It was a bright, sunny and crisp Sunday morning on April 27 as parishioners, family and guests filed into St. Joseph Church in Strongsville. There was a feeling of excitement as the church filled up for the 10:30 a.m. Mass.
The celebrant, Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost, was there to install the parish’s new pastor, Father Andrew Gonzalez. He is the seventh pastor in the parish’s 79-year history. The two previous pastors, Father Bob Sanson (five) and Father Joe Mamich (six) joined Father Gonzalez for photos with Bishop Woost.
“We are numbers five, six and seven,” Father Mamich quipped. He guided the parish until his appointment as diocesan secretary and vicar for clergy and religious in November 2023. Father Gonzalez has served as parish administrator since then.
(See photo gallery above.)
About 20 fellow priests – friends from the seminary, pastors of parishes where Father Gonzalez previously ministered and other priest friends – concelebrated the liturgy. Many members of his family also filled several pews in the church. And Deacon Matt Lawler, who is assigned to the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and was serving as Bishop Woost’s master of ceremonies, is a son of St. Joseph Parish.
The new pastor was introduced to the faithful by Bishop Woost. During the Mass, he led the congregation in a profession of faith and greeted members of the parish council, finance council and school community, promising to seek their counsel as he makes decisions regarding the parish and school communities.
Father Gonzalez repeated some of Bishop Woost’s message from his homily at the April 12 transitional deacon ordination Mass.
“We all need to put flesh to fire, to allow the fire of God’s love to come close to us,” he said. When we are wounded in any way, the enemy – Satan – is ready to pounce on us, telling us things like nobody cares about us and we’re worthless, he said, adding that we might start believing this. “Things can get dark pretty fast,” he added.
“That’s when we need the light, the truth and love of God’s fire. It will come close to us if we let if,” he said.
Father Gonzalez said this is an exciting time in the Church. We’re in the midst of celebrating the Jubilee Year of Hope, as proclaimed by the late Pope Francis. Jubilee years take place every 25 years. April 27, the Sunday after Easter, was Divine Mercy Sunday and it was the day on which Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, was to be canonized by Pope Francis. However, his April 21 death delayed the canonization.
He said in the day’s Gospel, the fearful apostles locked themselves in a room. They were in misery but then the fire of God’s love appeared in the risen Jesus who told them, “’Peace be with you.’ He breathed on them and put their flesh to fire to heal them,” Father Gonzalez said. “St. Thomas was called especially close to the fire,” he said, explaining that Jesus invited Thomas to put his fingers in Jesus’ nail marks and to place his hand in his side.
“In his misery and woundedness, Thomas was healed and he said, ‘My Lord and My God.’ We’re all wounded and Satan is waiting to pounce, but if we put flesh to fire and give God’s love a chance to come and lift us out of despair, Jesus will come to us in the Eucharist and he will be with us always,” Father Gonzalez said.
“Father Andy is a blessing to you and to us, and you are a blessing to him – and sometimes, maybe a challenge,” Bishop Woost quipped.
He thanked the parishioners for sharing Father Mamich, noting, “He’s doing wonderful things for Bishop (Edward) Malesic and me.”
Other important dates in parish history during the month of April included the Palm Sunday (April 11) 1965 tornado that destroyed the original Quonset hut church and parish hall and damaged the school (but missed the new church) and April 29, 2014, when parishioner Jim Lechko donated a kidney to Father Mamich, who had been struggling with kidney disease for several years. (Their story was featured in the September/October 2018 issue of Northeast Ohio Catholic magazine; see pg. 16).
After Mass, Strongsville Mayor Tom Perciak presented a proclamation to Father Gonzalez and proclaimed April 27 to be “Father Andy Gonzalez Day” in the city.
Parishioners, family and friends enjoyed a reception after Mass in the parish hall.