph’s Parish Hall. Take-out is available. Hope to see you there! See you there. Learn more about the Knights of Columbus, go to WWW.Kofc279.org or on Facebook at Knights of Columbus DeGosbriand Council #279

The morning Mass and 2:00 PM Confessions are cancelled for this Saturday, May 14. Parishioners are invited to attend Mass at 9:00 AM at St. Mark's Parish on North Avenue. On Saturday, St. Mark's also is holding Our Lady of Fatima devotions for the May 13 anniversary of the first Fatima apparition in 1913: Adoration/Rosary (outdoors, weather permits); Benediction (inside church); the Investiture of the Brown Scapulars.

HOLYDAY - ASCENSION THURSDAY THURSDAY, MAY 26TH The Holyday Mass schedule will be: Wednesday, May 25th - 5:30 PM Thursday, May 26 - 8:00 AM and 12:05 PM

Confirmations at the Cathedral will be on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 10 at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 12 at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, May 17 art 7 p.m. Adult Confirmation Sunday, June 5 at 10 a.m. Confirmation with Mass. On Tuesday, May 10, the following young parishioners from the Cathedral of St. Joseph will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Please keep them in your prayers. Jason Lai, Hunter McMahon, Alphonsus Nguyen, Sinh Nguyen, and Kevin Tran.

This devotion grew popular after Our Lady of Fatima spoke of it during her appearances to the shepherd children in that small Portuguese town in 1917. The Blessed Mother asked us to perform these devotions as reparation for sins against her Immaculate Heart and for the conversion of Russia: go to Confession within eight days before the First Saturday; attend Mass and receive Holy Communion; pray five decades of the Rosary; meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes. The Mother of God promised her help at the penitent’s death if these promises were kept.

The stipend for weekend and weekday Masses is $10 per Mass. If you have requested a Mass intention, please send the stipend to the parish office or put it in the weekend collection. Don’t forget to identify what it is for. Sunday Mass intentions for the rest of 2022 are all booked. There are still plenty of daily Mass intentions open. Call the parish office to schedule one.

In the seventeenth century, Our Lord asked French nun, now Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, to honor His Sacred Heart on nine consecutive first Fridays, by attending Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion. Jesus said, “I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment."

During this month of warming weather, blooming trees and flowers, and fresh, green grass, we renew our devotion to the Blessed Mother. In May, we celebrate the anniversary of the first apparition at Fatima, on May 13, and mark the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, May 31. We may crown a Mary statue with flowers or some other circlet. We may pray the rosary, recite the Angelus, or another Marian prayer. Appeals to the Blessed Mother please her Son and point to Our Savior. It is a month of great grace during the wonderful Easter season, when we also celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost.

Management, burials and maintenance of the four Cathedral cemeteries, New Mount Calvary on Plattsburgh Ave., Mount Calvary Annex on Pomeroy St., Old Mount Calvary and St. Joseph's Cemetery on Archibald St are now under the management of the Diocese and the Resurrection Park team. All inquiries should be directed to Peter Walsh at (802) 862-1530 or [email protected]

No Noon Mass on Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th. Friday Fr. Gaudreau will cover noon Mass. While Monsignor is away, Fr. Gaudreau, Fr. Giroux, and Msgr. McDermott will celebrate Mass in his absence, from April 30 through May 9.

On Sunday, April 24, 2022, the Knights of Columbus will hold an Exemplification of Charity, Unity and Fraternity ceremony for those joining the Knighthood. At this ceremony, four candidates will become members of the Knights of Columbus. This ceremony explains what the Knights of Columbus are all about. We will begin with the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass celebrated by the Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne. After Mass, we invite everyone to stay for the Exemplification ceremony. The ceremony will last about 30-minutes. After the ceremony, we invite you to lite refreshments in the Parish Hall where we will join and continue on with the Parish Coffee Hour.

Cathedral parishioners are invited to voice their opinions next Saturday, April 23 at a listening session ahead of the Church’s worldwide October 2023 Synod in Rome. The listening session will take place from 10:00 – 11:00 AM in the chapel. The meeting will follow the Saturday morning Mass, moved to 9:00 AM with a special intention for the Synod. There will be no 8:00 AM Mass; it will be celebrated at 9:00 AM, followed by the listening session downstairs. No registration for the session but you may prepare by reading the Synod section on the diocesan website and by taking the online Synod survey.

On this Easter morning, we hear only words of joy at Christ’s resurrection. From the shame and grief of denying his Savior three times, our first reading finds St. Peter proclaiming the rising of Our Lord. “This man God raised on the third day.” In response to Psalm 118, we sing, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” The Psalm declares, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Our Gospel from St. John describes the miraculous scene early Sunday morning: “the cloth that had covered His head rolled up, … in a separate place.” Now we look forward to weeks of celebration during the fifty-day Easter season, which ends at Pentecost.

The Easter season comprises Easter Sunday, the Easter Octave, and the weeks following through Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter), ending at Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter. During the Easter season, we hear at Mass stories of the Resurrection from the Acts of the Apostles: Mary Magdalene and the apostles at the tomb, the Lord’s appearance on the road to Emmaus, His meeting with the apostles on the shore of Lake Tiberias, and other familiar accounts. If you usually pray the Angelus, you will replace it during the Easter season with the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer. The Easter season offers plenty of time to celebrate the holiday, with Easter egg hunts, flowers, springtime animals such as lambs, rabbits, and baby chicks in toys and baked goods, and special treats from the Easter basket, a homemade lamb cake or Easter bread. The Easter season also is the time for making one’s Easter duty, the Church’s requirement that we receive Holy Communion during this season.

The Octave of Easter spans eight days starting on Easter Sunday and ending the Second Sunday of Easter, which is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Every day of the Octave is a Solemnity, the Church’s highest feast day. We light the tall, white, decorated Pascal candle. We sing the Gloria, hear a special Easter Alleluia verse, and may recite the Easter Sequence before the Gospel. The priest uses an Easter preface. We also repeat “Alleluia” after we say the final “Thanks be to God” at the end of Mass. The priest’s vestments are white or gold, for both the Octave and the Easter season.

The wait is over! At this long, solemn, joyful, and majestic Mass, we rekindle the light of Christ, answer the call to exult, review our salvation history, receive newly consecrated hosts, and welcome converts into the Church. The Pascal candle is marked and lit, and we spread light and joyful triumph through our church, during the dark hours of the night. The church is banked with flowers, and resounds with Easter hymns. Our priest wears white vestments. We hear the Gloria and the Alleluia. The Vigil Mass begins at the Cathedral of St. Joseph at 8:00 p.m., with Bishop Coyne celebrating and preaching. Rejoice, for the Lord has risen indeed!