What better way to kick off a year of parish pride then with
a Mass? An unusually warm and sunny mid-winter day greeted
St. Joseph parishioners as Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde
celebrated the centennial opening Mass Feb. 8 at St. Joseph
Church in Alexandria.
Josephite Father Donald M. Fest and Deacons Albert A.
Anderson Jr. and Steven J. Morello assisted the bishop. The
opening Mass marked the first event in the yearlong parish
centennial.
St. Joseph was the first black parish in Northern
Virginia, so it was a fitting start to Black History
Month festivities.
The Knights of Columbus, Knights of Peter Claver and the
Ladies Auxiliary led the bishop to the altar, and the St.
Joseph Gospel Choir sang the hymn “The Church’s One
Foundation.”
In his homily, Bishop Loverde spoke of the early St. Joseph
community and the outlook for the future.
“For 100 years, St. Joseph has been the place where
Catholics, and especially black Catholics, came to find
Jesus,” he said.
Bishop Loverde thanked the many volunteers that make St.
Joseph a vibrant community.
He ended his homily saying, “For all that has been, Deo
gracias, Lord, thank you. For all that will be, fiat, Lord,
let it be.”
The Mass continued with a vibrant spirituality helped by the
gospel choir which sang hymns like “Shake the Devil Off,”
“You Satisfy a Hungry Heart,” and “Lift Every Voice and
Sing.”
The history of St. Joseph Church began March 8, 1915,
when the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament signed an agreement
with Richmond Bishop Denis J. O’Connell granting $8,000 to
the Richmond Diocese for a church to be built on Columbus
Street in Alexandria. That was half of the expected cost of
the church, with the remaining amount to be raised by the
parishioners, a difficult task at that time, but a monument
to a parish’s commitment to the faith.
One of the signatories on the agreement is
Catharine Drexel, the legal name of St. Katharine Drexel,
founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and heir to
the rich Philadelphia family that founded Drexel
University. The family had a long history of philanthropy
to black and American Indian communities.
At the turn of the last century, Alexandria was a segregated
community with black Catholics worshiping in the Lyceum of
St. Mary Church. Their spiritual needs were served by
Josephite Father Charles Hannigan, who traveled from Richmond
each week. It was Father Hannigan who got Drexel interested
in helping the new parish.
Ground was broken for the church in the fall of 1915, with
the cornerstone laid in the spring of 2016. Josephite Father
Joseph Kelly became the first pastor and served until 1936.
The Josephites have been at the parish ever since, with
Father Fest as the current pastor.
A school was built in 1931 and staffed by the Oblate Sisters
of Providence, an order of black sisters. They taught there
until the school closed in 1969.
In 1967, Richmond Bishop John J. Russell established the
mission as a parish.
Mementos of the early church are displayed in the parish
center in the church basement.
In one of the display cases is the agreement signed by Bishop
O’Connell and St. Katharine Drexel that created the historic
church.
At the reception in the parish center following Mass,
parishioners and friends looked at the historic documents and
reminisced about the past and shared their hopes for the
future.
Mathelle Lee, a parishioner for 39 years, said that the Mass
was wonderful.
“I always love the bishop’s homilies,” she said.
Deacon Morello said Sunday’s Mass was the same you would see
on any Sunday.
“It’s a profound spiritual experience every Sunday,” he said.
Gwen Day Fuller has been a parishioner for 45 years. She was
baptized at the church and went to school there.
Her father, Ferdinand Day, passed away recentlt at 96. He was
one of the first children baptized in the church.
“He loved this church,” said Fuller.
She said he was active in the parish life right up to the end
of his own life.
Fuller said St. Joseph is one of the most diverse churches in
Alexandria, a far cry from the early days of the parish.
At the end of Mass, the choir sang an old Negro spiritual,
“We’ve come a long way, Lord.”
“We’ve come a long way, Lord, a mighty long way.
We’ve borne our burdens in the heat of the day.
But we know the Lord has made the way.
We’ve come a long way, Lord, a mighty long way.”
