In the same year when Florida’s governor signed a “Don’t Say Gay” law – which will marginalize LGBTQ residents and youth – we are proud to celebrate our 5th Annual Pride Mass on Sunday, June 26, at the OLG 10:30 AM Mass. Our annual Mass is a way to say that we are proud of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and move toward a more inclusive church and society. Please invite your family, friends, and neighbors to join us. And let them know our church is COOL. Yes, that way and also air-conditioned for the first time in its history.

Beginning in July, we will have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on the First Friday of each month, immediately following the 12:30pm Mass in the Parish Center Chapel, concluding with a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at 2pm. All are welcome. The first one is Friday, July 1, 2022.

Please try to pay off pledges to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal by the end of June so the parish receives a reduction in our assessments. This is a significant savings for us and keeps more of your donations here in the parish. Please check if your employer matches your gift. 

Kindly use the mailed payment reminders sent by the Archdiocese to you when you make your payment to ensure that it is credited properly.  We appreciate your support!

The Summer schedule of parish Young Adult events is here!  Andy Fellows, our Pastoral Associate, hosts spiritual, service and social events for our young adults. Spread the word. For more info, contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We are moving forward with plans to house a Ukrainian refugee family in the Johanna Fugazzi Apartment on our OLG property.  The apartment is almost fully furnished, and we are looking for some final household items to ready the space. Can you help us? You can purchase items online from our Target wish list, and they will ship directly to the Parish Center. We appreciate your continued support.

Parishioner Maria Zoccoli has agreed to chair our Ukrainian refugee effort and will coordinate parishioners who would like to volunteer on a weekly team to assist. Please contact the Parish Center at 201-659-0369 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to help us with this project.  We can only do this with parishioner support.

Exactly one year ago in May, Pope Francis surprised the Church by announcing that the next Synod of Bishops, postponed until 2023 due to the pandemic, would be preceded by a worldwide synodal process in which the Church would listen “to all of the baptized” in every local diocese to better understand their concerns and perspectives as the Church charts its future course.

This worldwide process was launched in our own Archdiocese of Newark and in our parish last fall. Our local effort was led by parishioners Noreen Collins and Gary Stavella, with parish support from Andy Fellows, Christina Mueller and Frs. Alex and Phil. 

From December to March, we conducted a series of 10 listening sessions, both in-person at Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph and virtually. Some were open to general audiences; other were more specifically targeted at audiences including the young adult, LGBTQ+ and ally, Hispanic and disaffected Catholic communities. In total, approximately 130 individuals participated in these sessions.

We express profound thanks to each and every individual who took the time, and, in some cases, summoned the courage, to participate in these sessions and provide unfiltered feedback about their experiences in the Church and their perspectives on what the Church is getting right and doing wrong.

From the copious notes that were gathered at these 10 sessions, our parish Synod team drafted four reports to highlight with specificity the feedback received from the general parish community, as well as the young adult, LGBTQ+ and disaffected Catholic communities. These reports were submitted to the Archdiocese in mid-April. 

The Archdiocese is now reviewing the dozens of reports received from parishes, schools and other Catholic communities within the diocese, with the aim of submitting a single aggregated report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this fall. Worldwide local findings will be consolidated into reports for discussion among the world’s bishops and the Vatican at the 2023 Synod of Bishops to guide Pope Francis on decisions about how the Church should proceed in the future.

While we have submitted the parish reports to the Archdiocese, our work at the local level is not done. This fall, in coordination with the Archdiocese, we will release a robust summary of our local findings and conduct a parish-wide town hall to review the feedback and consider the initiatives that we can undertake at the parish level to respond to the feedback and recommendations that you shared. We hope that you will join us in the fall to continue this important process!

Your sisters and brothers in Christ,

Fr. Phil, Andy Fellows, Christina Mueller, Gary Stavella and Noreen Collins

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Joseph Church, we have undertaken an extensive renovation of the sanctuary. In support of this huge undertaking, we are offering a limited number of opportunities to dedicate the sanctuary benches on a first-come, first-served basis. We will prepare a small plaque to place at the end of each bench to memorialize each dedication.

A $400 donation will dedicate a single bench, while a $750 donation will dedicate a double bench and allow for two dedications.  Please complete the form on the church tables and return it to the St. Joseph Office at 61 Monroe St. or the OLG Parish Office at 411 Clinton St. along with your donation. Please complete a separate form for each dedication.

Thank you for your support!

Tickets for the parish's bimonthly raffle are available after Mass. The next winner will be drawn on June 27.  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.  Thank you for your support!