Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church dedicated

Intermountain Catholic

Photo 1 of 3

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, pours water from the Saint Joseph the Worker Parish baptismal font into an aspersorium during the church's dedication Mass. The font, which was created from a single piece of black granite, weighs seven tons.

WEST JORDAN — On a sunny May Day that also was Divine Mercy Sunday, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, dedicated and consecrated the new Saint Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan.

"This is a wonderful parish, a wonderful church," Bishop Wester said in his homily, but "we must never lose sight that, as beautiful as it is, as magnificent as it is, it is something that at its heart remains a symbol of what makes it sacred. This building is holy because God’s people dwell in it. God dwells here and God’s people dwell here…. My dear people, you make this place holy. You make this place what it is."

The parish is dedicated to the miners and other laborers who built the original church in 1964. Bishop Wester said the dedication day was a time to celebrate the legacy of all those whose efforts built the parish.

Among those whose efforts were noteworthy was Franciscan Sister of Atonement Sister Fabian Uriot, who spent 27 years at the parish before leaving in 2009 because of ill health. She died April 21; Father Patrick Carley, Saint Joseph the Worker pastor, recalled her as "a great, stable, loving and gentle presence."

The dedication was attended by a number of dignitaries, including Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, West Jordan Mayor Melissa Johnson, Diocese of Salt Lake Vicar General Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, Saint Anne Parish pastor Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, who will become vicar general in June; Cathedral of the Madeleine pastor Joseph M. Mayo and other diocesan clergy. Among the clergy were several who served at St. Joseph the Worker Parish: Father Matthew Wixted (1964-69), now retired; Monsignor Terence M. Moore (1976-77), now pastor at Saint John the Baptist Parish in Draper; and Father James Semple, who is retired but often celebrates Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Parish.

Two of Fr. Carley’s old friends attend the dedication: Father Vincent Brady and Father John Cantwell, who serve in the Diocese of Sacramento, Calif. Fr. Cantwell went through both high school and the seminary with Fr. Carley in Ireland.

The church was filled for the dedication Mass at which Bishop Wester presided.

"The real work of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish is to build up and nourish the body of Christ, that is, the people of God, the Church," the bishop said. "This work will always contain in it suffering, and pain, and difficulty, and challenge, but it will always lead to the resurrection that we celebrate today, and to the gathering of God’s people."

In his remarks, Father Carley echoed the theme that the parish’s roots are in working people.

"We want to be always mindful of who we are," he said, adding that the crucifix, the Stations of the Cross and two sculpted panels from the original church have been incorporated into the new church. "It keeps for us the connection to the past, which has been so dear to us and which we’ve worked very hard to maintain."

While keeping connected to the past, he also is looking forward. "This is a new day for us," Fr. Carley said. "It really is a time of resurrection and renewal. It’s a chance for us to be renewed in all our ministries. We want now to grow our parish."