Snup's View From the Back Pew: St. Joseph

Hello All!

This weekend I went to 2 different Masses, one on Saturday and one on Sunday so be sure to see them both!

I was trying to decide where to go on Sunday when I discovered that St. Joseph in Tiff (so named because of what was mined there) only has Mass Saturdays at 7:30 pm. After much frustration with Google and Bing Maps, I realized I had to go relatively soon because it didn't look easy to find, especially at night. Excellent call. I would have never found it without the GPS (Thanks Mark!) and at night. There is a very little sign where you turn onto the road the Church is on. Additionally, one of the trees right at the turn off has a purple rectangle painted on to it.

St. Joseph is a very cute little church, dedicated in 1944. I'm not sure 100 people would fit into it. The parishoners were all very friendly and helpful. One of the parishoners gave me a parish history book. He started the project because all of the records were lost when the original church burned to the ground in 1935. All that is left is oral history and unfortunately, time is destroying that as well.

The music was accompanied by an organ.

Opening: I Sing the Mighty Power of God

Offertory: Seek Ye First

Communion: Whatsoever You Do

Recessional: Holy God We Praise Thy Name

The pastor was off on vacation so a retired priest that lives nearby offered Mass. Father's chasuble had the stole attached to the outside. Father used the full Penitential Rite but skipped the Gloria. Father's homily started off talking about how hospitality is a good virtue but had to practice it with people we don't like or are comfortable with. The Lord wants us to reach out to others. Jesus wasn't talking about an earthly banquet but rather a heavenly banquet. We get an invite to it when we help those in need. We need to help those outside our comfort zone. What are we doing to get to heaven? This all provided a nice lead in to Father talking about the charity he works with, Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, which is the Catholic version of those sponsorship programs you see late at night on TV. Father invited us all to adopted a new member of the family.

Father used Eucharistic Prayer II and there were no bells (but three servers!).

The parishoners were very friendly and made sure I knew how to get to a highway after Mass!

Pictures:

Old St. Joseph School

One of the parishoners told me when he went to school here,

the parish had chickens and cows.

Instead of recess, the boys had to look after the animals.

I told him it was called Vocational Education ;)

St. Joseph

I think is this where the old church was.

Otherwise it is rather odd for a statue to be in the middle

of the parking lot.

Our Lady of Fatima

St. Joseph

Isn't it cute!

The Eighth Station:

Jesus Meets the Holy Women

View From the Back Pew!

Close-Up of Sanctuary

I'm not sure I like the curtains.

Makes it look theater-y.

The Nativity

The Presentation in the Temple

The Flight into Egypt

Boy Jesus in the Temple

Jesus with children

Jesus with Mary and Martha (I think...)

Jesus Chasing the Moneychangers out of the Temple

Think this is the first window I've seen

depicting that story.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd
I thought that the window on the right was
Jesus appearing to St. Peter on the road to Rome,
but the windows are in chronological order
and therefore it doesn't fit.