What's this item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

What's this item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

The ministry of ALTAR SERVERS is unique in that it affords our youth an opportunity to participate more fully in the liturgy by serving on the altar at our Sunday Masses.  Both boys and girls, ranging in age from "post-First Communion" through high school, are encouraged to join.  There are currently 45 altar servers in our parish, but we are always encouraging our many, many youth to join this ministry of service.  Training is available at any time of the year.  We are also in need of adults to help with serving on the altar for our funerals.  Adults would need to be available during the morning or early afternoon hours to serve. 

A call to the Eucharistic Ministry is a call to serve God and His people through the distribution of Communion (both the Body and Blood of Christ) at Sunday liturgy, as well as to bring the Body of Christ to the sick and the homebound. St. Joseph Church -- Bread of Life Community  currently has a ministry of 87 active adults who serve as Extraordinary Ministers at Sunday Mass and as Ministers to the Sick and Homebound. Those who may participate are post-Confirmation young adults and older who are (or will become) committed adorers in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Training for this ministry is available once each year. With Father Larry's recommendation to our Bishop Persico, trained Extraordinary Ministers are commissioned for a three-year term. 

​

PRAYER is the most important activity we can do EVERY day.  In our parish, we offer many opportunities for prayer -- in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel, at our daily and Sunday Masses, and at the special services we celebrate weekly and annually.  In addition, we have groups who pray for the special needs of our parishioners, their families and friends, and others in need.  Our HEALING PRAYER TEAM exists to pray WITH people in need of healing.  They are available after our 11:00 AM Mass each Sunday.  They are most willing to listen to your specific needs and pray with you.  If you feel that you have a gift of praying with people, contact the leader of the ministry.

​

What an awesome privilege it is to proclaim the Word of God! The LECTORS MINISTRY is made up of 33 men and women who proclaim the Good News during the Sunday Mass. Training for this ministry is available upon request. If you have the skills required to communicate God's message competently and the desire to serve God in spreading His Word, the Lectors Ministry may be right for you.

​

PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION, begun in our parish on Ash Wednesday, 2004, is the gift of Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament in our chapel twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Adorers are in the chapel every hour praying, reading, meditating, and reflecting.  Located in the Community Center, access to the chapel is available weekdays from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. by ringing the doorbell at the Community Center.   For those who would like to come outside of those hours, a call or visit to the parish office is all it takes to get information about a special code for weekend and off-hours entry.   We are always in need of committed adorers at all hours of the day and night, since some of the time slots are vacated due to work hour changes, returning to school, etc.    For more information or to become a committed adorer, contact the parish office at 452-2982.

Our parish PRAYER LINE is composed of many parishioners who receive special prayer requests on a daily basis and offer prayer for these specific needs.  Needs range from physical healing to employment problems, from family issues to spiritual healing.  And the list goes on.  If you are interested in being part of this great "chain" of people who intercede for those who request prayer, call the parish office at 452-2982.  If you are in need of prayer, call the Prayer Line at 323-8596.

In the midst of physical illness or an emotional crisis, a family problem or an inner conflict, what better way to know that you are loved and held up in prayer than to be “wrapped in the arms of Jesus.”  In response to this need for something “warm and tangible,” our PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY serves the needs of our parishioners and others by giving away hand-knitted and hand-crocheted prayer shawls, lap blankets, and Baptismal blankets.  Some gather on Sunday afternoons, other work on their shawls during Holy Hours in the Chapel, and even others crochet at home in the evening — all the while praying for the needs of the one who receive this gift.  Over 1000 shawls and blankets have been given away in the  time the ministry has been active.  All requests for these beautiful prayer shawls and blankets are filled, many times within hours of the call.  Donations of yarn or funds to keep the drawers of yarn full are not necessary but certainly and graciously accepted. 

The “THIRTY-ONE CLUB” is a  ministry of prayer for vocations.  Those who sign up select the day of the month of their choice and agree to offer Mass for the intention of fostering vocations in our parish, in our diocese, and around the world on that particular day.  In this way, we know that EVERY DAY in the year is "covered" with pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  If you would like to commit one day each month to prayer and the offering of Mass for this intention, call the parish office at 452-2982 to sign up.

There are currently 28 men and women in the USHERS MINISTRY at St. Joseph Church -- Bread of Life Community. They are responsible for welcoming members and guests at the doors, assisting people to seats in the church, taking up the Sunday offering during the Mass, and distributing bulletins. Because of the larger numbers of people attending weekly Mass, there is always a need for more ushers! Men, women – are you being called to this form of service?

The Serra Vocations Chalice Program involves families in vocations awareness by inviting a family each week to pray daily for vocations. The family assigned for the week receives the chalice from the celebrant at Saturday evening or Sunday Mass, places it on the mantel or dining room table at home, and says a prayer or two daily for vocations. If you are interested in getting on the list to take the Vocations Chalice home for a week, call Tim Greer at 504-7576.

​