By Rocio Granados - La Voz Catolica

MIAMI | Be there rain, thunder or lightning, 85-year-old Ruby Arango leaves her home early every morning to visit her parish. St. Mary Magdalen Church on Sunny Isles Beach is three blocks from her home, but Arango takes the bus to get to St. Joseph on Miami Beach.

“It’s my faith, my faith in my patron,” said Arango. “I was born March 19 and that’s his (St. Joseph’s) birthday.”

A native of Colombia, Arango moved to Miami Beach over 50 years ago, and St. Joseph was the nearest church she could walk to.

“How many different priests we have seen come and go,” Arango said, speaking to her friend Julia Carril, 87. They remembered friends who moved on and with whom they shared memories such as spending hours creating elaborate mangers during Christmas.

On the 75th anniversary of its establishment, members of St. Joseph Parish will remember its beginnings while looking to its future as a thriving multicultural community, thanks in part to the volunteers who work in its many ministries. 

Volunteers such as Arango, who has served as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion for several years, and on a daily basis helps clean and maintain the church. On Mondays, she also helps count the Sunday Mass collection.

Founded as a mission on Feb. 1, 1942, St. Joseph was created to serve Miami Beach residents who lived in the area north of its mother parish, St. Patrick. Five years later, in November 1947, it became a parish with Msgr. George Rockett as its first pastor. He served until 1968.

“It is a parish that is very welcoming. I have known people there for many years,” said Hope Sadowski, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, who arrived with her family from Cuba in 1962 and “never left.”

Although she moved away for a while, she later returned to the Miami Beach parish where she saw many baptisms, first Communions, confirmations and burials of family members.

 

The parish community

Since early on, the population of St. Joseph has been seasonal, due to the arrival in the winter months of the “snow birds” — elderly residents, most from Canada — who spend the season in Miami. Today there are also young immigrant families from Latin America, especially Peru, Argentina and Puerto Rico, who have moved into the neighborhoods surrounding the parish.

“Perhaps it is the greatest change,” said Christine Williamson, parish secretary for the last 23 years. She began as an assistant to the secretary of St. Joseph’s third pastor, Father Noel Bennet, who served from 1976 to 2003. He died Jan. 21 of this year.

At St. Joseph, “we all blend together. I am from Ireland and I did not know much about the other cultures. There are so many wonderful traditions,” said Williamson.

The largest parish celebration is the annual “Taste of St. Joseph” festival, which occurs in March near St. Joseph’s feast day. The various parish communities celebrate together, sampling the various dishes from each culture.

“I can say that in the last five years it has been the greatest party in the parish,” Williamson added.

“My intention was to always maintain an equilibrium of integration,” said Father Juan Sosa, St. Joseph’s pastor since 2010.

“In this parish I discovered that there was a desire for the leaders of the Anglo community to integrate and work alongside Hispanic leaders,” said the pastor, adding that was possible because the Hispanic leaders spoke English.

The first Cubans who arrived in the 1960s merged into the Anglo community “because there was no Spanish Mass and it was Msgr. Joseph O’Shea (second pastor, 1968-1976), who introduced Masses in Spanish.

“One a day, (Sundays) at 1 p.m.,” said Sadowski, who has known every pastor there.

Currently on Sundays there are two Masses in Spanish, two in English and one in Polish. On Saturdays, there is also a Mass in Portuguese.

The majority of parishioners today are Hispanic — “perhaps 80 percent now, but when I started they were perhaps 50 percent,” said Williamson — but most have been here several generations and their mother tongue is now English, so they participate in the English Masses.

In general, the community has grown, currently counting about 1,400 registered families. Those numbers alone are the reason why so many new ministries have been created to fill the needs of the people.

 

The ministries

Since Father Sosa’s arrival, 14 ministries “have grown to 86 and we are expecting to open up five or six more,” said Adam Irizarry, the parish’s faith formation coordinator.

Each ministry carries out different activities, such as taking Communion to the sick in retirement homes. For over 11 years, parishioners have joined with the St. Vincent de Paul Society to distribute food once a month to needy families, as well as on Thanksgiving and, at Christmas, toys for children.

“Not all are homeless, but there are families in need,” said Father Sosa.

Last year, a hospitality ministry was created to welcome new parishioners. After previously participating only in Portuguese Masses, the Brazilian community has begun taking part in catechesis, in the sacraments and other parish celebrations.

One of the largest parish groups is Emmaus (a weekend retreat program), which now also has an English branch. Following Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, a new ministry for the care of the Earth will open this year for children and youth.

The ministry of mercy, associated with PACT (People Acting for Community Together), is working with other religious communities over issues like housing, violence and human trafficking, asking civil authorities to make changes.

“Not every ministry is spiritual,” said Irizarry. “There is great enthusiasm from volunteers. I think the largest ministry is that of the volunteers.”

Irizarry also is in charge of the religious education program for children, where 230 are registered, as well as the catechesis and formation for adults.

Many of the parents whose children are enrolled in catechesis have not received the sacraments themselves. The vast majority arrived recently from native countries where they lived their faith in a much different way. The rest are Cubans who have had no faith formation because of the political situation there, so they have to start with the basics.

“Our mission is to support them so that the entire family receives their sacraments,” Irizarry said.

Since Father Sosa’s arrival, “people are more involved in the parish,” said Diego Oré, director of the Hispanic choir at St. Joseph for the last six years and a parishioner since 2013.

If Father Sosa has inspired parishioners, so did his predecessors, such as Msgr. O’Shea, who was very involved with the youth. He began a program for students from St. Joseph School, which was founded in 1958, to learn Spanish with the aid of volunteer mothers.

“He was one of the first to initiate classes in Spanish over 40 years ago,” said Sadowski, administrative assistant and coordinator of the foreign exchange students program for the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools.

In Father Bennett’s time, St. Joseph School was rebuilt, gaining a computer room, a music room and an elevator.

Unfortunately, the school closed in 2010, during the tenure of St. Joseph’s fourth pastor, Father Enrique Estrada (2003-2010), now pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Miami. It was one of nine archdiocesan schools that closed at that time due to falling enrollment.

The school was converted into a charter school where a great number of students are currently enrolled.

What unites the community are “the celebrations, the parties, the food, the dances but the spirituality, too,” Father Sosa said. “They are always working with the missionary concept that the pope promotes, which is to bring people in from the outside.”

The activities celebrating the 75-year anniversary began Jan. 8 with a survey from CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) that was distributed to parishioners at every Mass. The goal is to “project towards the future to know how to better serve the parochial community,” said Father Sosa.

Activities planned to mark the 75th anniversary of St. Joseph Parish:

• Wednesday, Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m.: "Solemn Vespers in thanksgiving for our legacy," presided by Archbishop Emeritus John C. Favalora, followed by a reception.

• Sunday, Feb. 12, 11 a.m.: Outdoor Eucharistic celebration for the whole parochial community, “In hope for our future growth in the Lord.” Presided by Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

• Sunday, March 18, 7 p.m. in the Parish Hall: “In preparation for St. Joseph's feast day.” Dinner concert featuring pianist Alberto Joya and singer Cristi Arias.

• Sunday, March 19, 4:30 p.m., in the church: Classical concert featuring Maestro Alberto Joya.

• Monday, March 20, Solemnity of St. Joseph, 7 p.m.: Distribution of St. Joseph's Bread and Solemn Vespers.

• March 24 to April 6: Parish pilgrimage to Holy Land and Rome.

• Saturday, April 22, 7 p.m.: St. Joseph Parish Spring Gala at the Seaview Hotel.