March 15, 2017 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As you know, March 19 is the day we normally celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. This year, because it falls on a Sunday in Lent, the feast day has been moved to the 20th of March.

It is interesting that St. John Paul II and Pope Francis both have a special devotion to St. Joseph. St. John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Redemptoris Custos, “On the Person and Mission of Saint Joseph in the Life of Christ and of the Church,” allows us to recognize the wealth of the Scriptural basis for understanding the role of St. Joseph in caring for the Savior. Joseph is the silent man of the Gospel, the man in a certain sense who is the back drop against which we understand the role of Mary, the Mother of the Savior; he who protects her from shame, he who protects the newborn infant, it is he who guards the mystery of God himself. St. John Paul II recognized St. Joseph as one who could mirror for us the service of fatherhood.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.