The Men of St. Joseph invite you to a Zoom meeting on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM Eastern Time. They will continue these Wednesday evening gatherings throughout the stay at home order. This Wednesday, May 13th, the topic will be "Our Decisions and an Analysis of our Souls" by presenter Nate Daczko. All are welcome! Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3933391987?pwd=WjBOdnlKaHdROWdLMkNNWVVLbSszQT09. Meeting ID: 393 339 1987. Password: 150006

This fundraiser that follows the Ohio 3-Digit Lottery evening drawing continues in 2020. Tickets are $5.00 each, good for the entire month, and you may purchase the same number for the entire year. For the month of June, your $5.00 ticket purchase, including those that bought for the whole year, will give you 60 chances to win. We will pay on both daily drawings, the midday drawing, and the evening drawing. Winning tickets are worth $50.00 (payouts mailed weekly). Proceeds help with our church improvements. For tickets or more information, please call or text Deb Kruis (330-221-0272) or Mary Ann Feddor (330-842-0505). If you provide your name, address, phone number and ticket # you'd like to purchase, arrangements can be made to pull those tickets for you and get them to you. 

As of May 14th our parish has achieved 27% participation towards our goal of 100% participation with 137 households contributing $28,468.00. There are three ways in which you can participate: PRAY for the success of the Annual Bishop’s Appeal; DONATE to the Appeal; VOLUNTEER your time and talents to any of the ministries of the Church. Please submit a completed response card or pew envelope as all responses count towards our parish participation goal. Thank you in advance for your reflection and generous response to the Annual Appeal.

The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 Eagle of the Cross Award. The Eagle of the Cross, created by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry and introduced to the diocese in 1999, is given each year to a group of extraordinary high school juniors and seniors who model the dedication, integrity, values and promise for Church and society. The award is presented to teens in the six counties of the Diocese of Youngstown who model Christian discipleship and exemplify the qualities of moral integrity, prayer, good works and Christian leadership in their school and parish communities. We are pleased to announce that St. Joseph parishioner, Connor Rowe is among the 2020 recipients! Due to the novel coronavirus situation, the Awards Mass and Banquet scheduled for April 29 has been postponed. A new date has not yet been determined, however the diocese did want the public to be aware of these amazing teens.

Although the 2020 Ox Roast Fair has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, plans are to have the Main Raffle still take place with the same prizes & tickets at next year’s event. Tickets are on sale through next year's Ox Roast Fair, July 16, 17, 18, 2021. Ticket sellers are reminded to continue to turn in their sold tickets and money. For anyone who would like a refund for purchased tickets because of the cancellation of the 2020 Ox Roast Fair, please contact Cindy Olesh (colesh@stjosephmantua.com or 330-221-2694). Details available at https://stjosephmantua.com/ox-raffles. Commemorative 2020 T-Shirt in the works. Watch for more details as things develop.

In response to Ohio’s state of emergency during the Coronvirus Pandemic, we will be suspending PSR classes until further notice. Information will also be sent via email throughout. In addition, families will be able to find calendar updates, learning support, and community information on our parish website, https://stjosephmantua.com/families-growing-in-faith (look for PSR At Home Hub link top right column). To keep everyone safe, all Masses, events, activities, and meetings at St. Joseph are cancelled until further notice. Staff members are working from home (mail & messages checked regularly). I appreciate your patience during this fluid situation. I will keep you posted about any developments here and throughout the Diocese of Youngstown. If you have any questions, please contact me at phaney@stjosephmantua.com. God Bless, Peg Haney, Director of Religious Education

Our 2019 estatements through My Own Church are now available. The ParishSoft support team was able to resolve the glitch in late April of 2020. If you need a 2019 contribution statement for tax purposes or would like to access your statement for any reason, it is available through My Own Church. For more info., visit https://stjosephmantua.com/my-own-church.

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).

On Thursday, April 9, the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown revealed that Bishop George Murry’s leukemia has returned. He is undergoing treatment as an outpatient at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown. Bishop Murry was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic in April 2018 for treatment of leukemia and was released the following June. The disease returned in July of last year. The Diocese announced in October that Bishop Murry was again in remission. According to a statement from the Diocese, Bishop Murry is very appreciative of all the prayers and support he has received and will continue to receive, but he is not accepting visitors or calls at this time. Periodic health updates will be given.

On April 16th, Fr. Ed issued a letter announcing the cancellation of the Ox Roast Fair for 2020. These are not normal times, due to the global impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic, affecting the lives of all people throughout the world. There is so much uncertainty right now that it requires our being patient, prudent, vigilant and above all safe. As he has expressed in a letter to parishioners previously, written before last year’s fair: “My concern is for the safety of all who attend and volunteer at this event.” To view Fr. Ed's message in it's entirety, please refer to the link in the Coronavirus section. Plans are to have the Main Raffle still take place although postponed until 2021 event. For more details, please visit https://stjosephmantua.com/ox-raffles.

Along with our parish website and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/stjosephmantua/), 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, we are now going to be sending the parish bulletin directly to your email every week. Any registered parishioner who the parish currently has an email address for in our database will receive 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 to keep on hand 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.

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.

Not able to attend Mass? Don't forget that the church still has bills and ministries that need funding. If you'd like to support your parish, simply mail your contribution to the parish office. Or better yet, sign up for online giving (https://giving.parishsoft.com/app/giving/stjosephmantua). It can be done as a one time donation or recurring. Check it out all the details on our website (https://stjosephmantua.com/parishsoft-giving). Thank you for your consideration.

During the summer of 2020, Fr. James-Peter Trares, OP will be moving to Rome to begin studies in the Fall at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (commonly known as "the Angelicum")! He'll be pursuing a Doctorate in Spirituality, which should take about four years, after which he'll be qualified to teach full time, to work in seminaries, to do spiritual counseling, and assist with the formation of the order's younger brothers. Since his ordination May 20, 2017, he has been assigned as a campus minister and theology professor at the University of St. Thomas based in the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN. He resides at St. Albert the Great Priory, 2833 32nd Ave., South, Minneapolis, MN  55406 with eight other Dominicans. We congratulate him and wish him well in his new adventure.

We would like everyone at St. Joseph’s to feel welcome as a part of our parish community family. Your assistance in keeping our records up-to-date helps to ensure that no one becomes “just a member. ” 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. To register or to update your information, please contact the Parish Office (330-274-2253 or ktrares@stjosephmantua.com). If you have started the process, but have yet to return the blue registration form, please do so ASAP.