St. Joseph Neier Catholic Church

St. Joseph's Neier Parish, Union MO

2 days ago

Don't forget to complete your Homecoming survey. Check your email for an electronic form, or complete the paper survey at church.

If you did not receive an electronic form, and would like one, please let Sarah know. Thank you to everyone who has already completed the survey. It is greatly appreciated!! ...

St. Joseph's Neier Parish, Union MO

5 days ago

Message from Fr Tom - June 15, 2021

Hi everybody! Remember I will be on vacation from Sunday afternoon, June 20th through the morning of June 26th. I WILL be here for the weekend masses on June 26/27 and then go again from Sunday afternoon, June 27th, through morning of July 3rd. I will be spending some time camping and at my cabin. Again, remember that Bishop Mark Rivituso will celebrate the 5pm mass this Saturday, June 19th.

Last week I saw a TV ad promoting June as gay pride month. I wasn’t aware of it. So I figured this would be a great time to reaffirm the beauty of marriage and its natural expression of love between a man and a woman resulting in the procreation of children enriching the Church and continuing God’s plan of creation. God created human beings male and female in gender to complement each other with a natural attraction and affection. Within the proper sacramental, married life, husbands and wives unite with one another with a sacred physicality for which they were both designed and created. The result, God willing, is children. Church teaching tells us that acts of a sexual nature are to be “unitive and procreative.” In other words, they must be acts of unselfish love along with being open to conception. It is truly a shame that our social climate along with many TV ads for “enhancement products” have reduced sex from its beautiful, natural, and sacred action to being nothing more than pleasure and “performance.” This is not what God intended and He is the One who designed males and females! “While there is a significant number of people with deep-seated homosexual tendencies, the inclination is objectively disordered, and for most of them it is a trial. They must be treated with respect and sensitivity. But, the Church’s teaching has always been that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, contrary to natural law. They close sex to the gift of life and under no circumstances can they be approved.” (Taken from Catechism of the Catholic Church #2357, 2358) Pray for married couples this month especially, that they enjoy the gift and creative power of their sexuality the way God intended.
Finally, remember the first weekend in July is when the dispensation from the Sunday obligation to attend mass will be lifted. Hope to have a full church!

Have a great day and God bless you.
Fr. Tom ...

St. Joseph's Neier Parish, Union MO

4 weeks ago

May 26, 2021 - Message from Fr. Tom

Hi everybody! We have an announcement concerning our live-streaming 5pm Mass on Saturdays. Now that most of the restrictions have been lifted for Mass and other public gatherings, we are welcoming back those who have been away and join us, once again, in church for Masses. OUR LAST LIVE-STREAM MASS WILL BE ON JUNE 5TH. Sarah and Kelly have been outstanding in their commitment to do this for well over a year, and in a pinch, Karen Wright stepped in to help out. Not all parishes our size did the live streaming, but I think it was helpful for St. Joe. Now, some larger parishes, with more resources, have gone to great lengths to set up state-of-the-art equipment to do their live-streams. We don’t have the resources for that type of thing, so we are very grateful to those who have helped. Hopefully we won’t have to do anything like this in the future. The dispensation, from the obligation to attend weekend Masses, is still in effect but may be lifted soon. Let’s start filling the church again!

Pope Francis has designated the year 2021 to honor our patron, St. Joseph. Throughout the year, Auxiliary Bishop Mark Rivituso will be celebrating weekend Masses at all parishes in the Archdiocese named St. Joseph. He is coming to our parish on Saturday, June 19th! Please join us in this special celebration.

I have set aside some “tentative” vacation days this summer: June 21-25, June 28-July 2, and August 2-6. These are all week days. The only weekend I will be away is July 31st-August 1st. That weekend we will host a missionary from the Vincentian Order. I’ll have more info on that later. Okay, I think that’s about it for now. Pay attention to the bulletin for things going on, too.

Thanks and God bless you!
Fr. Tom ...