Archdiocesan-led consecration to St. Joseph is part of a wider effort this year to learn more about the foster father of Jesus

LAKE ORION — One hundred and fifty years ago, Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph patron of the universal Church. 

Recognizing his role as protector of the Holy Family, foster father to Jesus Christ, the most chaste spouse of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and a model for all men, the current pope reaffirmed St. Joseph’s status as guardian of the Church. 

Pope Francis declared this year a Year of St. Joseph, when Catholics can take special care to look to St. Joseph as a guardian and protector, a model for workers and fathers, and a defender of families. 

While St. Joseph Shrine in downtown Detroit remains the Archdiocese of Detroit’s pre-eminent hub for devotion to St. Joseph, the archdiocese is home to four other parishes named for St. Joseph — in Lake Orion, Trenton, South Lyon and Erie — plus a handful of other shrines, churches and missions named for the saint. 

Pastors have been using the year to promote St. Joseph in their parishes, particularly those who have the model of workers as their parish patron. 

“Because we’re in the Year of St. Joseph, I’m encouraging from the pulpit people to take on the 33-day consecration to St. Joseph,” said Fr. Jim Kean, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Lake Orion, referring to the archdiocesan-sponsored 33-day consecration based on the book by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC. 

“We have a men’s group at the parish, the Bravehearts, who foster positive male spirituality,” Fr. Kean added. “They meet monthly and just resumed this past February, and one of the things on their agenda is exploring the spirituality of St. Joseph. So they have been using Fr. Calloway’s book to consecrate themselves to St. Joseph.” 

Throughout the year, Fr. Kean plans on incorporating St. Joseph into his homilies, as well as including bulletin articles each month reflecting on St. Joseph’s many titles. 

“We’re putting together an Advent activity, ‘Journey to Bethlehem,’ asking people in their own way to go on a treadmill, walk or run, accumulating 90 miles, the distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, over the course of Advent,” Fr. Kean said. “We’re also organizing a gift packet with a holy card and letter of support in the weekend following St. Joseph Day, really getting people to think beyond the image on the holy card and think about the man.” 

St. Joseph Chapel in Pontiac celebrates a First Wednesday devotion to St. Joseph at noon, complete with songs to St. Joseph and a litany composed by Pope Pius IX. 

Fr. Alex Kratz, OFM, of Terra Sancta Ministries, which operates St. Joseph Chapel, takes people on pilgrimages to the Holy Land — during non-COVID times — where he uses the physical sites of the Holy Land to teach pilgrims about St. Joseph. 

“There is not a lot one can learn about St. Joseph from books; most of what we have on him is from some private revelation,” Fr. Kratz said. “Our ministry takes people to the Holy Land on pilgrimages, and we visit Nazareth, the carpentry shop of St. Joseph, where he grew up, where he lived, and exploring what life for him would have been like.” 

St. Joseph is widely viewed as a carpenter, but Fr. Kratz said the original Greek text of the Gospel is better translated as “laborer,” meaning St. Joseph would be better described as a mason or builder, someone who worked with his hands for a living. 

“In St. Joseph, we see the importance of ordinary people who are capable of doing a lot of good, even great things,” Fr. Kratz said. “St. Joseph is a patron for all occasions. He is a great intercessor for work, employment, being a husband, family life. He’s a provider, a protector of the family. In all these things, he is extremely relevant for today, and it’s just a shame we haven’t called on him more. Some say he’s the second greatest saint, aside from Mary.” 

As First Fridays are meant for devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, and First Saturdays are meant for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the St. Joseph Chapel is celebrating First Wednesdays this year to commemorate St. Joseph and his role in the Holy Family. 

“A lot of people are drawn to St. Joseph because he’s very accessible, relatable with whatever is one’s circumstances,” Fr. Kratz said. “Once someone gets to know St. Joseph, all the reasons to go to him, you don’t want to let him go. A lot of people have grown in devotion to St. Joseph who for many years never thought of him.” 

Fr. Kean admitted he didn’t think of St. Joseph often before being assigned to St. Joseph Parish last year, but since then he’s embraced the devotion. 

“When you really ponder it, this person was truly alive with the Holy Family; he was formed by the presence of watching Mary and Jesus together,” Fr. Kean said. “That must have been transformative, so the Church holds him up as a model, as a righteous man, someone we can all strive to be.” The Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph, which covers the Midwest and is headquartered in Detroit, is celebrating the Year of St. Joseph with a rosary based on meditations on St. Joseph and his spirituality.  

The community recently released a video featuring friars praying from five different locations within the province, drawing upon the themes of Pope Francis’ apostolic letter, Pastris Corde (“A Father’s Heart”), to meditate on the examples set by St. Joseph. 

“This rosary is our way as brothers to accompany the Church and our friends and associates in invoking the intercession of St. Joseph over our world, our Church and over our Capuchin Franciscan presence and ministry throughout the province,” said Fr. Mark Joseph Costello, OFM Cap., provincial minister of the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph.