St. Joseph the Worker Shrine

Welcome

St. Joseph the Worker Shrine

We who minister at the Shrine are committed to work collaboratively with one another and with you. Our aim is to provide a place of prayer, conscious reflection, and social action that is hospitable to and calls forth the gifts of all who come to the Shrine. We do this in the spirit of Jesus Christ and of Saint Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Our mission is based on Matthew 11:28:

Come to me all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.”

St. Joseph the Worker Shrine

Mass Times

Daily Mass

Monday - Friday
8:00 am - 12 noon - 5:30 pm

Weekend Mass

Saturday
8:00 am - 12 noon - 4:00 pm
Sunday
8:00 am - 10:00 am - 12 noon

Holiday periods may affect these times
Confession Schedule at end of page

Regular Confession Schedule Resumes on
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Confession:

  • Weekdays: 10:00 AM-12:00 PM and 4:30-5:15 PM
  • Saturdays 10:00 AM-1:00 PM (two priests)
  • First Wednesdays 7:00-8:00 PM

 

Fr. Terry O'Connell Memorial Digital Bulletin Board

Upcoming Holy Hours

Human Trafficking
Monday, September 9 4pm
Holy Hour for Life
Monday, September 23 4pm

Weekly Bulletins

Light a Devotional Candle
at the Shrine

If you are unable to visit the Shrine in person and would like to have a devotional candle lit, click on the image below.

 

This Week's Message
from Fr. Amesse
September 8, 2024

 

Today is the birthday of Mary, the Mother of God.  We were here on Friday, December 8, the Immaculate Conception!  Our Lady was conceived in the womb of St. Ann, the wife of St. Joachim. They were the parents of Mary.  She was born, 9 months later.  Mary—a woman!  The Mother of God!  Happy Birthday!

Man and woman have the same dignity and are of equal value.  Not only because they are both, in their differences, created in the image of God, but even more profoundly because of the dynamic of reciprocity that gives life to the “we” in the human couple—an image of God.  God created us to be male and female.

Through the sincere gift of themselves, the parents of the Blessed Mother, brought her to birth. Pornography rips the shreds out of this sincere gift of self, that married couples bestow on one another.  That is why we know it is wrong, that it is sinful! 

Abortion is offered to us by society as something that makes us free.  Not so, says Mary.  Especially the Mother depicted in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that we read of in Revelation, Chapter 12.  In a few verses the battle going on between the civilization of life versus the culture of death, in our day, is depicted.

On Our Lady’s birthday we receive grace first of all to see the equal dignity of man and women.  Then, the grace to understand how the sincere gift of self, of husband and wife is sacred.  It must not be destroyed by the evil of porn.  And finally, abortion does not make us free.  In fact, Revelation 12 shows how it enslaves us.   

I remember you at Mass!


 

The Sacramental Anointing of the Sick will be offered on this Saturday, September 7, and on all First Saturdays, after all three Masses

8 am, 12 noon, 4 pm

First Fridays at the Shrine
Next First Friday, October 4

Immediately following the 8:00 am Mass, we will pray the Rosary with reflections written by the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.

Immediately after the Noon Mass to 5:15 we will have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Please keep First Fridays fervent here at the Shrine by spending some time with our Lord. 

Catholic Conversations

2023 St. Joseph the Worker Christian Worker Award winner Dr. Rebecca Duda interviews Brother Richard at the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine Oblate Historical Museum. Br. Richard is the Shrine Historian and Museum Curator.

Blessing of  the Animals

In preparation for October 4, St. Francis’s Feast Day, we will have a blessing of the animals on Sunday, September 29 at 3 PM.

Just pull up to the Shrine or come by with your pet and we will be there to bless it.  

Christian Worker Recognition Award 2024

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine’s annual Christian Worker Recognition Award for 2024!

BOB COX

Bob Cox is the Executive Director of the Bridge Club in Lowell. He founded the Bridge Club in 2020 to provide support for those facing addictions—alcohol, drugs, gambling, overeating. The Bridge Club offers more than 30 meetings a week so people can go and share their story and  receive the support they need.  The Bridge Club is open 365 days a year, 7 days a week. Even during the pandemic, the doors to the Bridge Club remained open to help those in need. Under Bob’s leadership, the Bridge Club has served countless people and provided them with hope for the future. No one is ever turned away at the Bridge Club. 

