Pope Benedict XVI is making his way to the United States next month, and while many Catholics are anticipating the visit and making travel plans, one local business is doing more. Patrick Baker & Sons Inc., of Southington, is supplying candles, vestments and other items for the pope’s Masses in New York.
“It is an honor,” said Michael Baker, a salesman at the business’s 1650 West St. location. “It is a highlight in my career” to supply goods for the event.
The pope will visit New York from April 18 to 20, following his visit to Washington, D.C., from April 15 to 17.
On April 18, Benedict will address the United Nations, then participate in an ecumenical service at a parish church in the city. On April 19, he will celebrate a Mass with priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and meet with youths and seminarians at the St. Joseph Seminary and with disabled children in the seminary’s chapel. On April 20, the pope will visit ground zero and celebrate a public solemn pontifical Mass at Yankee Stadium, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of New York.
Tickets for the Mass at Yankee Stadium were allocated to parishes, and all ticket deadlines have passed.
“I’m very excited for everybody who would take the event seriously and be there,” Baker said.
For many, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the pope, Baker said. This visit, however, will not a first for Baker; his business also supplied items for Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1995, and he was able to see the pope then.
Baker said that he is especially excited about this visit because he will attend a smaller Mass with the pope in a chapel, and will be closer to the pope.
Patrick Baker & Sons has had a strong relationship with the Archdiocese of New York over the years. The company will provide candles with the papal seal, candlesticks, chalices and vestments for the priests. The business is also polishing old metal ware for the Masses.
Baker & Sons has done extensive work at St. Patrick’s and at other Catholic churches in the Northeast, newspaper files show, including renovations to bring sanctuaries into compliance with the Vatican II liturgical reforms enacted in the 1960s. Among those renovated sanctuaries were those at Most Holy Trinity Church in Wallingford and Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Woodbridge.

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