From the Pastor: 6.27.10

FROM THE PASTOR: June 27, 2010 It was a busy evening at OSJ on Wednesday, June 16.  Our beautiful church was occupied by the 8th-grade graduation of St. Mary’s Interparochial School – one of the secret gems of our neighborhood which deserves to be better known and celebrated.  Founded by the Jesuits of Old St. Joseph’s in 1782, it is known as the “mother school” of U.S. Catholic parochial education. It served children for 120 years until it was destroyed by a devastating fire in 1902.  The school reopened in 1968 in its newly built present-day facilities as...

Homily: 6.20.10

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia 12th Sunday in OT (C) – 6-20-10 – 11:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. A lot of Catholics are not much for talking about Jesus.  Oh, we have at least one crucifix in every church, and often an image of the Sacred Heart as well; yet I still find a lot of Catholics relating and praying to “God” in general – a sort of vague old man figure with a long white beard who is variously a mean old crank, or a gentle loving grandpa.  Yet we claim in faith that Jesus was the God-Man – the fullest revelation of...

From the Pastor: 6.20.10

FROM THE PASTOR: June 20, 2010 Philadelphia summer has descended, with its famous heat and humidity.  If you are like me, the weather may be making you a bit tired and cranky.  (We are fickle creatures; mere months ago, we were whining and complaining about the dreadful blizzards of Winter 2009-2010!)  Anyway, I was more than usually grateful when a parishioner, recently returned from a trip to Ireland, presented me with a copy of “The Jesus Jokebook” by Des MacHale (Cork, IE: Mercier Press, 2007). The author, himself a staunch Catholic, acknowledges that religious...

Homily: 6.13.10

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor Old St. Joseph’s, Philadelphia 11th Sunday in OT (C) 6-13-10, 5:30 Sat. Vigil Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Holocaust survivor.  When the Nazis invaded her home town of Haarlem, Corrie and her family – devout Christians all – became active in the Dutch resistance.  Believing on the basis of the Bible that the Jews were God’s chosen people, the ten Booms built a secret compartment behind Corrie’s room where they could hide Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution.  At considerable risk to themselves, the ten Booms extended gracious...

From the Parochial Vicar: 6.13.10

From the New Parochial Vicar: June 13, 2010 I am pleased to have been assigned to Old St. Joseph’s Church as Parochial Vicar, effective July 1. In a way it is my second time; when I was ordained in June, 1974, I spent the month of July helping out here. I grew up in Philadelphia (St. Helena’s Church in the Olney section), graduated from St. Joseph’s Prep, and have a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Fordham University. I taught 2 years at the Prep, 2 years at St. Joseph’s University, and then was the Associate Director of Novices at...

Homily: 6.13.10

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor (Luke 7:36-50) Old St. Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia 11th Sunday in O.T.-C – 6-13-10 – 9:30 a.m. (children’s homily) Once upon a time, there was a loving father who had two daughters.  The older sister was named Perfecta; and the younger was called Trysandra, but everybody called her Try for short. Both of the sisters were beautiful; but the older one was proud and bossy.  She would often say mean things when her little sister forgot to do her chores, or when her little sister made a mistake, usually because Try was small and not...

Homily: 6.6.10

Fr. Dan Ruff, S.J. – Pastor – 5:30 p.m. Vigil Old St. Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia Feast of the Body & Blood of Christ – 6-6-10 We owe today’s feast of Corpus Christi largely to the devotion of a 13th-century French Augustinian nun, Juliana of Liège.  From her early childhood, she had deep devotion to the Eucharist and dreamed of a special feast solely in its honor.  She allegedly had visions of Christ over a 20-year period, during which he repeatedly urged her to plead for the institution of a feast of the Body and Blood of the Christ.  She eventually...

From the Pastor: 6.6.10

FROM THE PASTOR: June 6, 2010 If you’ve been in the Greaton Parlor of the OSJ rectory of late, you will have noticed a large uneven white patch on the north wall.  That patch is normally covered by one of our largest paintings: “St. Catherine of Alexandria before the Emperor Maxentius.”  Of the dozen or so historic canvasses belonging to the parish, it is among the most valuable. First a word about the subject matter.  Raised a pagan, Catherine converted to Christianity in her teens.  At an early age, she announced to her parents that she would only marry someone...