In addition to the remarkable work he does with the Bridge Club, Bob previously served three terms on the Dracut Board of Selectmen and is a parishioner of St Michael’s. 

Bob Cox embodies the qualities the St. Joseph the Worker Shrine Christian Worker award represents:  faith, humility, and outreach. Congratulations!

                    Shrine Gift Shop and Bookstore

First Communion - Confirmation 
 Graduation

Fine quality religious mementos to commemorate these milestone events
in the lives of loved ones are on display and available for your hands-on
consideration and purchase.

Visit us today!

 

Legion of Mary
at the Shrine

Meetings are held in the downstairs Conference Hall each week after the Sunday 12:00 noon Mass.

The Legion of Mary is a Marian movement founded in Ireland in the 1920’s. It is currently the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis’ September
Prayer I
ntention

We pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of victims of natural disasters and climactic change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world In which we live.

 

Pure in Heart

Pure in Heart (young adults ages 18-35) meets at 7pm in the Shrine Conference Room on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. The next session will be Sept 10. Learn more

  • 5:30 - Mass at the Shrine
  • 6:15 - Social
  • 7:00 - Meeting

You were proclaimed a saint of the Church for the welfare of those in difficulties

St. Eugene de Mazenod, lead us to Jesus through the trials of life.

St. Joseph
Protector of the Holy Church
Pray for us!


Full Litany of St. Joseph

Downes Parking Garage Ticket Validation

  • Available in the Gift Shop /Bookstore on Monday through Saturday from 9 am - 5 pm.
  • Sunday street parking is always free
  • Those attending the Saturday 4 pm Vigil Mass who park in the Downes Garage can still validate their ticket in the Gift Shop before Mass.

Ring the Bells of the Shrine

Everyday of the year, the “Bells of St. Joseph” ring-out God’s praise for all to hear!

Our Carillon can play Special Hymns of your choice any day of the year. At your request, our chimes will ring in honor of loved ones for the entire community to hear and prayerfully remember.Your offering of $20.00 will be greatly appreciated and will assist us in maintaining the Shrine and its ministries. Thank You!

Bell-ringing selections may be reserved for specific days & times throughout the year(s) in the Shrine Gift Shop/Bookstore.

St. Eugene de Mazenod’s Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother


 O Lord, Almighty God, you endowed the Blessed Virgin Mary with the fullness of every gift and grace. By allowing her heart to be pierced with the deepest sorrow, you crowned her merit and placed her at the head of countless legions of martyrs who, for love of your Son Jesus Christ, have shed their blood. Through the painful martyrdom endured by this gentle Mother seeing her beloved Son dying as a Victim because of his love for us, grant us the grace to bear with fortitude the disappointments and setbacks in our life, and not to fear torment or death itself, when we are called to confess our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Shrine Memorial Plaques


Since 1868, this holy place - dedicated to the honor of St. Joseph - has been a treasured oasis of prayer and serenity in the heart of the city of Lowell. For generations, many have found great solace and experienced healing and reconciliation for themselves and their families within this holy sanctuary.

In gratitude many have chosen to memorialize their loved ones by inscribing their names on the very walls of this grace-filled place.  To inscribe the names of loved ones on our newly expanded Remembrance Wall, please make arrangements in the Gift Shop/Bookstore – at the same desk where Masses are registered.

Confession and Adoration

Confession

Mon - Friday
10:00 am - noon
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm

Saturday 
10:00 am - 1:00 pm

First Wednesday of the month

Eucharistic Adoration

 

 

 

 

The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration on -

Saturday after the noon Mass until the 4:00 pm Mass
First Fridays after the noon Mass until the 5:30 pm Mass

Gift Shop, Office and Museum Hours

Business Office Hours:

Monday - Friday
9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Rebecca Duda, Bulletin Editor
Jessica Rauseo, Business Office Manager

Gift Shop & Bookstore

Aurea Torres, Gift Shop Manager

Hours
Monday - Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
First Sunday of each month 8:30 am - 1:30 pm

If for any reason you're still unable to visit the Shrine or Gift Shop and you'd like to book a Mass Intention request please call the Gift Shop Manager at 978-459-9522 x213 or email AureaTorres@stjosephshrine.org

Oblate Historical Museum

Brother Richard Cote, Museum Curator

Saturdays 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Sundays 8:30 am -1:15 pm
During Lent - Wednesday 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm