Since Gov. Murphy raised the number of people who can be in church, we have returned to the Chapel for daily Masses. The Chapel will open 30 minutes before the Mass times at 12:30 and 7 PM. 

The Governor is now allowing churches to hold services at 50% of room capacity with no fixed cap on the number of worshippers.  With the attendance numbers at each of our Masses, both OLG and St. Joseph remain well within the new guidelines.

Our next monthly Parish Zoom chat is Wednesday, March 10, continuing the discussion on Reclaiming Women’s Leadership in the Church with Blauvelt Dominican Sr. Arlene Flaherty. We only scratched the surface last year.  If you would like to participate, email or call the Parish Center, and we will send the Zoom link the day before the discussion.

We invite you to join us for our Parish Lenten Service on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, at 7:30 PM in OLG Church. After a brief prayer, we will hear individual confessions. This is also the opportunity for First Reconciliations of Communion students and our teens and RCIA confessions. All are welcome.

St. Joseph marks its Sesquicentennial this year. It was founded as a German National Parish in 1871. Germans were the main national group in Hoboken, the Jersey City Heights and North Hudson in the 19th century. But as Irish immigrants populated Hoboken and Jersey City, Our Lady of Grace had to enlarge. The first Irish mayor of Hoboken belonged to St. Joseph’s and he started to favor the Irish for leadership positions, which irritated the Germans so they petitioned the Diocese to allow them to open another national church. That’s Ss. Peter & Paul.

Eventually, Franciscans were entrusted to pastor St. Joseph’s and they remained until 1999 when they pulled out and returned the parish to the Archdiocesan priests but none were sent there. Pastors of other Hoboken parishes would administer the church and then in 2008 we merged into one parish but retaining our individual names. The Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse staffed the parochial school on Jackson St. and they left when the school closed in 1991.

In the last 22 years, St. Joseph’s parishioners were strong and bonded together, especially the Spanish community, to keep the church going. And we are working with our Episcopal Vicar, Bishop Gregory Studerus, to position the church for the future. Bishop Studerus will preside at the opening Mass of the anniversary year on Friday, March 19, 2021, the Feast of St. Joseph, at 7 PM. Please reach out to former parishioners and invite them to return. This is also the 150th anniversary of the Pope declaring St. Joseph as the patron of the universal church and we think that proclamation inspired the naming of the Monroe St. church.

Fr. Phil will chair the anniversary committee and is looking for parishioners to work with him on planning spiritual, liturgical and social events for the coming year. Please let him know if you would like to help.This is a tough time to celebrate community and we will plan carefully to keep us safe. We pray to St. Joseph for guidance. We have a lot to celebrate!

Henry Krausch won $398.50 in the February raffle.  Congratulations!

Tickets for the April 26 raffle are available after Mass. You may take some tickets home to sell to family, neighbors and co-workers. Or contact Socorro Martinez at the Parish Center (201-659-0369), and she will mail them to you.

Please consider making a Mass or memorial intention for 2021 at Our Lady of Grace or St. Joseph.  You may reserve 2021 Mass intentions by calling OLG at 201-659-0369 or stopping by the OLG Parish Center (411 Clinton St.).  For St. Joseph, please call 201-659-0221.  You may also complete the form on the church tables and mail it in or drop it in the collection or at the Parish Center or St. Joseph Rectory. 

Have you connected with the parish yet on social media? Don't miss out -- follow the parish's Facebook and Instagram pages to catch the latest news and events, and don't forget to tag us in any parish-related photos that you post on Facebook or Instagram. Links to all the parish's social media accounts can be found on the left side of our webpage.  Check us out today!