Monthly Archives: July 2019

Our Annual Feast Day Mass to Honor Sts. Joachim and Ann, July 27, 2019, St. Joachim Church, Frankford

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We are so happy that our Annual Feast Day Mass was such a special one! Over 80 people attended our 6th Annual Feast Day Mass on Saturday, July 27, 2019, 4 PM at St. Joachim Church in Frankford. We merged with Holy Innocents Parish on July 1, 2013. Keep the Faith in Frankford was established just for this purpose – to keep the faith in Frankford. Mater Dolorosa, St. Joachim and St. Joan of Arc all merged into Holy Innocents on that day. Earlier, Ascension parishioners had merged as well.

When we filed our appeal, little did we know that 3 1/2 years later, the Capuchin Franciscans would purchase our former Convent for the Padre Pio Friary and then reopen St. Joachim to house the Padre Pio Prayer Center. We started, because of Father Steve, praying to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, at the end of every Mass during the Area Pastoral Planning Process. Once it was decided we would merge, within a year or two, Keep the Faith in Frankford was opening its weekly meetings with the same prayer! Someone heard our prayer!! 🙂

The Capuchin Franciscans of the St. Augustine Province arrived in July, 2016 and St. Joachim Church continues to serve Frankford and beyond today! God has been very good to us! This is most unusual for one of our Churches to be re-opened. Below is the schedule that was first posted!

Many people are sustanon 350 for sale owed thanks for their contributions and participation in our celebration this past Saturday. Keep the Faith in Frankford organizes, plans, provides the program and refreshment for these yearly Feast Day Masses. We would like to thank Father Thomas Higgins, Pastor, Holy Innocents Parish, for both his help, support and being our yearly celebrant! I just met Brother Alex Hostoffer, who, along with Brother Andrew McCarty, supervises and directs the efforts of the Padre Pio Prayer Center. PPPC is in very good hands. Thank you, both, for all of your help in preparing the Church for this Mass and our refreshments after. Brother Kip Ledger is the Guardian of the Friary and we thank you, Brother Kip and the Postulants for setting up and cleaning up for us. Every year, we are “wowed” with the caliber of the young men who are interested in following the way of St. Francis. There are already powerful women in the Church – we need only look at Sr. Kathleen Anderson, SSJ, Pastoral Minister, HI, Sr. Catherine Glackin, IHM, Pastoral Care, HI, and Sr. Linda Lukiewski, SSJ, for your presence and support! We are indeed very blessed! Please be assured of all of our prayers for each one of you in your ministries.

A Mass doesn’t really happen without the laity in the pews. To all of you who attended and were able to brave the heat, God bless you, we count on you! To our Lectors, Marco Osuna, Helen Greenberg and Maureen Taylor, thank you! To those who brought up our gifts – Jack Pfiel, Sabina Baker-Tegeder, Mary and Preston Moretz, and Joe Taylor, thank you! To our ushers, Bill McGeehan, Sr., Bob Smiley and Joe Taylor, thank you so much! We owe many, many thanks to our superb and St. Joachim favorite Cantor, John McCabe. John selected our beautiful and inspiring music! Well done, John! And to my very good friend, Sr. Rita Keller, IHM,who stepped in to help us as organist when we really needed her, many thanks! Your musical talent is a gift – some of the music Sister hadn’t seen until she arrived from Virginia!!

For those of you unable to attend or to just experience the joy of this day, again, please take a look at the following video! Every one of these faces in this video is special to us! Each of you showed we could really be “One With the Lord”!!! Next year is 2020! 🙂

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WAH9PvqMwQ[/embedyt]

 

 

Will You Be Marching In Tomorrow? Will Your Voice Resound With Other Voices of the Ages?

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Tomorrow, Saturday, July 27, 2019, 4 PM, St. Joachim Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124, the St. Joachim community will gather to celebrate our 6th Annual Feast Day Mass. Will you be marching in with the angels and the Saints coming to honor Sts. Joachim and Ann(e), the parents of our beloved Blessed Mother and the grandparents of Our Lord, Jesus Christ?

“All are Welcome in This House!”

   “¡Todos son bienvenidos en esta casa!”

