St. Joseph's Medal

In our Archdiocese, each parish chooses a member of the church to receive the St. Joseph Medal of Honor.  This is done once a year and the person (or a couple) chosen has helped the church in countless ways, selflessly and continually, sometimes anonymously. 

This year from our parish, my dad was chosen for the honor.  We all (21 of us) traveled to Hartford this past Sunday, to the Cathedral of St. Joseph.  I had never been to the Cathedral before - wow, it was beautiful.  The stained glass windows were just incredible.  It is a massive, gorgeous structure! 

There were approximately 200 recipients of the award and they all sat together.  There were about 150 priests from many of the parishes in solemn procession to start and end the ceremony.  The Archbishop conferred the award to all the men and women who received it.  It was a beautiful service with beautiful music.  The Cathedral was filled to capacity, standing room only.  We were lucky to get to sit in a side altar with a great view and were able to watch my dad accept the award. 

My dad has been a cook for both the church and the school dinners for so many years, I don't even remember when he didn't cook.  He has belonged to this parish for almost 50 years (with a two year hiatus, when we moved two towns away).  He has done bingos and summer festivals and gardening and cleaning out the rectory and the list goes on and on. 

We are all very proud of you, Dad!!!