Year ends with pilgrimage

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
It was good to conclude the Year of St. Joseph with a pilgrimage; “it’s kind of a reflection of who we are as Church,” said Father Juan D. Escudero, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough.
A couple dozen parishioners made the pilgrimage to St. Joseph Church of Holy Family Parish on Sunday. The pastor there, Msgr. Robert K. Johnson, gave them a tour.
Father Escudero said that “especially in the context of the pandemic, we are a pilgrim Church facing great challenges but knowing that we have the protection of … the protector of Jesus” – St. Joseph.
Pope Francis proclaimed the Year of St. Joseph, Dec. 8, 2020, to Dec. 8, 2021, to mark the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the Universal Church, explains the website vaticannews.va.
Father Escudero said he had hoped to arrange pilgrimages to all the churches dedicated to St. Joseph in the Worcester Diocese. There are eight named for the foster-father of Jesus. When he contacted them, all were happy to welcome pilgrims. He wanted to have his parishioners join him for prayer and learning about the churches because “the buildings carry a lot of history and catechetical teaching,” he said earlier this year. “All of that comes to life in the community – how they live out their faith, how they worship, how they celebrate this ‘Year of St. Joseph.’”
At the start of the year Father Escudero was pastor of St. Denis Parish in Douglas. He and some of his parishioners made their first – and only – pilgrimage on May 2 to St. Joseph Parish in Charlton. There they heard from Father Robert A. Grattaroti, pastor; Deacon William Shea, and youth minister Sarah Stone.
With scheduling difficulties, and Father Escudero’s transfer to St. Rose of Lima on July 1, he did not get to arrange any more pilgrimages for St. Denis parishioners.
But he did squeeze in a pilgrimage for his new parishioners just before the Year of St. Joseph concluded. Unfortunately, he himself missed it.
“I was so sad that I couldn’t make it,” he said; he got sick.
“Everybody was so happy … to be there,” Father Escudero said, adding that they remarked about “how beautiful the church is, how beautiful it was to hear from Msgr. Johnson” about the church.
And they also got to see their former pastor. Father James A. Houston, who retired in July and now lives in St. Joseph’s rectory, met with St. Rose parishioners in the church before the tour. Msgr. Johnson too had a connection to St. Rose. He served as associate pastor there years ago with Father Houston.
“What a wonderful way to end this beautiful year,” Msgr. Johnson told them, as he began the tour.
The pastor told them about Catholics from Quebec seeking a place of worship in the 1890s, and about the different places they used before building St. Joseph’s Church on Hamilton Street, which was dedicated May 6, 1928.
“It’s actually dedicated to his (St. Joseph’s) death,” Msgr. Johnson said; not many churches honor St. Joseph in this way.
Holy Family Parish, created by the merging of three Worcester parishes, worships in St. Joseph’s Church.
“When they built, they built big,” Msgr. Johnson said. Now one of the three sacristies is a chapel with relics from Holy Name of Jesus Parish, and in another sacristy hang large paintings from Notre Dame Parish.
St. Joseph’s, shaped like a cross, holds about 1,200 people, Msgr. Johnson said. High up are 32 statues of saints, including St. Rose of Lima, and mosaics with scenes from the Old and New Testaments.
To one side of the sanctuary is a statue of Mary. Flanking the old main altar are statues of Saints Peter and Paul and oil paintings of the life of St. Joseph by Gonippo Raggi. One depicts St. Joseph’s death, which Msgr. Johnson said is shrouded in mystery, as the Scriptures were focused on Jesus.
The old baptistry was turned into a confessional, and former confessionals house images dear to ethnic groups that have come to the parish in recent years – of Our Lady of Aparecida for Brazilians and Our Lady of Perpetual Help for Haitians.
The windows were made in Munich, Germany.
“It’s in good shape; they built it to last,” he said of the church.
Responding to a question, he referred briefly to how Bishop Timothy J. Harrington closed the church because it was in need of repair and Bishop Daniel P. Reilly reopened it. (In between, objecting parishioners occupied it.)
“That experience made the parish stronger,” Msgr. Johnson said. “There’s a lot of pride in this parish.”
At the end of the tour Msgr. Johnson led pilgrims in prayer at a statue of St. Joseph. Some of the St. Rose parishioners who had family ties to St. Joseph’s then reminisced. 
Father Escudero is looking toward the future.
“I’m waiting to see if the Holy Father gives us some other celebration” like the Year of St. Joseph, so plans can be made to celebrate it, he said.