SACRAMENTS

St. Joseph Parish & Nativity of the BVM Parish is pleased to announce a new program from Dynamic Catholic called Blessed, that we are using once again to prepare your children (2nd graders) for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Communion.

Blessed is an animated series  that engages your children and helps them understand the importance of  these two important first sacraments in their lives.

Parent participation in the process is  required and  for the 2022-23 academic year are expected to  attend the parent sessions for both First Reconciliation and First  Communion. You are the first teachers of your children and these  sessions are meant to help you teach your child about these very  important sacraments. Our role at the parish is to support you in this  mission and we do that by using this engaging program.

The First Reconciliation Parent Session which is MANDATORY will be held:   TBA

First Reconciliation date is still TBD, watch for details.

Visit: https://dynamiccatholic.com/blessed for more information on this program and to sign up for the parent component.

For First Communion we also use Blessed from Dynamic Catholic. Again, your participation in this process is critical.

Parent participation in the process is  required and all parents for the 2022-23 academic year are expected to  attend the parent sessions for both First Reconciliation and First  Communion. You are the first teachers of your children and these  sessions are meant to help you teach your child about these very  important sacraments. Our role at the parish is to support you in this  mission and we do that by using this engaging program.

Marriages: 

Diocesan policy requires a six-month period of preparation  before marriage. A couple is to contact one of our priests or deacons  to arrange for a particular date and program of preparation before any  date will be finalized. Attendance at one of the pre-marriage  preparation programs and a compatibility evaluation are required. Please  call the Parish Office for further information.

Pre-Marriage Preparation: After consulting the priest or deacon  assisting you in getting married, a couple will choose from several  programs. The Diocesan Web Site lists information for most of these:  www.dioceseofcleveland.org under Ministries, Marriage & Family.

Contact the Parish Office at 440-988-2848

Communion is scheduled for  Sunday mornings to be brought to  those who are homebound,  hospitalized or in a nursing home. To receive Communion at home for  either yourself or a loved one, please contact Joe Siekeres info for Nativity (440-965-4001,  jsiekeres@zoominternet.net) and Antoinette Tsacoumangos at 440-864-5438 for St. Joseph.

The sacrament of anointing of the sick began  as a ritual of healing. Over time the emphasis shifted to the  forgiveness of sins on the deathbed, when such forgiveness would be the  final preparation for heaven. The Second Vatican Council returned the  original meaning to the sacrament by emphasizing that it is not only for  those who are at the point of death, but for anyone who is seriously  ill, including mental or spiritual illness. It also helped move the  Anointing away from a private service and back toward a community-based  one.

Today we are all aware that tensions, fear and anxiety about the  future affect not only our mind but our body as well. These illnesses  can be serious. They can move us to ask for the healing touch of Christ  in the Sacrament of Anointing. Persons with the disease of alcoholism or  persons suffering from other addictions can be anointed. So can those  who suffer from various mental disorders. The anxiety before exploratory  surgery to determine if cancer is present is a situation in which  Christ’s power can be invoked in the sacrament.

In these cases the person does not have to wait until the illness is  so grave that he or she is in the hospital or institutionalized to  celebrate the sacrament. Sacraments, after all, are community  celebrations. It is preferable to celebrate them in the context of  family and parish even before going to the hospital. The sick person has  a better opportunity to appreciate the prayers and symbols of the rite  when in her or his customary worshiping community.

At St. Joseph Parish we have an Anointing Service once per year,  usually in mid-October.  Here in the context of the Eucharist, all who  are ill physically or spiritually, are invited to attend the Service and  celebrate as community, the sacrament of the anointing of the sick.

Throughout the year, if you are faced with severe illness or impending serious surgery, you are encouraged to contact the Parish Office to arrange to receive the sacrament.

If hospitalized, please notify the Parish Office to request visitation.  Under the new HIPPA confidentiality law, hospitals are no longer permitted to notify parishes of parishioner’s presence in the hospital.  Be sure to alert the intake persons that you are Catholic and the  Pastoral Care office will see that a chaplain stops by to see you in the  hospital.

To arrange to be anointed while ill at home, or in advance of serious surgery, please call the Parish Office at 440-988-2848.