LAFLIN — The annual Labor Day weekend celebration Masses for St. Joseph the Worker have been set at the Oblates of St. Joseph Seminary Chapel.
Friday and Saturday, Sept. 4 and 5, will mark the 44th consecutive year in Greater Pittston celebrating Masses of devotion honoring St. Joseph the Worker, husband of Blessed Virgin Mary, father of Jesus and patron saint of laborers.
Masses will be offered Friday through Sunday at noon at the Oblates Chapel, Route 315, Laflin, followed by devotional prayers to St. Joseph. Fr. Joseph Sibilano, OSJ will celebrate these Triduum of Masses and lead devotions.
A special Mass is also scheduled for 11 a.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 7, to honor and pray for all area workers and the unemployed.
Principal celebrant and homilist will be Fr. Paul McDonnell, OSJ, pastor of Divine Mercy Parish, Scranton.
Concelebrants will be Oblate Fr. Joseph Sibilano and Fr. Alvaro DeOliveira, visiting from Brazil. Bread will be blessed and distributed after the Mass as a symbol of the fruit of our labor, and a newly installed outdoor statue of St. Joseph in the grotto area of the seminary grounds will be blessed.
Fr. Jackson Pinhero, OSJ, newly appointed rector of the local Oblates of St. Joseph community, invites everyone to join in this annual spiritual event.
“It is a most fitting way to spiritually end the joy of summer by praying to St. Joseph for all workers, the unemployed and invoking blessings upon the start of the new school year for students and teachers,” Fr. Jackson said.
All Masses will be broadcast live on Catholic Radio 104.5 FM.
For information about the upcoming event, call the seminary office at 570-654-7542 or email osjseminary@comcast.net.