Looking for a way to honor Modesto's first responders? Here's where and when to do it

If you drive by and notice a sea of emergency vehicles parked outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Saturday, Jan. 13, worry not: it’s blessings, not mayhem happening inside.

Prayers and gratitude will send the region's first responders into the new year as the annual Blue Mass returns to the Modesto church.

Organized and sponsored by the St. Joseph’s Knights of Columbus, the public event also includes speakers and a luncheon to celebrate police, fire, sheriff, FBI, California Highway Patrol, emergency medical technicians and other emergency personnel. Open to all first responders and the community as a whole, it's geared to offer thanks to the men and women who serve here, as well as to their families.

This year’s Mass will include a message by Capt. Julian Irigoyen of the California Highway Patrol office in Modesto, who will remember the CHP officer from Tracy who was killed on Christmas Eve, according to Al Toschi, grand knight of the St. Joseph’s Knights. Officer Andrew Camilleri died after his patrol vehicle was struck by an alleged drunken driver along Interstate 880 in Hayward.

Also speaking at the Mass will be Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson, Toschi said.

While the service is Catholic, people of all denominations as well as those who are non-religious are invited, he said.

“It’s to honor and show our support for the (people) who are out there every day responding to every incident you can think of and to let them know there’s a community behind them and praying for them,” Toschi said.

As always, the service will open with a color guard and bagpipe-lead procession from St. Joseph’s Father O’Hare Hall, through the parking lot and to the church. Mass will be presided over by Rev. Mark Wagner, along with other area priests.

Following Mass, a blessing of responder vehicles will be offered back in the parking lot. After, a free lunch open to all responders, their families and the public will be held at the hall.

This marks the 16th Blue Mass at St. Joseph’s, a tradition that began after the 9/11 attacks. While the Masses began after those attacks, Toschi said that they are not so much to commemorate that tragedy as they are an opportunity to honor the local men and women who put themselves at risk for the community.

“Sometimes that gets mixed up,” he said. “This is an honoring of all our local first responders, who we know will do whatever is necessary to handle any emergency.”

Blue Mass

WHEN: 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13

WHERE: St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 1813 Oakdale Road, Modesto

ONLINE:www.stjmod.com

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Looking for a way to honor Modesto's first responders? Here's where and when to do it."