A half hour before Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Woodlawn, on Sunday, Feb. 20, a group of parishioners kneels in the front pews to say the rosary. A mother with a toddler takes a seat, soon to be joined by some of their relatives.
Fabian and Esmerelda Hernandez and their three children settle in for the 11:30 liturgy. Everyone’s eyes look up now and then to the new crucifix attached to a striking wall of gray faux stone behind the altar — a crucifix that came from thousands of miles away.
“When you come in, you see the big cross, and it feels beautiful,” said Esmerelda.
“It makes the front of the church stand out more,” added her husband, a parish council member. “It gives people more devotion to be here, to be more involved in the church.”
The remodeling of the sanctuary wall, including a larger cross and corpus — the representation of the crucified Christ — has been a mission of the parish for about two years. That mission was accomplished with funds from the Diocese of Richmond and St. Joseph parishioners, especially the Hispanic community.
“Our community is overwhelmed by the size and the beauty of the Christ,” said parishioner Abraham Cuevas, in a statement translated by the parish’s director of Hispanic ministry, Ana Sandoval.
The parish has about 150 households, about 90 of them Hispanic. Most live near Galax, drawn by the small manufacturing firms in the region and by retail and wholesale agriculture. As the parish council was considering the sanctuary work, everyone realized the existing crucifix was too small for the space.
The initial plan was to acquire and restore one from Sacred Heart Church in south Richmond that had been in storage, according to Ken Miller, the administrative assistant and bookkeeper for St. Joseph.
“The Hispanic community was interested in providing something toward this renovation, and it was decided that they would work toward providing the actual corpus, that they acquired from Mexico and brought here,” he said.
“It’s great that the two communities came together to put this together,” said longtime parishioner Mary Ann Riccitiello.
We worked together to finalize what it would look like,” added her husband, Michael. “It took a while, but it came together.”
The entire cost of the project was about $12,000, according to Miller, with $9,600 of that coming via a Home Mission grant from the 2021 Annual Diocesan Appeal. Previous mission grants have provided St. Joseph with a new roof, lighting and flooring.
“The diocesan appeal funds have really helped us over the years,” said Mary Ann Riccitello. ”We’re very grateful.”
The Hispanic community raised funds for their part of the project through food sales and donations from parishioners, and started looking for a company that could do the work at a fair price. Cuevas said a member of the parish referred them to a friend in the western Mexico state of Jalisco, “a taxi driver who knows the whole state and would help us look for a manufacturer.”
That fellow recommended a company in Tonalá, a suburb of Guadalajara and a place known for artisans in pottery and other materials. The company sent along some photos of crucifixes in various styles; the Hispanic community committee chose the one that is now suspended on the 8 by 32-foot sanctuary wall.
“Thanks to God someone knew a Mexican parcel business that agreed to pick up the crucifix in Mexico and bring it all the way to Woodlawn, Virginia,” Cuevas said, though the driver did run into a minor problem at the border. “On his way from Mexico with his truck loaded with packages, there were restrictions at customs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they did not let him pass with any packages, except the crucifix and a candle.”
After a trek of more than 2,100 miles, the crate with the crucifix arrived in January. Workers fastened the cross and the hollow 5-foot 4-inch statue, made of a plastic composite, to the part of the wall that was finished.
“Thanks to God and to the Holy Virgin Mary, in February 2022, our crucifix is installed in his home,” Cuevas said.
Father Herman Katongole, pastor of St. Joseph, Woodlawn; Risen Lord, Stuart; and All Saints, Floyd, parish cluster, is marking the 20th anniversary of his ordination this month. He said he has noticed some increase in devotion since the cross went up.
“I see some people who travel just to see the crucifix, and also the number of people coming to attend adoration has also increased,” he said.
Among the announcements Miller made at the end of Mass on the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time was a reminder that the bishop’s Annual Diocesan Appeal was underway and giving parish members their next mission.
“We want to exceed our goal,” he said, standing next to a visible sign of what can be done with support from his fellow parishioners and those in parishes throughout the diocese.