WEST PALM BEACH | With a gleaming new ceiling overhead composed of panels showing nine stars each in recollection of Christ’s “ninth hour” in the Gospel of Matthew, Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito blessed the holy water Jan. 10 during St. Juliana’s 75th diamond jubilee celebration.
The bishop, along with St. Juliana’s pastor Father Ducasse François, then used that same holy water to bless a $2 million restoration project of the church’s historic sanctuary.
To mark the three-quarters of a century of local history, the renovations included new ceiling art and lighting, new statuary, as well as a new corpus for the crucifix.
The restoration work was entrusted to the Wisconsin-based Conrad Schmitt Studios, which specializes in art restoration and conservation, especially in churches and other notable structures.
“It is a great joy for me to be with all of you this evening, the parish community of this wonderful parish of St. Juliana as we celebrate 75 years tonight — 75 years of you as a loving community who compose this church,” Bishop Barbarito said.
“And it’s wonderful to see the magnificent renovation that has taken place during the past year. Father Ducasse and all of you have done a great job, and I am grateful for your generosity in making this come about,” he said.
The bishop recalled the parish’s earliest beginnings, when Mass was first celebrated in the former Carefree Theater at Dixie Highway and Flamingo Drive in West Palm Beach, thus giving the fledgling parish an informal name of “St. Carefree.”
“When I think of the parish and the people of St. Juliana, the last thing I think of them is being carefree, but (instead) full of care — your priests over the years, your present pastor, all of those who are here, and those who have served the parish in so many different ways, show in different ways what the meaning of church is all about,” the bishop added. “And that is to give care — the care of Jesus Christ.”
For the first time in the renovation process, Father François, in his closing remarks, said he felt a little emotional as he talked about the lengthy project.
“I am grateful to have been part of this journey with you and thankful for everything you have done for the parish, and here we are. The beautification of the church was possible because you helped us reach our goal, and most of all you trusted the team and you trusted us, and I want to thank you for that,” Father François told the gathering.
While the architectural integrity and bare stone walls of the church were preserved, some of the beautification highlights include:
A new ceiling decor painted with a celestial theme arranged in perfect order to demonstrate the divine perfection of heaven. Each panel contains nine stars of three different sizes. In Scripture, nine is the number of divine completion. It recalls the “ninth hour” in Matthew 27:50 — the moment of Christ’s passing and the beginning of mankind’s redemption. This number also honors the patroness, St. Juliana, whose martyrdom mirrored Christ’s sacrifice and completed her spiritual journey.
New sanctuary and statuary, including a gold faux mosaic design gracing the existing church arches and providing a background for the statue of St. Juliana. The statues of Mary and Joseph have been placed on either side of the high altar. They are surrounded by leafy border patterns, symbolically joining them with the vines above, reminding people of the fruitfulness of the Holy Family. The new reredos above the altar depicts the Lamb of God surrounded by palm branches, the ancient symbol of Christian martyrdom.
A new corpus for the crucifix is an almost life-size wood carving of Jesus serving as the focal point of prayer. It is a stark reminder of the love that allows worshipers to call the parish their home.
Father François said the idea of the renovations for the parish diamond jubilee was also “to make sure that our hearts continue to be beautiful for the Lord,” he said.
“We have a beautiful place, and will continue to have, but the whole idea is how we want to make our heart beautiful for the Lord, so we are going to continue to pray together to make sure we achieve this goal,” he said.
As a parishioner who arrived in Florida 10 years ago from Cuba, Armando Garcia, who is also Hispanic ministry coordinator for the Diocese of Palm Beach, said he wondered at first if and how he would find a spiritual home in the U.S.
“I was living my faith in Cuba, but one of my worries was if I would be able to reconnect with the church and the faith in another country, and that was very important to me at the time,” he said. “St. Juliana welcomed me as a son, with open doors, and I see that every day — so many do respond with a generous heart to whatever the pastor asks of them here.”
Recent waves of immigrants passing through St. Juliana Parish included Central Americans and people from the Caribbean islands, including the Dominican Republic, which coincidentally is home to a Dominican-born member of the parish staff, Father Maximinio Matos Sánchez, parochial vicar.
The new bishop-elect of Palm Beach, Father Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez , who is Dominican-born, will find a welcome home at St. Juliana, Garcia said. “Every time there is a church sale or a Christmas celebration, for example, the response is big and wonderful and open to everyone,” he said.
Parishioners Tom and Kerry McCaffrey said they have been attending St. Juliana since 2002. “It’s a great sense of community here, and you can see the cross-section demographics among the congregation as well as the priests,” Tom said. “You can see it in the way all of this came together; the way fundraising came together in short order.”
Lynn and Steve Watson, who attended Bible study at the parish, said they were relatively new members of the parish, arriving one year into the coronavirus pandemic after relocating and retiring from the north.
“We were very lucky to find St. Juliana right around the corner from us; it was a gift from God, really,” Steve said, pointing out there are nine Masses offered during the weekend.
His wife added that it is a welcoming, loving environment that attracted them here.
“We still go up north for the summer, and when I come back I get a big hug from Father (François), he remembers my name and is so spiritual and genuine,” Lynn said.
For more information on St. Juliana Parish, visit https://stjulianacatholicchurch.com/, call 561-833-9745, and follow on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
