Celebrating the Year of St. Joseph

PATERSON  The Paterson Diocese announced plans for an observance of the Year of St. Joseph — part of celebrations of the saint that are taking place throughout the Universal Church by decree of Pope Francis — with a wide array of devotions and activities until the conclusion of world-wide celebrations in December.

These activities and events — to take place on the diocesan, parish, and personal levels — will give local Catholics numerous opportunities to honor and become inspired by the faithful example of St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus.

The Diocese’s plans for the Year of St. Joseph for the yearlong celebrations are divided into two parts. In the first half of the year, Bishop Kevin Sweeney will consecrate the Diocese to St. Joseph, while parishes and individuals will prepare for that occasion through their own personal process of consecration. During the second half of the year, the faithful will be invited to complete a pilgrimage to seven sites around the Diocese — parishes, shrines and other institutions — named in honor of St. Joseph or the Holy Family.

On Dec. 8, Pope Francis issued a new Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart), proclaiming the Year of St. Joseph to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. The year began on the date that Pope Francis released the letter, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and will conclude on the same feast day in 2021. In the letter, Pope Francis called St. Joseph a “beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father” — “a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.”

“As I have shared previously, I was pleasantly surprised by our Holy Father’s announcement on this past Dec. 8 that there would be a special Year of St. Joseph for the Universal Church,” Bishop Sweeney said. “Father Donald Calloway, in his book ‘Consecration to St. Joseph,’ makes the argument that ‘Now is the time of St. Joseph!’ and states that he believes, ‘… that in our day the Lord wants to direct our hearts, families, parishes, dioceses, and Church to St. Joseph in a major way…’ I have come to agree with Father Calloway,” Bishop Kevin Sweeney said. “I hope and pray that we, as individuals, families, parishes, and Diocese will respond to this invitation that our Holy Father is offering to us and that this Year of St. Joseph will truly be a Year of Grace,” he said.

The Bishop has approved the plans for the Year of St. Joseph proposed by a diocesan committee, which received approval from the Presbyteral Council. The schedule of events has been posted on a page dedicated to the observance, which can be accessed on the websites for the Diocese and St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison [see box at right for details], said Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, who heads the planning committee.

The Year of St. Joseph web page will be updated throughout the year. It will include resource materials that enable parishes, schools, and other institutions to make their own personal devotions to St. Joseph. As much as possible, they should offer these devotions in multiple languages, especially English, Spanish and Polish, Father Manning said.

The first half of the year — the consecration of the Diocese to St. Joseph — will culminate on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, with Bishop Sweeney doing the formal consecration during a Mass at 6 p.m. in St. Joseph Church in West Milford, the state’s oldest church. Sites devoted to St. Joseph in the Diocese also will celebrate Consecration Day with Masses at multiple times, Father Manning said.

To prepare for Consecration Day, the faithful are asked to avail themselves of several options including the following:

• A 33-day process using the book, “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father,” by Father Donald H. Calloway, of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, beginning on Feb. 15.

• A 30-day process using a simpler book, still in the process of preparation, “Consecration to St. Joseph,” by Trinitarian Father Dennis Berry, director of the Shrine of St. Joseph in Stirling, in collaboration with the Morning Star Renewal Center of the Miami Archdiocese, beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17.

• One of a variety of novenas to St. Joseph, beginning on March 10, will be an upcoming novena to St. Joseph by Bishop Serratelli, to be released by Catholic Book Publishing in Totowa.

During the first half of the year, St. Paul’s will hold a Men’s Lenten Evening of Recollection, titled “With a Father’s Heart: Reflections on St. Joseph,” from 7 to 9 p.m., Friday, Feb. 26, at the evangelization center. The status of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the event will determine whether it will be held live or virtual. If live, the night will include a Lenten meal of bread and hearty soup, said Father Manning. Information can be found at https://insidethewalls.org/lentenreflection.

The second half of the Year of St. Joseph will be devoted to encouraging the faithful to visit seven sites in the Diocese named in honor of St. Joseph or the Holy Family in any order and at their own pace. Preparations are under way for a diocesan holy card, with a unique prayer to St. Joseph and a list of the sites in the Diocese, as well as particular plans and materials for the pilgrimage, Father Manning said.

The plan, still in process, will suggest that at each site, pilgrims are to recite one of the prayers in honor of the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of St. Joseph, take photos of their visits and post them on diocesan social media. They also will print from the web page their own “passport” and fill it in with a “proof of pilgrimage visit” answer before snapping a photo of the completed passport and submitting it to the website, Father Manning said.

Bishop Sweeney will celebrate a final Pilgrimage Mass on Dec. 8, 2021 for the conclusion of the Year of St. Joseph at a pilgrimage site to be determined. Other sites will celebrate Masses that day as well, Father Manning said.

Throughout the year, parishes are encouraged to invite faithful to hold local devotions to St. Joseph, which could include:

• Celebrating special Masses on the Feasts of St. Joseph on March 19 and May 1,

• Praying novenas to the saint during the year either by preparing for his feast days; holding devotions on Wednesdays, the day designated for devotion to him; or celebrating the Seven Sundays devotions,

• Inviting parishioners to join the diocesan-wide consecration to St. Joseph,

• Encouraging daily prayer for St. Joseph’s intercession or

• Using resources listed on the Year of St. Joseph web page, such as Bishop Sweeney’s letter about the observance and his Beacon column, “Living and Participating in the Year of St. Joseph.”

Diocesan social media sites will highlight the year with an array of short video reflections based on titles from the Litany of St. Joseph, such as “Light of the Patriarchs” and “Foster Father of the Son of God,” by local individuals for the 33 days of the diocesan consecration. Periodic posts from the Patris Corde, including those already prepared in English and Spanish by Father Berry, will be posted to the diocesan web page, Father Manning said.

Father Manning said, in researching St. Joseph’s life and ministry with the planning committee, he “learned to appreciate the many devotions and practices to St. Joseph.

“It reminds me that Jesus has not only a good heavenly Father, but also had a good earthly foster father, St. Joseph,” Father Manning said. The Year of St. Joseph web page is on the diocesan website www.rcdop.org and on St. Paul’s website www.insidethewalls.org/year-of-st-joseph.

STIRLING  To encourage devotion during the Year of St. Joseph, the diocesan Facebook page is offering brief weekly reflections based on Pope Francis’ pastoral letter, Patris Corde (With the Heart of a Father). Pope Francis has designated Dec. 8, 2020 to Dec. 8, 2021 as the Year of St. Joseph.

The reflections are on both the Diocese’s English page on Facebook @patersondiocese and the Diocese’s Spanish page on Facebook @diocesispaterson.

The reflections were compiled by Trinitarian Father Dennis Berry, director of the Shrine of St. Joseph here. “The letter is not long — at least for a papal document — just about seven pages,” he said. “But its title, Patris Corde, sort of summarizes its message. What role did St. Joseph — whose statue is in almost every single Catholic Church in the world — play in the great mystery of salvation? How did Joseph, a simple working man from a nondescript little town in a third-rate country (from the world’s perspective) and who doesn’t speak a word in the Scripture, have such a vital impact on the whole history of humanity?”

According to Father Berry, through this letter the Pope wants to show us two key dimensions. “First, the power and influence of those he describes so lovingly and movingly as ‘the ordinary people’ who don’t get into the headlines but whose life of daily love and fidelity to their families, their community, their work, and mission in life actually hold the world together, make life possible, and even beautiful and fun no matter what’s happening. “Secondly, Joseph together with his beloved Mary truly gave to Jesus his human formation. And so, Pope Francis wants us to contemplate and understand the key role played by family and Moms and Dads in every nation and place. Parents bring life and hope to the world. It is a precious vocation,” he said.

A short reflection will be posted every Wednesday with an image of the Holy Family and are easy to share with Facebook friends. In Catholic tradition, Wednesdays are designated as a day devoted to St. Joseph in the Church. St. Joseph is considered the “steady center” of the Holy Family. The day Wednesday falls in the center of the week.

St. Joseph is patron saint of the Universal Church and patron of many people and of a variety of needs. Father Berry said, “St. Joseph is the patron and protector of families, of fathers, of expectant mothers, of workers, of refugees and immigrants, and of the Universal Church. He is also invoked as hope of the sick and patron of the dying as well as ‘terror of demons.’”

With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Father Berry thinks St. Joseph is a great saint to intercede for people this year. “For all of the above reasons, especially in light of the pandemic with all the suffering it has caused for countless people and families throughout the world, our Holy Father thought it would be important to call on him as a mighty heavenly friend and advocate for all of us,” Father Berry said.

The Year of St. Joseph is taking place during the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1870.

There are several ways Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence according to the decree issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary. Some ways include participating in a spiritual retreat that includes a meditation on St. Joseph, praying for the unemployed or praying an approved prayer of St. Joseph on the 19th of any month.

Father Berry said, “I look forward very much to seeing what gifts, lights, and graces God brings to the world this year through the intercession of this holy, humble, simple man who was so key in bringing God’s light, grace, and peace to the world.”