SOUTHBRIDGE – They brought palms, lilies, Sunday bulletins and “Happy Easter” cards from the parish.
They were greeted with hugs and conversation, blessings that have been in shorter supply during the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps more so for those confined to their homes.
It was the day before Palm Sunday, and Edward and Clara Delage were visiting shut-ins from their parish, St. John Paul II in Southbridge.
They were among about 20 volunteers carrying on this decades-old outreach, said James Keyes, who coordinates it. He said they bring Easter lilies (poinsettias at Christmas) to those confined to their homes or facilities “so they know they’re remembered.”
This brightens the day for shut-ins, and “they brighten us too,” said Mrs. Delage, a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. “It just brings joy to you, to know that you’ve done good for someone.… This is what they look forward to – the visits.”
She said she made Communion calls for several years before the pandemic and did the flower deliveries some time ago.
“Now that I’ve had a taste for it, I’m back for good,” she said, after she and her husband had been warmly welcomed by Lorraine Croke and Germaine Renaud, the first two fellow-parishioners they visited Saturday.
“It’s almost like a wellness visit,” checking to see how they’re faring, she said.
“It’s a wellness visit because you’re giving them healing by visiting them,” added her husband, who coordinates the senior program of the St. John Paul II Food Pantry. He was making flower deliveries for the first time.
“Most of them, they haven’t been out because of the pandemic,” Mrs. Delage said. “I think it means more this year, only because of the pandemic.”
James Powers, a former member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, said the tradition goes back about 40 years.
“Father Peter (Joyce) kept the tradition going for the (many) years he was here,” Mr. Keyes said. Father Joyce was pastor of St. Mary Parish, where the tradition started, and became pastor of St. John Paul II Parish when it was formed from St. Mary’s and other Southbridge parishes.
Mr. Keyes said that he started coordinating the outreach when he joined St. Mary’s St. Vincent de Paul Society 20 years ago.
“This is pretty much sponsored through St. Vincent de Paul,” funded by the Society, but other parishioners volunteer too, he said.
Father Peter Joyce brought the tradition to St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Milford too. “We started two Christmases ago,” said Father Joyce, who is pastor there now. Last Friday and Saturday they delivered 50 lilies, along with palms, bulletins and materials for the Year of St. Joseph, he said.
The Southbridge volunteers made deliveries Saturday and Sunday for 150 parishioners residing in several towns, Mr. Keyes said. Some years there have been as many as 200 deliveries. It depends on how many people are on the parish’s “Communion call” list.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, group facilities received the gifts in lobbies. Also, some of the usual volunteers were uncomfortable going out this year, Mr. Keyes said, so he asked parish administrators to help.
The pastoral assistant, Sister Rosa Maria Campos, of the Sisters Oblates to Divine Love, joined other volunteers in picking up the lilies Saturday morning at the parish ministry center, and returned saying it went well. Deacon Juan J. Guzman came later. Mr. Keyes asked the pastor, Father Kenneth R. Cardinale, to visit two 101-year-olds, along with others.
Some of the Southbridge volunteers were close in age to many of the shut-ins, but one volunteer who made her debut Saturday was 6-year-old Dakota Mazejka.
“She’s been excited since yesterday,” said her grandmother Shari Broga, who took her along, with Grandpa James Broga.
“I think they appreciated the visit; I think they appreciated that people remember them,” said Paula Ziarko, a member of St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish in Sturbridge, who belongs to St. John Paul II’s St. Vincent de Paul Society. “A lot of them would like you to stay an hour.”