Welcome to St Joseph Parish in Ronkonkoma.

So, you are surfing the web and you somehow got to our website.  I can’t imagine this was an accident.  I guess you are looking for something and I am sure God is somehow moving in your life to make you want to look.  I have a feeling that you are here because you want to walk with Jesus in faith.  Maybe you only want to take some tentative steps, or maybe you are ready to “drop your nets and follow Him” like the first disciples did.  I have good news for you.  At St. Joseph Parish, we believe that if you want to walk with Jesus, wherever you are is a good place to begin!  We want to walk with you in faith!

If you have a minute, go to the pastoral staff page and glance at the stories that go with the pictures.  You will see that each one of us is on a journey of faith and you will see that some of our journeys are similar to what many people have experienced – wandering at times and not really being aware of God’s presence in our lives.  But then somehow, there was a spark and we started to feel the fire of the Holy Spirit guiding us.  That spark, no matter how tiny, is exactly what we want to nurture in the heart of everyone who comes to our parish.

I want to encourage you to look at three things on our website:

Our Parish Mission Statement 

Our Purpose 

Our Prayer For Our Parish.

 

Let’s start with the prayer: “Open our hearts” We trust that the Holy Spirit is always present and so we want to be more and more open to the guidance of the Spirit.  We all have had dreams about what our lives will be like.  We believe God has dreams for us too and if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, those dreams will bear amazing fruit!

Now let’s go to our purpose: We exist to nurture one another’s faith.  A friend of mine once told me that it is the responsibility of all Christians to help each other become saints.  We really believe that part of our job is to fan the flames so that everyone’s heart can be on fire with God’s love. (If you haven’t done so yet, you may want to read Deacon Bill’s story).

Now, let’s get to our Mission: Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers or sisters you do for me.” (Mt 25:40).  We want to recognize him and make Him known in our loving service and works of mercy.  Then we come together to celebrate His presence by listening to His Word and by breaking Bread in our Eucharistic celebrations.  This is where we strengthen our heart-to-heart bond with Jesus and each other.

Fr. Mike - Welcome Message Page Picture

If you want to know a little bit more about what kind of community we hope to be at St Joseph Parish, read each of these three parables, all taken from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25:

The parable of the ten virgins: Mt 25:1-13

From this parable, we are learning that, if our lamp is filled with the oil of compassion and mercy, it will never run dry, and there will always be fuel to share with others.

The parable of the talents: Mt 25:14-30

From this parable, we are learning that we always need to invest in the gifts God has given us.  But we are also learning that we need to invest in the gifts of one another as well.  When we do this, God will always give us an amazing return on our investment.

The judgment of the nations: Mt 25:31-46

From this parable, we are learning to look for opportunities to meet Jesus (who often comes to us in disguise) through service, no matter how simple or profound that service may be.

We want to continue to learn from these parables because we want to be a “Matthew 25 Parish!”

If you have read this far, I have a feeling that I was correct in the beginning of this note – you want to walk with Jesus.  Let’s walk together.  Let’s ask God to open our hearts so His Spirit can fan whatever spark of love is present into a huge flame of God’s love.  Let’s continue to grow as missionary disciples of Jesus by serving Him in one another.

– Fr Mike