Let me share with you a few reasons why I’m more excited about our Feast Day Mass than our first time seeing the Pony Penning and Auction here on Chincoteague Island!!

In 1843, 23 Catholics got together and discussed the need for a Catholic Church in Frankford. Land was bought at Harrison St. and Main St. (Frankford Ave.). Many people felt this location was out in the fields. Bishop Kenrick sent Father Forrestal to Frankford to see if a church was indeed warranted. Our congregation was small but big enough. In 1844, Dr. Lamb donated land at Franklin (Griscom St.) and Pine (Church St.) where St. Joachim’s is now. The parishioners sold the other land for a profit. Moral: Sometimes, we may not make the right choice but eventually, we get it right, with God’s help!

At about the same time, the Philadelphia Nativist Riots, aka the Philadelphia Prayer Riots were taking place. The Irish American immigrants fueled an anti-immigration feeling in the city and many felt they were trying to remove the Bible from public schools. St. Michael’s on 2nd St. and St. Augustine’s in Old City suffered major damage. These rioters were coming to Frankford next for us and the Frankford Arsenal but Mayor McMichael contacted the Commander and a letter was sent to ask for forces from Fort Columbus in New York to protect us. Moral: It is God’s time, not ours that determines what happens.

A church was built by 1856 but we outgrew it and a new cornerstone was laid in 1874 and completed in 1880. Sadly, that Church would burn down in 1978. A new Church, at the cost of almost $2 million would be built and dedicated on December 13, 1981. Moral: Faith can build Churches.

The Area Pastoral Planning Process would determine that as of July 1, 2013, St. Joachim, Mater Dolorosa and St. Joan of Arc would merge with Holy Innocents Parish in Juniata. Ascension Parish had already merger with HI. There would be no Catholic Church in Frankford. Keep the Faith in Frankford filed an appeal and with the support of the St. Joachim community and the Frankford community, we would meet weekly, endeavor to do good works and pray to Padre Pio that our Church would open again. Moral: Fight for what you believe in!

In July of 2016, the Capuchin Franciscans of the St. Augustine Province would be buying and renovating our former Convent to house the Padre Pio Friary. The Brothers would also operate the Padre Pio Prayer Center at St. Joachim Church. Moral: God does answer prayers and miracles can happen!

This is our history that we celebrate, our present time that we celebrate and going forward, a faithful future to doing the will of God in the larger Frankford community!

We need God; We need His Word; We need to be in Communion with Him! Join us tomorrow and let Sts. Joachim and Ann, their example and unconditional love for their families heal us and our families and bring God’s peace into our hearts so that we, too, can share it with others and Keep the Faith in Frankford!

Our Mass is bilingual and here is all the music that you need to know! Please listen and get familiar with it!

Opening Hymm – Ven al Banquete/Come to the Feast – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_6O-RqkMtI&list=RDD_6O-RqkMtI&start_radio=1&fbclid=IwAR2RAjURYyrN618824pKC3l4SsTZH-xfqpbpbTTZ5qCrupCUpKzqHIftW2g

The Gloria – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl9mHbXhsNA&fbclid=IwAR291Pp_BsONHskXuB5fDEXhQlQcIN7qRSOCJbSDrOy4ILTqn4QoPJI3qmc

Responsorial Psalm – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqvDfXDjP2E&fbclid=IwAR1wmVec1yJ6rAVvMrMrZv5Ee2pNbJHfDXxrWwZBLSg3zLBLuPLV0JFHnck

Alleluia – https://www.ocp.org/en-us/songs/56158/recibieron-el-espiritu-que-los-hace-hijos-adoptivos?fbclid=IwAR2rXJ-HQkj_Hz189OUEVmXCicTCVt-CF9hkCbeXP400Pk29PAEWCVc1A8Y

Presentation of the Gifts – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94I07YCeqBs&fbclid=IwAR1M0kWufh24UATr9XbYwLtUK0v4kxDOSEGNwbfodLfjn2b5ZcMh9yAYV0g

Holy/Santo – Verse 3  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o71UzuImtsw&fbclid=IwAR22uaT7sQGZ2oSG1zqaexRuZxr5rGLvZZH-wJlgnLRLQKiuT5o3cHaNgnA

