St. John Paul II Parish

The Baby Bottle Drive has returned, but just like everything else it has gone virtual.
(See Below)

Click here to donate

Lent is a special time for prayer and reflection to make time for God to help us turn back to him so we can die with him and our sinfulness, then rise with him to greater love and holiness at Easter.

One way we can do this is to take advantage of the upcoming Adult Faith Formation opportunity. (Note that some of what follows may change.) It will be a combination of a Scripture Study and a Faith Sharing Group which will focus on the life of St Joseph, his unique role in Jesus' life and our lives as saint and patron of the Universal Church. I am calling this series, which I will offer through Zoom, St Joseph in the Gospels and Beyond. Why St Joseph? Because the Holy Spirit inspired Pope Francis to declare the time between December 8th (the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary), 2020, and December 8th, 2021, as a 'Year of St Joseph' to mark the 150th anniversary of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, as Pope Pius IX declared him to be on December 8th, 1870.

As Pope Francis wrote in his Apostolic Letter Patris corde ('With a Father's Heart'), he sees St Joseph as an ordinary person whom God called to do extraordinary things. He made heroic sacrifices and put himself at risk to answer that call. Pope Francis likened this to what many people are doing during the Covid-19 Pandemic: parents, grandparents, doctors, nurses, first responders, priests, teachers, wait staff, hair stylists and so on. Focusing on these sacrifices is a wonderful way for us to find the motivation to make our Lenten sacrifices and acts of mercy. In this series, we will examine the parts of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in which St Joseph appears in order to have a richer understanding of him in Scripture. We will use that as a springboard to meditate on what Pope Francis wrote in the Apostolic Letter, as well as look at other sources and aspects of St Joseph's role in the story of salvation, such as his being the Patron of the Universal Church and Patron of a Happy Death.

I will offer this series on four consecutive Mondays in March at 6:00 p.m.: the 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd through Zoom. Each session lasts an hour; we try hard to observe this to respect people's time. If you are interested in participating, please contact me by sending e-mail to krcardinale@gmail.com or calling (508) 765-3701 x103.

Whether we can join the series or not, we can all benefit from an increased devotion to and appreciation of St Joseph in our lives. We can begin with the prayer with which Pope Francis concludes his letter:

A Prayer to St Joseph

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,

Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To you God entrusted his only Son;

in you Mary placed her trust;

with you Christ became man. 

Blessed Joseph, to us, too,

show yourself a father

and guide us in the path of life. 

Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,

and defend us from every evil. Amen. 

Want to listen to more homilies from Father Ken?
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Dear TCA Families/STJPII Parishioners,  

Welcome to all our new students and their families! As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, both the church and Trinity conduct multiple fundraisers throughout the year. The proceeds from these important events are what help keep our tuition as low as possible all while providing the best education possible for our students. One of these major fundraisers has been our annual live and silent auction which usually takes place at La Salle Reception Center in March and benefits both the school and the parish. Work begins on this event around September with a team made up of both parents and parishioners. Many hours go into making this event a fun-filled evening and a large success for both the school and St. John Paull II Parish. 

You all know very well that our world was put on hold last March without much warning. We made the difficult decision to postpone our auction first to August and then again to March 2021. No one could have predicted that we would have to address this once again. At that time our auction preparations were about 90% complete and we stored all our donations until we could safely hold our event. Given the current state of the pandemic we have decided to still hold our auction this coming March, but with a bit of a twist! 

A Night of Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust is going virtual! Our online auction will be held from March 1-13, 2021 with all our items available for viewing and bidding from the comfort and safety of your homes. Here is where we’re asking for your help. We are asking each classroom and the church parishioners to help us create a themed basket for online bidding. We are asking for either a monetary donation (brought to school or placed in the weekly collection baskets) or for you to shop from our Amazon wish list (be sure to use AmazonSmile to contribute to TCA) to avoid duplicates or similar items of the same theme. Monetary donations must be marked Donation for TCA/SJPII Auction. The deadline for this donation must be in to the school/ministry center or shipped no later than January 29, 2021. We appreciate your generosity and hope you will join us online to make our event another success. Attached please find our list for each classroom and the parish baskets and the link to our Amazon wish lists. Please contact either myself or Margaret Farrand with any questions via phone, text or email. Thank you for helping us make a little bit of magic this year! 

Melissa Cournoyer – FaithTrustDust21@gmail.com – 508.365.8209 

Margaret Farrand – FaithTrustDust21@gmail.com – 774.318.8083 

Click Here to be taken to the Wish List

If you would like to donate to our restroom construction project you may click on this link: Donate Here, scroll down to "Any Parish Need", click on the button, and type "Restroom" in the comment box. That's it!

Thank you!!

Notre Dame Church - 446 Main Street, Southbridge, MA
St. Mary Church - 247 Hamilton Street, Southbridge, MA

Welcome!
If you are new to our parish, please introduce yourself after Mass to a member of our staff, so we may better serve you. 
¡Bienvenido! Si usted es nuevo en nuestra parroquia, preséntese después de la misa a un miembro de nuestro personal, para que podamos servirle mejor.

Rev. Kenneth Cardinale Pastor/Párroco ext. 103 krcardinale@gmail.com
Rev. Wilmar Ramos Associate Pastor/Vicario ext. 104 ramosq01@gmail.com
address:
Sor Rosa Maria Campos, RODA Asistente Pastoral ext.107 SrRosaMaria.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Madeleine Brouillard Business Manager 508-765-3701 ext. 105
MaddieB.stjp2@gmail.com
Deacon Juan Guzman juangzmasr53@gmail.com
Mrs. Bev Loconto Parish Secretary 508-765-3701 ext. 110
BevL.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Margaret Farrand Rental Coordinator 774-318-8083 MargeF911@aol.com

Mailing Address:  279 Hamilton St. Southbridge, MA 01550