Published April 07. 2026 01:32PM<\/p>\n
Parishioners at the St. Joseph\u2019s RC Church celebrated St. Joseph\u2019s Feast Day for their Patron Saint on March 19 with a mass attended by about 125 church members and guests. The Reverend Brendon Laroche officiated, and was assisted by pastoral assistant Ron Koach and altar servers Charlotte and Grant Blackledge.<\/p>\n
A choir consisting of choir members from four area churches was directed by Jeffrey Raub and provided music for the service, and featured a solo sung by Jim Villani.<\/p>\n
The Church operates under the nonprofit Society of St. Joseph of Bethlehem \u201cwhose mission is to restore and preserve St. Joseph\u2019s Church as a sacred place of worship and a testament to the history and cultural heritage of Southside Bethlehem.\u201d<\/p>\n
With cooperation from the City of Bethlehem, the Society receives exemptions from the city for masses and funerals until a certificate of occupancy can be obtained. Society president Paula Kydoniefs informed the congregation that they anticipate having the COA by the end of 2026. \u201cSt. Joseph\u2019s is a \u201cvery special and beloved church,\u201d said Kydoniefs.<\/p>\n
The mass was followed by a luncheon which was held at the Tavern Room at the Grist Mill in Hellertown.<\/p>\n
Reverend Brendon Laroche serves communion during the St. Joseph\u2019s Feast Day mass.<\/p>\n
Paula Kydoniefs, president of the Society of St. Joseph of Bethlehem, offers thanks to those who contributed to the mass.<\/p>\n
Church member Stephen Antalics Jr. and his son Gabor lead the recessional while carrying the Slovenian flag.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTOS BY DANA GRUBBThe Rev. Brendon Laroche, pastor of St. Ursula Church, leads the congregation during Prayers of the Faithful. More photos from the Mass appear on page 2A.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Raub directed the choir comprised of choir members from Our Lady of Perpetual help, Sacred Heart, St. Jane de Chantel and Holy Ghost Churches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published April 07. 2026 01:32PM Parishioners at the St. Joseph\u2019s RC Church celebrated St. Joseph\u2019s Feast Day for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-159644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}