A once-faltering Brooklyn church rebounds, with a Mexican flavor
Photo:Stephen Childs
A parishioner at St. Joseph's Catholic Church serves a post-Mass meal to raise funds for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration in December.
By Stephen Childs October 10, 2011
At St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, Sundays include not only prayer and worship, but, now, Mexican food as well.
On Sunday, Sept. 18, parishioners of St. Joseph’s began a weekly tradition by selling traditional Mexican cuisine outside the church from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Painted bed-sheets on the north and south sides of the church announce the new custom, which aims to raise money for the congregation’s celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – celebrated in the second week of December.
Last year, for the first time, the church held a celebration in its basement to observe the feast day. Approximately 300 people attended the donation-funded festival, replete with Mexican dishes, a mariachi band, and Mexican folk-dancing.
But some of the church’s Mexican parishioners approached the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay, 40, a native of Mexico himself, about raising more money for 2011’s feast, which the priest predicts will draw a much larger turnout.
The Sunday meals are only the latest example of how the Mexican community has revived the once-faltering St. Joseph’s.
Though the church closed temporarily just a few years ago due to physical deterioration and dwindling Mass attendance, St. Joseph’s congregation is now growing as Mexicans from throughout Brooklyn and Queens occupy its pews and invite other immigrant families to join them.
Ortiz-Garay, who has served at St. Joseph’s since 2009, also attracts many parishioners.
The priest says he hopes that the weekly smorgasbord of tacos, flautas, guacamole, tamales, and other traditional Mexican foods will raise money for the feast and draw people to the day’s three Masses – the most crowded of which is said in Spanish. Another of Ortiz-Garay’s goals is to entice passersby of all faiths to eat and spend time with his mostly Hispanic 300-person congregation.
“Everybody loves Mexican food. It’s cheap. It’s good,” he explained.
For the first week of cooking, four Mexican families volunteered to prepare two dishes each. They charged $4 for three tacos and $3 for two tortillas, donating all proceeds to the church.
They raised more than $900 from approximately 200 patrons, said Ortiz-Garay, who has served St. Joseph’s since 2009.
In the coming weeks, about 20 families will contribute on a rotational schedule.
“Me and my wife and my children, we love to help,” said Martin Ramos, 40, a native of Puebla, Mexico, whose family cooked for the first sale and has attended St. Joseph’s since November 2010. “You donate whatever you got. You have to put your hand on your heart.”
The Ramos family prepared “pozole” – a soup made with corn and pork – as well as “horchata” – a traditional Mexican drink. They began cooking at their Jamaica, Queens home on Saturday night, and rose at 7 a.m. on Sunday to finish preparing the food and transport their dishes to Brooklyn.
They and the other volunteer families prepared enough food to bring home leftovers.
The following Sunday, however, a new group of families nearly sold out by before the day’s last mass began at noon. As a result, the church netted about $600 in revenue.
Last week, revenue bounced up to $800, putting the three-week total at $2,300.
But even after December’s celebration is over, Ortiz-Garay is already planning to initiate a new campaign of volunteers to cook next spring. He wants to send the parish’s teens – mostly the children of immigrants – to Brazil in 2013 for World Youth Day – a biennial gathering of Catholic teens from across the world.
