Saint Joseph Care Corner
Saint Joseph Care Corner (SJCC), located in the basement of the Retreat House, provides “Helping Hands for Health and Home” to organizations who require essential household and personal care items not covered by food stamps. Items include: laundry detergent, paper towels, lunch bags, storage bags, paper napkins, shampoo, conditioner, diapers, etc. During the year we collect, stock the SJCC, and distribute. We are always in need of volunteers to work with the surrounding communities to get the word out! For more information, please contact Peg at carecorner@sjcnj.org
All donations are greatly appreciated. To donate at any time, please leave your items in the bin marked “SJCC“, which is located on Grand Street (behind the church, next to the Parish Retreat House). Currently the most needed items are Diapers – sizes 4, 5, 6, & pullups and laundry detergent. Please contact Peg Kohli at carecorner@sjcnj.org or 201-391-0224 with any questions. For an article about Peg and her work with SJCC, please click HERE.
it’s all about lending a hand…
Food Drives
Saint Joseph’s has two Food Drives each year providing food for the pantries at Ascension Church in New Milford, NJ and the Father English Food Pantry in Paterson, NJ. For more information, contact Felecia Braun at socialconcerns@sjcnj.org
Eva’s Kitchen
Eva’s Kitchen was founded by Msgr. Puma in 1982 to address homelessness and hunger. Located at 393 Main Street in Paterson, Eva’s Kitchen serves 3 meals a day, every day of the year to those in need. St Joseph’s volunteers help set up, serve lunch, and clean up once a month on a Tuesday. Volunteers ride together from the rectory parking lot in 1-2 cars and the approximate time commitment is 10:30am-1:30pm. For more information, or if you are able to help, please call Tom Kelly at 201-657-4352.
Harrison House
Harrison House in Paramus is a safe and secure home for people living with HIV/AIDS. Our parish donates meals to Harrison House on the first Monday of each month. If you like to cook and would be willing to donate a meal, please reach out to Jane Kiernan at jane.kiernan94@gmail.com to be put on the schedule. Not a cook? We will gratefully accept monetary donations or supermarket gift cards to help offset costs.
Day of Service
The parish reinstated the beloved Parish Day of Service in March 2026 under the leadership of Jane Kiernan and Jen McKeague. Parishioners helped at 1-2 of 5 service stations. We created table decorations for Care One nursing home in Oradell, created gift baskets for newborn babies and their moms at New Hope pregnancy Resource Center in Westwood, prepared hygiene packages for Eva’s kitchen, and sent care packages to an airborne unit in honor of Sgt. David Solinas. In addition, we deep-cleaned the SJS lower school kitchen and painted a beautiful mural in the upper school. The legion of Mary also sponsored a prayer station throughout the day in Mary’s Chapel, which included a rosary-making activity. Stay tuned for more information on how to get involved for the next Day of Service, planned for Fall 2027!
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Respect Life
Recognizing that all human persons are our brothers and sisters, we promote respect and reverence for human life from conception to natural death. We pray the rosary for the voiceless unborn, for their parents and for those who work in the industry as part of the “40 days for Life” campaign, maintaining a prayerful presence outside a local abortuary. Our message is not judgment but the love of Christ and His love for each and every person. We work with the Archdiocese to promote pro-life laws by educating voters and contacting legislators. We provide local pregnancy resource centers with diapers, clothing and other needed items for moms and their babies. In addition, we disseminate information about healing retreats for those who are recovering from an abortion. For more information, contact respectlife@sjcnj.org
Please participate in our spiritual adoption prayer journey!
Click Spiritual Adoption Journey 2026 to learn more about how your baby will grow and develop!
Prayer: Every Life is Worth Living
Heavenly Father, thank you for the precious gift of life. Help us to cherish and protect this gift, even in the midst of fear, pain, and suffering. Give us love for all people, especially the most vulnerable, and help us bear witness to the truth that every life is worth living. Grant us the humility to accept help when we are in need, and teach us to be merciful to all. Through our words and actions, may others encounter the outstretched hands of Your mercy. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Click here to view and listen to parishioner Dan Young’s beautiful pro-life song: https://youtu.be/euuV5J17o5A
Change hearts and minds……
Visit these websites if you’d like to learn more about how to respond to family and friends who are not pro-life:
https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/why-catholics-cant-be-pro-choice
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/5-pro-abortion-arguments-and-how-to-beat-them
https://media.ascensionpress.com/video/responding-to-pro-choice-arguments/
Visitation of the Sick
Eucharistic Ministers of Holy Communion meet the needs of those who cannot attend the Mass because of age, illness or infirmity in pastoral care visits and bringing the Blessed Sacrament. In bringing Holy Communion those serving in this ministry represent Christ and manifest faith and charity on behalf of the whole community toward those who cannot be present at the Eucharist. Our ministers bring Holy Communion not only to our homebound parishioners but also to Catholic patients and residents of Care One at Oradell Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. In addition to bringing Holy Communion, as a representative of our parish community, our ministers also bring the prayers, support, care, and concerns of the parishioners to those they visit. For more information, contact Fr. John at fatherjohn@sjcnj.org.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
The Prayer Shawl Ministry was formed as part of Saint Joseph Parish social interaction. We are a dedicated group of Lay Ministers who knit and crochet prayer shawls and lap robes which are subsequently blessed. The ministry then provides these items to those who are sick, suffering, or losing hope. Many shawls are distributed in the spring when the parish celebrates the Anointing of the Sick Mass. The prayers of the entire ministry go forward with these gifts so that the recipients are comforted and made aware that they are part of a larger community. Contact office@sjcnj.org for more information.
Bereavement
This program is designed to provide healing to those who have lost a loved one through death. It is a safe place where people can share their grief with others. The program lasts 8 weeks with sessions held in the Spring and Fall. For more information contact office@sjcnj.org or (201) 261-0148, and John Furhman will get in touch with you.
Advent Giving Tree
The Advent Giving Tree brings our parish together every year to help bring the joyous Spirit of Christmas to families in need. We aid our sister parish, Saint Joseph’s in Jersey City, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, adolescent residents of the Covenant House in Newark, and the Several Sources Shelter in Ramsey. In the past, we provided wrapped gifts (clothing, boots, books, toys and crafts), but our current focus is gift cards. For more information, email givingtree@sjcnj.org.
“The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”
– Proverbs 22:9
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. … Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
– Matthew 25:35-36, 40
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”
-James 2:15-16
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
– 1 John 3:17
