St. Joseph and Sons: 2014

Sunday, December 14, 2014

St. James Belvidere Project

The Joes were at St. James Belvidere the past two Saturdays to work on a variety of projects in preparation for St. James' reopening. As the project is nearing completion with a goal of mid-December 2014, it is coming together beautifully and the Joes were honored to lend a helping hand!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Joes gathered last Friday at Field Fastener to celebrate another wonderful year. We are blessed to be able to serve with the treasures and talents that we have been given by God.

"What gives us dignity is not our wealth or good fortune or noble birth, but a worthy and virtuous life and the dignity of our labor."

St. John XXIII

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Upcoming Opportunities to Serve

Saturday – December 6^thAND Saturday – December 13^th

Work Days – St. James Parish; Belvidere

St. James Parish in Belvidere is working to complete construction of their new church for the Christmas holiday. Help is needed for general labor to accomplish this project. St. Joseph & Sons would like as many as members as possible to participate to help St. James meet the goal. This will be a great way to help the St. James Parish celebrate Christmas in their new church.

Please contact Jim Strey at jim.strey@gmail.com if you would like to be a part of these opportunities.

St. Joseph and Sons Monthly Meeting – St. Bridget Church

Wednesday - November 26^th

The regularly scheduled meeting will begin @ 6:30 am at St. Briget Church. After discussing upcoming projects, Joes will attend 7:00 am mass and reconvene to share a light breakfast and fellowship.

The monthly meetings are a great place to meet Joes for the first time and to get to know who we are and what we are all about. Please feel free to attend if you are interested in learning more about or becoming a Joe. We welcome guests with open arms and a hot cup of coffee!

Please contact Bill Derry at billd@fieldfastener.com if you have any questions.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Dine with Dignity Project at St. Elizabeth's

Last weekend the Joes gathered to continue our “Dine with Dignity” project at St Elizabeth’s.

Background; St. Elizabeth’s provides hot meals 4 days a week to over 500 people. The dining area is an old gymnasium that has seen better days.

To provide an environment that allows dinning with dignity the Joes are on track to transform the room into a more pleasant environment for people to gather and eat.

The floor phase consisted of removing 30 year old linoleum that was stained and could not be cleaned. This was accomplished by coordinating our resources and the donation of time and a floor removing machine by Trademark Flooring. The machine reduced our time from our estimate of 5 hours to 2 hours. The Joe’s assisted with moving the flooring material to the dumpster.

The next phase will be the cleaning and polishing of the terrazzo floor which was the original floor.

Completing the floor as well as the painting and interior design of this large space will make It feel more comfortable and help us to achieve our goal of creating a space to Dine with Dignity.

Our completion time frame is 2 week before Thanksgiving so the Thanksgiving meal will be served in the new area.

We thank all of you for your support and prayers for allowing us to help others.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Upcoming Projects

Our August meeting will be held August 27th at St. Bridget Church. We will begin our meeting at 6:30am in the parish center and attend the 7:00am mass together with a time for spiritual development and breakfast after mass. As always our meeting will conclude at 8:00am.

Look forward to seeing you there.

The Joes will be working on Saturday, September 13th, at St. James Belvidere to assist with a landscape/planting project. This one-day project will help the parish to complete the construction project there. More information will be provided as the date nears.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Another Key Project This Weekend

St. Joseph and Sons will participating in a clean-up and repair project at Bishop Lane Retreat Center in Rockford on July 11th and 12th. Work times will be 7:30am to 4:00pm each day and all are welcome to join in and help us make a difference.

We’ll be working in coordination with a group of students from Boylan Catholic High School. Two dozen students will work with some parents in a Spiritual and Work Retreat over that same weekend.

Lunch will be provided daily. Time will be scheduled for a spiritual development session each day.

Looking forward to seeing you all there and be sure to wear your Joes red t-shirts.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

'Like' Us on Facebook!

Calling all Joes (and Friends)—
St. Joseph and Sons is now on Facebook.

Just click here www.facebook.com/St.JosephandSons to check out our page and give us a like. Post your comments and project photos, and then share with your Facebook friends.

By spreading the word about our good work (and the fun and satisfaction it gives us), we can build an even better presence!

Monday, February 17, 2014

St. Elizabeth Catholic Community Center sent St. Joseph & Sons this letter in appreciation for the work done.

Spiritual Corner

Relationship - Identity - Mission.

St. Joseph was hard worker who knew who he was and who he was called to be by God. He understood his relationship with God, which informed him of his identity, which in turn allowed him to see his mission. This is the order through which we all have to understand our lives: Relationship – Identity – Mission. The most important and fundamental key to who each of us is, is the fact that God has revealed Himself to us so that we might be in relationship with Himself. This relationship becomes a reality for each of us through our baptism, through which we become sons and daughters of God.

Very often we are faced with the temptation that the world offers us, which is to see things in the opposite order. The world looks at our Mission (all that we do, and whether or not we’re successful in our undertakings) and says that our identity is created by what we do. This then of course affects our relationships. What this leads to frequently is our doubting ourselves when things go wrong and when we can’t provide in the way that we would expect. Or to doing good simply for the sake of desiring to be notice and accepted. Had Joseph fallen into this trap, it certainly would have been difficult for him to have continued to be the humble man who quietly loved, served, and provided for his family.

All of the Joes are called to come and serve as Sons of God who serve humbly out of a desire to carry out their mission from God. We do not serve for the sake of building ourselves up, nor as a tool to create our identity. We all need to continue to delight in our relationship with God and to serve from a desire to spread the love of God so that many others can come to know their worth that comes from their own relationship with God.

Father Keith Romke

A Worker’s Prayer
St. Joseph, example for all those who work to support themselves and their families, obtain for me the grace to labor with thankfulness and joy. Grant that I may consider my daily endeavors as opportunities to use and develop the gifts of nature and grace I received from God. In the workplace may I mirror your virtues of integrity, moderation, patience, and inner peace, treating my co-workers with kindness and respect. May all I do and say lead others to the Lord and bring honor to God’s name.

Amen

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