'St. Joseph's Table' Celebrates Feast Day

Secular Franciscans are coordinating St. Joseph-St. Patrick's Church's celebration of the Feast Day of St. Joseph the Husband of Mary.

It takes place Wednesday, March 19 -- first with mass and then with song and refreshment at "St. Joseph's Table" in the parish center.

Mass begins at 5:30 p.m. in the church at 702 Columbia Street, Utica, with Fr. Richard Dellos, pastor, presiding. A procession follows to the parish center where the celebration continues with prayer, song and refreshment in honor of St. Joseph, protector of family and patron saint of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, workers, the dying, and social justice. (The church celebrates a second feast day on May 1 for St. Joseph the Worker.)

"The history of St. Joseph’s Table dates back several centuries when there was a severe famine in Sicily," notes Rick Roberts, OFS, a Secular Franciscan coordinating the event. "The people prayed to St. Joseph for relief. The prayers were answered and the famine ended. The people then prepared a table with foods they had harvested. After thanking God and St. Joseph with prayer and song, everyone shared in the celebration at St. Joseph’s Table. Today, the tradition of St. Joseph’s Table continues in America and is wide spread throughout the Catholic Church."

St. Joseph-St. Patrick is home to a 24-hour Adoration Chapel and Mother Marianne's West Side Kitchen, a soup kitchen named after parish daughter, St. Marianne Cope. A donation of a non-perishable food item to benefit Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen is welcomed.