This weekend, January 22/23, the Diocese of Youngstown is holding the Church Overseas Combined Collection for ministries of the Church around the world. These ministries of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Holy Father/Peter’s Pence, the Church in Central and Eastern Europe and the Church in Latin America assist the Church in serving people who are hungry, refugees, victims of natural disasters, and development projects. Please give generously to this collection which combines four collections in one.

Many people come to Catholic Charities for assistance to keep their homes warm during the long, cold winter months here in Ohio. Catholic Charities’ Warm Hearts for Warm Homes campaign provides tangible assistance and peace of mind to individuals and families in need of utility assistance. Please visit www.ccdoy.org to learn more or to make a gift online or mail checks to: Catholic Charities, 144 West Wood St., Youngstown, Ohio 44503. Thank you for your generosity.

Contribution statements for 2021 will be ready by the last week of January. If you wish to have your contribution statement from St. Joseph Church, there are several ways to obtain it.

The Eighth Italian Night Dinner will be held on Saturday, January 29, from 3 to 7 p.m., at St. Ambrose Church Hall. Hosted by the Women’s Renewal Team of St. Ambrose & St. Joseph Churches, the event features a delicious take-out Heat and Eat Lasagna dinner (traditional meat, spinach alfredo, or eggplant-gluten free) with salad, roll, and cookies. Single size is $12.00, family size dinner (feeds 5) is $50.00. Don’t forget their famous Chinese auction baskets (tickets are $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00). For more information, please call Melani at 330-357-6377. Watch for details about the Women’s Renewal Weekend April 23/24 at Camp Asbury in Hiram.

The “Eagle of the Cross” is an award given annually in the Diocese of Youngstown to outstanding juniors and seniors in high school, who show particular zeal in the improvement of their own parish ministry programs, high school ministry teams or youth work in general within the Diocese. Nominees must be Catholic and exemplify the qualities of moral integrity, prayer, good works and Christian leadership. This award was created by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, and is the highest honor our diocese presents youth.

Do you have an hour to help save a life?  Roll up a sleeve and join us in giving back to the community. St. Joseph’s will host a Red Cross Blood Drive on Monday, February 14, Noon to 6 p.m. in Hughes Hall. Join us by scheduling an appointment to give blood at https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/find-drive or by using the Red Cross Blood App available for download on devices through Ap StoreSM and Google Play™ (or text “BLOODAPP” to 90999).

Mark your calendars for our parish’s next Men's Renewal Weekend, February 19 & 20, with the theme “No Fear, No Doubt, No Hesitation . . . All In”. St. Joseph's Men’s Renewal is a free, two-day gathering of adult Christian men (Catholic and non-Catholic) coming together in faith to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and other Christian men. Take some time for yourself. Come enjoy fellowship, laughs, and good food. This is a weekend you will not regret and never forget. Come for yourself, your wife, your son, your daughter. St. Joseph's Hughes Hall and school building is used with participants gathering at 8 a.m. on Saturday and ending with Mass on Sunday afternoon. You will be fed in mind, body, and spirit. You're guaranteed to leave FULL. This renewal is absolutely FREE for all men 18 years and older. Look for the flyer and registration form in the Narthex. You may also go to https://stjosephmantua.com/men-of-st-joseph for a link to register online or download a printable flyer and registration form. Questions? Please contact Tim (216-338-8086) or Don (330-903-0928).

The Fundraising Committee is starting an easy way to generate some funds for parish improvements through recycling aluminum cans. Collect your clean cans in plastic bags, crushing if possible, and deposit in the designated containers in front of the church or in the All-Purpose Room. They will be picked up every weekend after Sunday Mass. Thank you in advance for your participation. If you would like to assist in any of our fundraisers, please contact John or Debbie Kruis (330-618-3604 or 330-221-0272).

To be a registered member of a parish is to have a sense of belonging to a family. Registration is important when it comes to requesting the Sacraments or becoming involved in the life of the parish family. Please do not take for granted that you are registered just because you attend Mass here. Are you on our database? Do your receive envelopes? If not, you are most likely not registered as an active parishioner. Each family member, 21 years of age or older, should be registered separately (parents–encourage adult children to register if they still consider themselves members). If you’d like to become an active registered member of the parish, please contact the Parish Office (330-274-2253 or ktrares@stjosephmantua.com). Also, if you move, change your phone number, would like to add your e-mail address, or have any other family changes, please let us know. We would like everyone at St. Joe’s to feel welcome as a part of our parish community family. Thank you for helping us keep up-to-date.

Effective December 12, 2021, St. Michael Parish in Windham has been merged with St. Ambrose Parish in Garrettsville. This formalizes current arrangements, as there has not been a consistent worshiping community gathered at St. Michael Parish for several years, and St. Michael, St. Ambrose, and St. Joseph Parish (Mantua) already shared a pastor and have collaborated in various ways. Following the 2019 Pastoral Plan, St. Ambrose Parish in Garrettsville and St. Joseph Parish in Mantua will continue to exist as parishes who share a pastor, with the Holy Mass celebrated at each church. In a 12/13/21 Record Courier article, Fr. Ed Stafford said, “Both St. Joseph and St. Ambrose parishioners have been welcoming, and our region continues to be blessed by vibrant ministry. Beyond parish boundaries, parishioners in northern Portage County have a long history of working and praying together regionally as neighbors.”

Fr. Ed’s email continues to have issues with hackers that pop up every few months. If you receive a suspicious email or text that looks like it’s from him, please do not respond and report it as phishing and/or mark it as spam. Please pay close attention to the email address or number it’s coming from (you’ll notice it’s not from estafford@stjosephmantua.com). In fact, Fr. Ed most likely won’t send out emails or texts but rather will communicate with a phone call or in person. Thank you for helping to deter these fraudulent attacks. For information on how to recognize and avoid phishing scams, go to https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams.

Along with our parish website and Facebook page, the bulletin is the center of our parish communication, and we want to keep you informed. The bulletin has been available on our website at https://stjosephmantua.com/bulletins for quite some time. Thanks to our bulletin company, J.S. Paluch, registered parishioners who the parish currently has an email address for in our database receives the bulletin automatically every Saturday (be sure to check your spam folder if you do not find it in your inbox). If you do not receive this email, you can self-signup at https://ebulletin.jspaluch.com/#/ or by texting the word ‘BULLETIN’ to 94090. We will still receive a limited number of printed bulletins for those attending Mass and in the Parish Office. As you can see, there are plenty of ways to stay connected anytime. Stay kind, be generous, be hopeful, and God bless.

Thanks to a partnership with our ParishSoft Online Giving and Ministry One, we have a St. Joseph Church mobile app that’s free! You’ll be able to view events, links & sign-ups, give to the parish directly from your smartphone, contact the office, submit prayer requests, view our parish YouTube Channel videos, and receive church news and reminder messages. As the app is enhanced and improved, we’re looking forward to being able to access our My Own Church database plus the development of additional features. On your mobile device, go to https://parishsoft.ministryone.com/landing/LndL (this direct link is also available on our website’s home page under the “Stay Connected” section), download the St. Joseph Church app through Google Play or Apple App Store, open it, and explore! Let us know what you think by emailing Kathi (ktrares@stjosephmantua.com).

Our sidewalks around the parish have been raised and leveled to alleviate trip hazards especially next to the curb. This is step one of our anticipated Repaving Project (the last time everything was paved was 1996!). Fundraising efforts (such as the Lottery Raffle and aluminum cans), donations, and money set aside in our Renovation Fund will allow us to take on this much needed project as soon as funding permits. If you’d like to donate toward this effort, use the green Special Contribution Envelope in your contribution packet and designate it to Building & Grounds Maintenance. You may also give online at https://giving.parishsoft.com/dl/?uid=stj1104203.

Dear St. Joseph Parish Community ..... After consultations with my religious community, I have made the decision to retire from active ministry. I related this to Fr. Ed in mid-May and he was most gracious in his response, for which I am very appreciative. Now I wish to inform the parish at large and to express my appreciation for the privilege of ministering among you for the past 10 years. I have been part of the joy and the pain in many of your lives. I have been a teacher of the faith among you. You have been teachers as well to me in your devotion to St. Joe’s, in the incredible summer Ox Roast, and in your fidelity to our Catholic faith. Thank you. There is no opportunity to “celebrate” at this time of COVID. You cannot even celebrate the life of so many loved ones who have died during these times of safe social distancing. And, I’m not going anywhere, but will remain at my Mantua residence at least for the coming year, so you will see me round about and available as a friend, confidant, visitor, and one who cares about you. If I were to consider the highlight of my time here, it would be this: that God in his provident goodness allowed me to complete my formal ministry life as a Sister of Notre Dame in this wonderful parish and in this wonderful town. With love, Sr. Joyce

Our Sunday bulletin is an important way for us to communicate with you, especially during these days of the Coronavirus pandemic. It might be the only way that we can reach some of you. Every bulletin that you receive is paid for through the generosity of the businesses that you see advertised. Most of these advertisers are members of our local community, and many belong to our parish. We urge you to think of them when you decide to have a meal or other item delivered to your door. Tell the business owners that you appreciate their support of our parish through their advertisements in the bulletin. This is one small way that we can work within our own community to weather the challenges that we face. Together we can help each other make it through. © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.