Memorial Acclamation –
https://www.ocp.org/en-us/songs/51457/memorial-acclamation-d-aclamacion-conmemorativa-iii?fbclid=IwAR1yYNbymvUtbGxrFoKtvj66DtT_x17ozkV56RmP5ctaPqpD5ebcR1WhsE8

Amen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B1M-ogY5Bg&fbclid=IwAR3ZREq0hh0Uf9GygfJVtZH_wZMiFDrggfmwbfJ2u3GnjZxMh3HKyGfBSqA

Lamb of God/Cordero de Dios – https://ocp.org/en-us/songs/77831/cordero-de-dios-lamb-of-god?p=30109616&fbclid=IwAR06U1nAEWGFi62k0n2BXkIxC4DhzBsjiQi8Xwkq6n-stceeXttmpXSC3R0

Communion Hymn – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgebiXpGJnw&list=RDxgebiXpGJnw&start_radio=1&fbclid=IwAR2rNtPUa0uC0bgVJdGmHGsk9nzbVTkGVN2Kc0aeuxOrNbtF7-BgKrhOfJ8

Closing Hymn – “Joyful, Joyful”  – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObqN9c9Jro0&fbclid=IwAR2nl__-jMfKwLKLPIcC9bjihDoYqlmMPSsxHDJ_c1arHAttMDhmmb3sxUw

We hope to hear your voices tomorrow! God bless you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change is A Challenge!

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I think this quote is true of all people and that’s why I have been thinking a lot about change. Our lives change daily with the dawn of a new day! Sometimes, we’re not even aware that something has changed until after it’s all done!!

Our spiritual lives greatly changed on July 1, 2013. What have we learned since St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa, St. Joan of Arc and Ascension were merged into Holy Innocents? 

More confirmation that nothing stays the same. God’s love and call is a constant beckoning for us to change, to grow closer to Him, to be more like Him. However you answer that call is between you and God. 

Wherever you find yourself as you cope with change, we learned a lot since 2013. We learned that:

  • Our Parishes were pretty much “stand alone islands” and that made it more difficult to support and help each other;
  • The glory days of the Church in Philadelphia were long gone yet those years are exactly the ones we yearned for;
  • Religion can both unite and divide us;
  • Being taught that “We are one Body in Christ” doesn’t make it so;
  • We had the responsibility and the duty to “Keep the Faith in Frankford” and to preserve it as best we could;
  • The faith of the laity suffered but true faith is enduring; we better appreciated the efforts of those who built these parishes and paid for these parishes and we would not let them down;
  • Money talks – even in our houses of worship; and
  • Still, as we sing a favorite hymn, “All Are Welcome”, are they really?

We are the Church and if we expect the Church to change, we have to change, hard as it is. We have to be vulnerable, to open our hearts and to invite others in. If we look at our Patron’s statue, his hand is out-stretched and he is in motion, stepping out in greeting. 

I started thinking about all of this because this year, St. Joachim’s Annual Feast Day Mass will be bi-lingual which it should have been. Even here in Chincoteague, I’ve been told and I sense that some people may not attend because of this. Or they will attend grudgingly but at least they will attend. 

Another reality recently shared with me was after last week’s English Mass at St. Joan of Arc, Father Higgins had a meeting with folks to tell them that the attendance at both the English Mass and the Spanish Mass had dropped off. He would allow them time to build up Mass participation until Advent and if not, a real possibility of those Masses being stopped. It wouldn’t be easy, the right things to do never are, but if those folks don’t try to come together, both will lose. Today, we need every prayer we can get! 

We’re not going to have a longer Mass because it’s bi-lingual but we are going to have a celebration together to include St. Joachim’s rich diversity. With more time of planning, I could have included even more cultures, our African American, Asian, and other brothers and sisters to truly be a multi-cultural Mass. God-willing, we will have time for that. Keep the Faith in Frankford’s motto is, “We believe our diversity is our community’s greatest strength”. Together, we can build the kingdom of God. 

We are trying something new. We are trying to change. We are trying to be the people who have answered God’s call to serve each of His “beloved children of God! We are trying to mean what we say when we sing “All Are Welcome” in this place.