It’s a church in Brooklyn that attracts attention because of its size and beauty.
But if you walk through the doors at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, you’ll notice the outside doesn’t even compare to what’s inside.
“Wow. I can’t believe this beautiful gem exists here. I feel like I’m in Rome,” said Father Christopher Heanue, rector of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. “I feel like I’m in Europe and that’s the feeling that I love to see when people walk into this church for the first time, this awe.”
The Prospect Heights parish was founded in 1851. The original church, which ministered to an Irish congregation, is a far cry from the grand building that replaced it in 1912.
But over the years, the church fell into disrepair. One of the bell towers even collapsed.
So about a hundred years after it was dedicated, the rapidly deteriorating church was restored and named a co-cathedral.
“Recognizing the needs of the diocese, the needs of a location where we can gather large audiences, large congregations. So for this church, which was on the verge of absolute ruin and destruction, the option was clear, we either tear down the church or we restore it to its beauty,” Father Heanue said.
And that beauty shines through the stained glass windows that depict the life of Joseph, and the images above of our Blessed Mother.
The sacred artwork shows the various cultures in the diocese, so every parishioner whether they speak English, Spanish, or even Creole, can see their own mother in Mary.
And those parishioners travel from all over just to attend Mass here.
“They keep coming back because they love this parish, they love assisting here, they love praying here,” Father Heanue said.
Take Nancy Cardinale, for example.
“Nancy is a parishioner that attends every daily Mass — like the USPS, come rain or shine, sleet or snow or hail,” Father Heanue said. “She is here and she really, for me, is inspiring in that regard in her faith.”
But Cardinale doesn’t just attend Mass, she sets up for it, every morning.
“I gotta do my things here,” Cardinale said. “I gotta clean up over there. I gotta fix the flowers over here, these flowers don’t look right I have to make them straight and I started to do that and nobody said anything to me. I said: ‘You know they need a woman’s touch in here, you know, to do all those things.’”
Cardinale even chimes in during Mass to ring the bells. It’s a job she doesn’t take lightly and one she always shows up for.
The significance of the bells during Mass, Father Heanue said, is they’re an important aspect of the consecration, in that they elevate us and help to center us, to recognize this core tenet of our faith, that the bread and wine are becoming the body and blood of Christ.
“I have to come to church every day because I had so many things in my life that Jesus was always there for me when I prayed,” Cardinale said. “He always gives me an answer.”
Her faith is something she never questions and that rings true every morning when she sits in this pew.
“I just feel it’s a blessing because I want to,” Cardinale said. “I just want to give so much thanks and praise to God that I just, every morning in my prayers, I say get me to the house of St. Joe’s where I can ring the bells to heaven.”
And now you know Nancy Cardinale from the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, and how she makes up the Pulse of the Parish.