Welcome to the website of St. Joseph, Marion, Iowa. We are a Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Dubuque with two thousand families. With the Eucharist as the source and font of our Catholic and parish life, our mission is to be disciples of Jesus who are fed by word and sacrament to love and to serve.
Formation in the Catholic faith is essential to our parish life. We follow the strong educational tradition of the Archdiocese of Dubuque with a vibrant Catholic school and youth faith formation (religious education) program and are part of the metro Catholic high school. We embrace an educational philosophy from womb to tomb, which includes an active adult education program.
I hope you find this website helpful to you whether you are a parishioner or an inquirer. It contains useful information that we hope will lead you to Christ, the Mass, and sacraments, and a desire to love and serve him. Additionally, it will offer you an idea of who we are and what we desire to be by the grace of God.
Sincerely yours,
Fr. David O'Connor
Pastor
There are three spiritual practices that are the foundation for every Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. To complement how you plan to observe Lent, each parishioner is invited to join the parish as we pray, fast and give alms together as a community.
ALMSGIVINGFASTING AND PRAYER
Jesus always prayed to be in union with his Father and for his ministry. We pray to love God and our neighbor.
March 5- Jesus was transfigured on the holy mountain (see Mark 9:2-10). Fast and pray for the flock to return to the parish, our holy mountain where we encounter God and our lives are changed.
March 12- Jesus drove the buyers and sellers from the Temple, his Father’s house (see John 2:13-25). Fast and pary that the evil of corruption and sexual abuse be driven from the Catholic Church and that healing, forgiveness and reconciliation take its place.
April 2- Good Friday. When Jesus breathed his last, the centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (see Mark 14: 1-15: 47). Fast and pray for all those joining our Church at Easter because they see Christ as the Son of God.
SPECIAL PRAYER
During this Year of St. Joseph, part of your lenten prayer, especially on our parish days of fasting and prayer, and throughout the year, you are invited to the Litany of St. Joseph. It is found here below.
Litany to St. Joseph
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
God our Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
God made him master of his household, and put him in charge of all that he owned.
Let us pray. O God, who in your inexpressible providence were pleased to choose Saint Joseph as spouse of the most holy Mother of your Son, grant, we pray, that we, who revere him as our protector on earth, may be worthy of his heavenly intercession. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fasting guidleines:
Limits on food and drink for ages 18-59
Jesus went to the desert and fasted to get close to God
Fasting draws us closer to God
Fasting purifies our lives from sin and evil
Fasting can be dedicated for the purpose of another
It is not a self improvement exercise-
It is other centered
It is spiritually centered
It opens the path for God to enter our lives
When we deny ourselves something so important as food we open ourselves to God to have an avenue to work in us.
We fast in light of and in relationship to God.
Jesus' fasting prepared him for an encounter with Satan. Satan was defeated.
April 2020
Dear St. Joseph Parishioner:
These are extraordinary times. I hope and pray that you are safe and well. The COVID-19 virus has wreaked its powerful effects on our lives. I am concerned about you, your family, job and welfare. The cessation of public Masses, and now even Easter Sunday Mass, has been hard on us, but it was imperative we did so out of charity and justice, to isolate ourselves and slow the spread of this dangerous virus. It feels like we are in a desert now, and a Lent like we have never experienced before. Yet, I believe that God will bring many graces from the evil of this virus. Draw closely to him and pray.
We’re still a parish during this pandemic, and need God and one another more than ever. Even though scattered because of social isolation, we can stay together in these ways:
Fun Days is a major annual parish event that occurs the first weekend in June. Unfortunately, it will not occur in June this year due to the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus. Discussion will be had regarding whether to have a modified event later in the year. You already received raffle tickets in the mail, which coincidentally arrived when the COVID-19 crisis first presented itself. While the timing wasn’t intentional, we still plan to conduct the raffle if only to allow it to be another source of income for the parish.
The Faith in Our Future Committee, which was formed to lead the parish to a building project and capital campaign, has paused to consider the feasibility of continuing or suspending its work pending the resolution of the COVID-19 crisis and the stabilization of the economy. That decision will also be made soon.
Finally, let us invoke the intercession of our great patron, St. Joseph, Protector of the Church, the Blessed Mother, and St. Raphael, our archdiocesan patron, to deliver us from the pandemic, to help the sick to recover, to assist our health care professionals and those researching treatment, a vaccine and a cure, and for the repose of the dead. Be safe and well. Let us know if we can help you. God will see us through.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
(Rev.) David H. O’Connor
Pastor
March 22, 2020
We Are Living—in an extraordinary time with unprecedented measures being taken to protect our nation from the ravages of the Coronavirus and to flatten the infection rate.
We are the Father’s sons and daughters and he will care for his children. We place our faith and trust in him. We are Christ’s baptized faithful. As such, I hereby commission you as prayer warriors.
Here’s what your commission means:
Prayer will see us though.