HAMMOND – St. Joseph parishioners rolled up their sleeves and donated a portion of a beautiful fall Saturday to help spruce up their landmark downtown church. They each lent a helping hand to clean and an ear for their neighbor’s concerns.
The day of service organized at St. Joseph put familiar faces to an idea inspired by a diocesan effort. Making their pews immaculately clean and removing the dust from hard-to-reach statuary reflected a resourceful ethic and familial spirit among members of the circa 1912 Romanesque Revival-style church.
“There is good that gets done here,” said Zachary Dotson, who pitched in to coordinate the service day endeavor. “People have seen the church’s beauty and how transcendent it is – this is a place that all Catholics can come home to.”
On Oct. 19, two months after the Diocese of Gary faithful gathered at sites to assist with maintenance and charitable efforts, more than two dozen St. Joseph churchgoers showed up with buckets, dusters, rakes and other tools, as well as foodstuffs.
Parishioners including Fugi and Rosie Recio vacuumed and dusted throughout the nave of the church. Linda Eichensehr mixed just the right amount of water and Murphy’s Oil soap to wash and bring an inviting glow back to the pews. Others cleaned up the stone steps facing Hohman Avenue.
“There were a number of places where a shoe or something caught the wall and paint was pulled off so we did a lot of spackling and sanding, too,” said parishioner Ellen Longawa.
Deacon Duane Dedelow, a member of St. Joseph for more than 50 years, coordinated raking in the grotto yard and sweeping efforts on the sidewalks wrapping around the church.
“Our family had eight children and my mom and dad, and we needed a bigger house,” said Deacon Dedelow, who served as mayor of Hammond from 1992-2004. “We ended up moving from Schererville Heights to Hammond in 1971, doing a ‘reverse migration.’”
The deacon added, “My mother’s mother and her father (the Pudkols) were parishioners here ... St. Joseph is truly a gem in downtown Hammond and for the area, because the church, as you know, is beautiful.”
In the spirit of the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival, parishioners sought to begin their Saturday endeavor with a Mass. Priest-in-residence Father Ted Nordquist presided at the liturgy.
The handy volunteer crew whose patron is St. Joseph – fittingly a carpenter by trade – then spread out to begin their work. There was no major construction undertaken, but repairs included fixing the wiring on one of the speakers that is part of the church sound system.
A green-light from administrator Father Jeffrey Burton, permitted Dotson, Diane Hernandez and Longawa to promote the service day as a means of fellowship. As such, the volunteers concluded the afternoon with a cook-out, featuring a healthy serving of updates about family and friends and ongoing conversations from the parish’s Scripture and faith sharing sessions.
As uncompromisingly beautiful as their church is, with 52 Munich-style stained glass windows and large frescoes, core parishioners spoke about how the structure serves to reflect a faith family that is “Christ-centered,” “inspiring” and “welcoming.”
“It’s always been a very loving community,” Longawa said. “People walk into the front door of St. Joe’s and say, ‘This is such a beautiful place.’ And five people will greet them and say, ‘How are you doing?’”
St. Joseph faithful also have sought to sustain an effort to help make their church a go-to place for sacraments and ministry. Visits from former parishioners living in South Lake County are great, but real, local possibilities exist, they said. Despite the demolition and downsizing at the former St. Margaret Hospital campus, redevelopment of nearby downtown structures into residences will soon bring young professionals into the neighborhood.
“People are really interested in Hohman Avenue because we have a unique downtown system,” Dotson explained. “We have proximity to Chicago without the high taxes. You see a push to bring business owners from Chicago and also attract young professionals who work in the Loop.
He continued, “Here, you’re a block away from the (South Shore Line) station, we have restaurants and breweries, we have beautiful places you can come and worship, and antique shopping.”
The ebb and flow of their downtown surroundings is something for local history books. But for many at the church that was founded in 1879 – four years before Hammond was incorporated – the phrase “God With Us,” displayed in gold leaf on the apse of the sanctuary, is all the encouragement they need to carefully maintain the Lord’s house.
Caption: Gathered in front of St. Joseph church are part of the volunteer crew (including Deacon Duane Dedelow and priest-in-residence Father Ted Nordquist) that participated in the day of service at the downtown Hammond church on Oct. 19. Parish volunteers coordinated the event, which was inspired by the diocesan day of service two months earlier, that drew more than two dozen individuals who assisted with campus maintenance and beautification. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)