St. Joseph's Church

November 2nd Mass at 11 a.m. mausoleum at St. Joseph's Cemetery. Please bring chairs.

The St. Joseph Cemetery Commission is pleased to report that construction work has been completed and all the main roads at the Cemetery have been repaved. This includes the main road at the Pecks Road entrance all the way to the Cross in the upper section. Travel in and out of the cemetery is now much easier and the overall appearance of the cemetery is greatly improved. The Cemetery launched a capital campaign in mid-2018 to raise funds to make much-needed drainage and road repairs. Through the generosity of Catholic parishioners and friends, and a large gift from the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, nearly $1.3 million has been pledged to date. The Cemetery carried out extensive drainage improvements last fall to correct long standing flooding issues that occurred regularly in the winter and spring, especially in the upper section of the cemetery. Flooding often made burials and visits difficult in certain areas. A J Virgilio of Westfield was the low bidder and selected as contractor. All catch basins were cleaned out and new ones added. Broken and collapsed drain lines were replaced and over 1700 feet of new subsurface drain lines installed. In addition to the drainage problems on the upper level, there was a serious flooding problem in the northeast corner of the lower level. Volunteers from the Knights of Columbus Council #103 stepped forward and cleared out an old 700 -foot drainage ditch that had been blocked and not working for years. They and cemetery staff cleared brush, sediment, trees and debris and removed soil blockages. They completed erosion control and seeding. Hopefully this will eliminate most of the flooding in that area. The total project cost of the drainage work and reconstructing or repaving all the existing paved roads in the cemetery was estimated at $1.8 million in 2016. The Capital Campaign goal was set at $1.2 million, the amount the feasibility study recommended could be raised, and approximately $1.3 million has been pledged to date. Therefore, all roads were not able to be repaved at this time. Some additional roads will be repaved in the next two years as the balance of the pledges are paid in. The Cemetery Commission is continuing to seek out other donations in order to complete the remaining road repaving. Contributions would be appreciated and can be made to the Cemetery office at 222 Pecks Road. Jack Laviolette, Chair, Cemetery Commission Peter Lafayette, Chair, Capital Campaign

Winter decorations for St. Joseph Cemetery may be placed on lots from November 1st to April 1st. Only one wreath or flower box per lot. Thank you.

St. Joseph Annual "Limited" Bazaar to be held November 21st from 10:00 to 1:00 PM in the parish center. Featuring: frozen food to go, homemade Italian cookie trays, knitted items and a lottery tree raffle.

HELP NEEDED to make the pierogi. Are you available on November 4th and November 18th? If so, please come to the Parish Center as we will be making pierogi for the upcoming "LIMITED BAZAAR". This event starts at 2 PM. Hope to see you there.

Grades K-9: Families should have received their student’s At-Home work by now. This work will ensure the children are engaged in the faith and connected to the church during these unprecedented times, while we are not able to meet in person. Confirmation Class of 2021: Candidates will meet Sunday, October 25th in the Parish Center at 5:30pm to meet your teacher and to pick up materials. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. A. at 413-822-1297 or johnaccd@gmail.com

PLEASE COMPLETE THE ONLINE SURVEY SURVEY ON THE RESPONSE TO SEXUAL ABUSE The Independent Task Force on the Response to Sexual Abuse within the Diocese of Springfield is inviting you to participate in a brief online survey of how you perceive the diocese’s response to allegations of clergy sexual abuse in the past. A link to the survey can be found at diospringfield.org and will be available from Thursday, Oct. 8 through Monday Oct. 19. Your valuable feedback will be used to help inform the development of a strategic plan with specific steps for improvement in the following areas: 1.Acknowledging the trauma of sexual abuse on members of our community and ensuring the allocation of resources needed to promote healing of survivors and the faith community; 2. Responding to all allegations of sexual abuse in our church community in a timely, compassionate and fair way; 3.Ensuring the diocese has a transparent system of protocols and procedures that guarantee respect and due process for all involved; 4.Ensuring that local church leadership is held responsible and accountable for failing to protect children and other vulnerable persons; 5.Holding those who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse responsible and accountable; and 6.Preventing sexual abuse of anyone in our faith communities in the future. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance at (413) 452-0624 or at j.trant@diospringfield.org.

Please consider signing up to give your donations to our parish online. It is very easy to do. You can donate either with a credit card or a check and choose how much you would like to give and how often: weekly, monthly, semi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. You can go directly to the website at https://stjoepittsfield.weshareonline.org to sign up. We thank you for your generosity during these difficult times.

St. Joseph Parish is sponsoring an Italian take out dinner on Sat. Oct. 24th beginning at 4:30 until 6 PM. The meal will consist of pasta with homemade meat sauce, meatballs, sausage with peppers and onions, Italian bread and dessert. The tickets are $12 each. Deadline for orders is Tues., Oct. 20th at noon. Please call the rectory 445-5789 to place your order with Michele or leave a message for her.

Just a reminder that MASKS are required for Mass. Weather permitting we will continue to celebrate weekend Masses outdoors.

When we realize we are all sinners needing forgiveness, it will be easier for us to forgive others. We have to be forgiven in order to be able to forgive. If I do not understand this, it will be very hard for me to say, “I forgive you” to anyone. ~ Mother Teresa

Once again the community is coming together to distribute a Thanksgiving Meal to families in need within Berkshire County. St Joseph’s Church will be contributing gravy for the meal. We will need to collect 1000 packets of name brand gravy. Donations may be brought to the church. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

During the pandemic, please remain seated for the entire Mass. We ask that you leave the kneeler down in the pew in which you are sitting so we know which pews need to be cleaned ~ Thank you