Our journey has been long and storied... 1.) On Saturday November 11, 2006, The Courier-Journal wrote: St. Joseph Catholic Church in Butchertown is being revitalized by melding two distinct communities -- one very old and one relatively new. The church's new administrator, the Rev. David Sanchez, has begun holding concerts and community dinners at the church and started a bilingual Spanish and English Mass on Sundays. The moves are attracting new families to the old church and bringing together the traditional, old-German and newer Hispanic communities. "The combination of bringing the old community and the Hispanic community together has fit like a hand in a glove," longtime church member Ron Lazas of Crestwood said. Sanchez will be called an administrator for a year under archdiocesan terminology, and can then become the parish's official pastor. He has been at the church for less than three months, but St. Joseph already is seeing growth in attendance and membership. His goal is to have 200 new families join the parish within a year, and the church has already added 90 families in his brief tenure, he said. Historically, St. Joseph, which was founded in 1866, has been the core of Butchertown. Many of the church's families are second- and third-generation members who live in nearly every ZIP code in the city, Sanchez said. St. Joseph had for years been administered by the Franciscan Order, but six or seven years ago was taken over by the Archdiocese of Louisville, Lazas said. A new parish priest was assigned to the church, but he died after less than a year while on a trip to Germany. The church then had a substitute priest for about eight months, and a nun as an administrator before Sanchez arrived. "We're always a bit leery about what's going to happen next, but thank God for Father David. He's come in and really stabilized the church family," Lazas said. The weekly bilingual Mass and the community dinners, which are held on the third Sunday of every month, have been drawing hundreds of people to the church, and not all of them have been Hispanic, Sanchez said. Many of the newer families are Anglos who want their children to learn Spanish, he said. Sanchez also recently officiated at his first German-language Mass for a German heritage festival in Butchertown. He likes to joke that he is the only Hispanic priest in the parish with a German accent. All of which has combined to bring new life and activity to the church. "The purpose is to bring the community together, to embrace the new parishioners and to embrace the new neighbors," he said. "We are the church with the open heart. ... Everyone is welcome here." The archdiocese announced last week that it is considering "clustering" St. Joseph with Holy Name Catholic Church on South Third Street as part of its 2006 Parish and Regional Planning process. Unlike in a merger situation, churches that are clustered remain independent parishes but share a pastor. Holy Name and St. Joseph both have burgeoning Hispanic populations and have had decreasing Anglo populations. Sanchez said the churches, and his work in them both, would be similar in nature if the plan goes through. The thought of ministering to two churches does not seem daunting to Sanchez, perhaps because in his home country of Puerto Rico, he said, priests often work with as many as five parishes. If the proposal goes through, he has confidence that the members at St. Joseph and Holy Name would work with him to make it all work out. "That comes from the will of the people to work with the priest," he said. 2.) On March 14, 2007 The Courier journal published: A parade and other events scheduled Saturday will showcase the cultural diversity and new energy that has made St. Joseph Catholic Church in Butchertown one of the fastest-growing Catholic churches in Louisville. The parade, perhaps the first to honor St. Joseph in the church's 141 years, and a supper and music that will follow will include touches of Irish, German, Italian, Belgian and Hispanic cultures. Mass, a chili supper, music and dancing will follow. The Rev. David Sanchez, a native of Puerto Rico who became pastor of St. Joseph about six months ago, wants to attract new parishioners by emphasizing diversity and launching new programs, such as Masses in Spanish, community suppers and concerts. Even the recorded message on the parish telephone is in English and Spanish. The Spanish-language parts of the message refer to St. Joseph as San Jose. The number of parish families has jumped to 568 from 414 since Sanchez became pastor. That makes St. Joseph one of the fastest-growing parishes in Louisville, said Cecelia Price, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Louisville. Most of the new families are Latino, said Maria Paralta, a native of Argentina who has lived in Louisville for 15 years and recently joined the parish. "I used to go to the English Mass at another church, but Spanish is my first language, so I started going to St. Joseph," Paralta said. "Father Sanchez is a young priest with a lot of energy. The parish is so alive." Bruce Poppe, another new parishioner, is not Hispanic, but he agreed that the church is alive. "I tried several other local churches before I jointed St. Joseph," Poppe said. "I liked Father Sanchez's personality and the overall feel of the church. It's outgoing and friendly and a lot is happening. The diversity is an attraction, too. That's definitely something I hadn't experienced before." The parade is part of the parish's celebration of St. Joseph's feast day, which is Monday . The parish will celebrate it on Saturday so more people can attend. The parade will incorporate Sanchez's multicultural approach by including Adixion, a band of high-school exchange students from Mexico who will play music from Argentina, Puerto Rico, Mexico and other Hispanic countries. In addition, children from the parish day-care center will toss St. Joseph cordons to bystanders. Cordons, which will be in plastic bags, are ropes about a yard long with seven knots that symbolize St. Joseph's seven sorrows, such as the flight into Egypt and the birth of Jesus in poverty. The parade, which is being held on St. Patrick's Day, also will include a float by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organization. Mass is scheduled at 4 p.m. Sanchez said he will bless small statues of St. Joseph that some Catholics bury in their yards before selling their houses. The chili supper will include desserts prepared by parishioners that reflect their German, Italian, Irish and Hispanic backgrounds. The entire event will combine "the devotional, the festive and the diverse," Sanchez said. Those are the three cornerstones of his plan for a revived parish. Diversity is not new to St. Joseph. It was a mixed Irish-German parish when it opened in 1866 with a German-born pastor, the Rev. Leopold Walterspiel. Sanchez joked that he speaks German -- with a Hispanic accent. Reporter Bill Pike can be reached at (502) 582-4243.