The Year of St. Joseph begins Dec. 8
A statue of St. Joseph graces the entrance of the St. Joseph Pastoral Center, east of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. The year begins on Dec. 8, 2020, and ends on Dec. 7, 2021. (Advance photo)
Bishop Kemme hopes St. Joseph will be an example for men, the diocesan family
Bishop Carl A. Kemme’s decision to dedicate 2021 to the patronage of St. Joseph has a strong connection to Fr. Donald Calloway’s book about Jesus’ foster father.
“Last year I participated in the Consecration to St. Joseph, that wonderful book by Father Donald Callaway, and found in that exercise a lot of insights that I never had about St. Joseph,” the bishop said in a video interview that will be available Dec. 8 at YouTube.com/DioceseOfWichita.
The book deepened Bishop Kemme’s devotion to St. Joseph and helped him better understand his role in the history of salvation: how St. Joseph protected our Savior and our Blessed Mother, how he provided for them, and how he was a great husband to Mary.
“I am very excited about how this year will unfold and the many blessings that will come about and the graces that will come about as a result of it,” he said while sitting in front of a statue of St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita.
St. Joseph cared for the Holy Family
Bishop Kemme said he relates to St. Joseph because St. Joseph was entrusted with caring for the Holy Family. “This local church, this local family is entrusted to me, as weak as I am and frail and sinful,” he said. “I look to Joseph in that fidelity, his perseverance, his strength. And I asked for those gifts to be the same spiritual father.”
The bishop said he is striving to imitate St. Joseph, the patron of the Universal Church.
He hopes the men of the diocese do the same.
“I hope this will be a special opportunity for them to grow in the virtues of St. Joseph: his obedience, his fidelity, his perseverance, his zeal, and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and for Jesus.”
Bishop Kemme said he hopes the men imitate those virtues for their families. “What a wonderful opportunity this will be. I pray for all of our men to use St. Joseph as a shining example of the kind of man that we are called to be.”
Much good will has come about as the result of the men of the diocese stepping up and being more faithful, more loving, more protective, and more hard-working in their roles as husbands and fathers, he said.
Bishop Kemme added that St. Joseph is called the Most Chaste Spouse.
“That sense of chastity and purity in a time when impurity is rampant in our society and in our world, to be able to look to St. Joseph to reclaim purity of heart, mind, and body and work toward a more chaste life – for us who are celibate men to be chaste and for fathers, husbands, and single men to practice the virtue of chastity – is really important and life-changing. It will have a profound effect on many people if we desire to be more chaste in our lives.”