The Community of St Joseph's Parish, Port Moody, BC

St Joseph’s Catholic Parish is located on 140 Moody Street, Port Moody, BC. The Parish was founded in 1912, and the Rectory House is deemed a heritage building by the city of Port Moody. The community has approximately 740 families. Knights of Columbus Council 9846 serves the community and has a membership of 41 members. Other service groups in this community include Society of St Vincent DePaul, Pro-Life Society, Parish Council, Youth Leadership Group and so on.

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The Parish is presently gearing up for the centennial celebrations to begin March 19th, 2012, the feast of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of St. Joseph honours the foster-father of Jesus, and is considered the patron saint of fathers, families, workers, and the Church. His main feast falls on March 19. On this day the Parish will celebrate the solemnity of the feast of St Joseph, husband of Mary, Patron Saint of the Parish Community and Church. St. Joseph is certainly one of those quiet and silent persons in the Bible about whom we have little information. Most of the information we have about him comes from Luke (chapter two) and Matthew (chapters one and two).

In these chapters, Joseph is spoken to a couple of times; but he never utters a word. We are left with an image of a figure that generally hovers in the shadows and in the background of the Holy Family, mostly silent and anonymous. According to the Gospel, he was referred to as a village carpenter and a descendent of the house of David. His obedience to God is seen as he takes care of the Holy Family, with dedication, affection and responsibility. Saint Joseph is generally known as the silent, obedient, generous and hardworking person and the church has declared him as the patron of the universal church and the world accepts him as the Patron of all workers.

The Church began acknowledging Saint Joseph in 1621, when Pope Gregory XV declared the Feast of St. Joseph as a Feast of obligation. Pope Benedict XIII inserted the name of Saint Joseph in the Litanies of the Saints, in 1726. The present feast day (March 19th) was established by Pope Pius IX in 1847.

A prayer to St Joseph, Patron of our Parish, our Community and our Council:

“To you, Glorious St. Joseph, I turn in my struggles and hardships, I humbly ask you to intercede for me the grace

to work in the spirit of penance in order to atone for my many sins;

to work conscientiously, setting devotion to duty in preference to my own whims;

to work with thankfulness and joy, deeming it an honour to employ and to create by my labour the gifts I have received from God;

to work with order, peace, moderation, and patience, without ever shrinking from weariness and difficulties;

to work above all with a pure intention and with detachment from self,

to defend His Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity,

to imitate your example and strengthened by your help, I may one day join you in sharing the joys of heaven.

Amen.”