Church honors workers' history

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

A group of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish's original members carry the crucifix from the old church after the decommissioning Mass last year. The crucifix was placed in the new church at the beginning of Lent this year.

WEST JORDAN — The story of how St. Joseph the Worker Parish’s first church started is filled with love, care and the labor of its community.

The original church’s groundbreaking was in July of 1964. Chopping down an enormous tree that stood next to the construction site for the barn-like building was the first task, which was completed by a volunteer work committee formed by Raquel Romero, James Romero, Jim Perry, Louis Lopez, Raymond Trujillo, Willie Nero and Nick Velarde.

"The old church was built by the parishioners," said Lopez, one of the original parishioners who did paneling and finishing work for the project. "A contractor was hired to help with the construction and we did the labor work. I put the first nail and the last one."

One hundred twenty-five families contributed their labor for the church construction. The first Mass in the church was celebrated on Feb. 21, 1965.

The parish community was diverse, with members hailing from Greece, Yugoslavia, China, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Spain and France. Most of the men toiled in the copper mines of Bingham Canyon, and when the expanding mine took over their little towns where they had lived they scattered around West Jordan, South Jordan and Riverton.

"St. Joseph the Worker unified them and gave them the sense of family and a place to keep their faith," said Anne Kurek, St. Joseph parishioner and secretary.

In 1969 Father James Fogarty was named the parish’s first pastor; before him, Monsignor John J. Sullivan (who died in 2005) and Father Matthew Wixted (now retired) took care of the early days of the parish.

Father David Goddard was the next pastor; during his administration the rectory was built in 1972.

The next changes to the church came under the administration of Father Rudolph Daz (now Monsignor Daz, pastor of Saint Olaf Parish in Bountiful.) Msgr. Daz was pastor of St. Joseph from 1978 to 1987. He expanded the hall and added a second level to the building.

The church underwent other changes as administrators tried to keep up with the increasing congregation, but as time went by the exterior deteriorated. Other problems had to be faced as well: the building was not energy efficient, and fellowship was scarce, as was storage space. So, five years ago, the decision was made to build a new church.

Because of the community’s strong feelings for the church, surveys were conducted to gauge interest in a new building and to find out what the parishioners wanted from such a project. In January 2005 the parish council voted in favor of beginning efforts to build a new church. Then workshops were held to educate parishioners about current liturgical thinking and how those ideas could be incorporated into the new church plans.

Demolition of the old church started on Oct. 19, 2009 with the Decommissioning Mass, during which the crucifix was removed. By Dec. 2 of the same year the old building was gone. Feb. 17, 2010 marked the beginning of the new church’s construction. The new church was dedicated on May 1 this year.

"The community is growing real fast," said Lopez, who was sad to see the church he helped build be torn down. However, he is adjusting to the new church. "I like the people, even though I am barely getting to know some of the new parishioners," he said.

The new church begins "a new phase in a parish life and in the ongoing journey to heaven of the people of St. Joseph’s," said Fr. Carley.