SW News: The Archdiocese of New York will be consecrated to St. Joseph on March 19 by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of St Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis had announced the “Year of St Joseph”, starting from December 8, 2020 and ending on the same day this year, through the apostolic letter “Patris Corde”.

The cardinal said the pontiff has a special love for the saint and his first decision after being elected as pope was to include the name of the foster-father of Jesus in the Eucharistic prayer at every Mass.

Cardinal Dolan had written an article on the official website of the Archdiocese of New York, in which he said that St Joseph reminded him of his own father.

Cardinal Dolan narrated two incidents from his childhood where his father imitated the virtues of St Joseph - content being in the background and wanting no attention or gratitude. St Joseph, wrote the cardinal, “seems to prefer the background. No “center of attention” is he! In fact, we have no recorded words of St Joseph, although he’s prominent in the Bible. Humble, quiet, reliable, dutiful, attentive to his vocation…but hardly an attention-getter!”

The cardinal also noted in his article that like St Joseph, “our health care professionals, first responders and essential workers, priests, deacons, neighbors, family, parishioners, and caregivers,” have, “quietly, humbly, without cameras and microphones, not seeking any acclaim, have gotten all of us through tough times.”

The consecration will be replicated throughout the archdiocese by priests as well as parish churches in union with the cardinal. Prayers for consecration have also been sent to Catholic schools and parish religious education programmes to facilitate the participation of students.

In 1870, Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed St Joseph the protector of the Universal Church.