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What an exciting time for our parish, but a very busy time. From the Festival de la Grande Eglise to The Cemetery Tours to All Saints and All Souls Day and our Annual Memorial Mass. In the background of all these event have been the Valentin Hall Renovations, The Centennial Campaign and the blessing of locating and receiving Fr. Verbis Lafleur's chalice. Here's an update on how our current activities are going.
Fr. Lafleur's Chalice
I promised at masses that I would let you know how Fr. Lafleur's chalice was located and received, so here it is. Several weeks ago, Fr. Tom Voorhies, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Ville Platte was able to make contact with Fr. Carl Beekman, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois and someone with whom Fr. Voorhies was familiar. Some of you know Fr. Beekman as he lived in our diocese for several years and eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest.
When Fr. Lafleur died his heroic death in the waters just off the Philippine Islands, his chalice, which had been left behind with his family for safekeeping, was given to his nephew, Wilfred Sylvester, who was in the seminary and was also ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette. Fr. Sylvester left the chalice to now Fr. Beekman should he be ordained, and Fr. Beekman was ordained and took possession of the chalice. Fr. Voorhies became aware of this and checked with Fr. Beekman about returning the chalice to Fr. Lafleur's childhood parish, Sacred Heart in Ville Platte. Fr. Beekman, who I spoke to last week, was willing to do this.
Upon hearing this news, myself and Richard and Carrol Lafleur (Fr. Lafleur's nephew and niece-in-law) traveled to Cary, Illinois by car, picked up the chalice and brought it home. We were able to use the chalice, very fittingly, for our All Saints Day and All Souls Day Masses.
What a wonderfully generous gift this was by Fr. Beekman. As I mentioned to some of you, a priest's chalice is akin to wedding rings for married couples, so it was something very special to Fr. Beekman. Please keep him in your prayers and thank God for his generosity! In the near future, we intend to return the chalice to Sacred Heart in Ville Platte for safekeeping. When needed for special occasions in the future, it will be available for us to borrow. Thanks to Fr. Voorhies for locating the chalice, Richard and Carrol Lafleur for traveling to retrieve it, and most of all to Fr. Beekman for his kindness and generosity!
Construction Update
We have nearly completed the renovation work on the second floor of the hall, and it has turned out beautifully. The parking lot is complete and fully functional except for some work to be done on the fence and sidewalks, and it will be of great service to our parish both in access to the hall and to the church building. Over the next week, construction will begin on the first floor on the kitchen side of the building, and myself and Deacons Diesi and Joubert will move into our new offices on the second floor.
The next two phases of construction will cause the most inconvenience to you and our operations, so I ask for your patience. For now, Priscilla Guidroz (our receptionist and archivist) and Lois Joubert (our bookkeeper) will be located on the first floor on the north side of the building. The entire area from the entrance hall to the kitchen will be under construction, and the back door to the kitchen will be unavailable for use. The chapel will remain open for visitation during business hours. We are doing what we can to accommodate all with the facilities that we have available. Please be sure to schedule any use of the facilities with Priscilla as far in advance as possible!
Campaign Update
Last week we began the telephone solicitation phase of the campaign. We continue to move towards our goal. At the time of this writing we are rapidly approaching, if not already exceeded, $300,000 in pledges. Many thanks to all who have made both donations and pledges to this point!
Volunteer Banquet
Don't forget our volunteer banquet set for Sunday evening, November 20th, at 6pm at the Opelousas Catholic Cafeteria. All volunteers who gave of their time and talent to our church community are invited. Look forward to seeing you all there
Fr. Lafleur's Chalice
I promised at masses that I would let you know how Fr. Lafleur's chalice was located and received, so here it is. Several weeks ago, Fr. Tom Voorhies, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Ville Platte was able to make contact with Fr. Carl Beekman, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois and someone with whom Fr. Voorhies was familiar. Some of you know Fr. Beekman as he lived in our diocese for several years and eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest.
When Fr. Lafleur died his heroic death in the waters just off the Philippine Islands, his chalice, which had been left behind with his family for safekeeping, was given to his nephew, Wilfred Sylvester, who was in the seminary and was also ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette. Fr. Sylvester left the chalice to now Fr. Beekman should he be ordained, and Fr. Beekman was ordained and took possession of the chalice. Fr. Voorhies became aware of this and checked with Fr. Beekman about returning the chalice to Fr. Lafleur's childhood parish, Sacred Heart in Ville Platte. Fr. Beekman, who I spoke to last week, was willing to do this.
Upon hearing this news, myself and Richard and Carrol Lafleur (Fr. Lafleur's nephew and niece-in-law) traveled to Cary, Illinois by car, picked up the chalice and brought it home. We were able to use the chalice, very fittingly, for our All Saints Day and All Souls Day Masses.
What a wonderfully generous gift this was by Fr. Beekman. As I mentioned to some of you, a priest's chalice is akin to wedding rings for married couples, so it was something very special to Fr. Beekman. Please keep him in your prayers and thank God for his generosity! In the near future, we intend to return the chalice to Sacred Heart in Ville Platte for safekeeping. When needed for special occasions in the future, it will be available for us to borrow. Thanks to Fr. Voorhies for locating the chalice, Richard and Carrol Lafleur for traveling to retrieve it, and most of all to Fr. Beekman for his kindness and generosity!
Construction Update
We have nearly completed the renovation work on the second floor of the hall, and it has turned out beautifully. The parking lot is complete and fully functional except for some work to be done on the fence and sidewalks, and it will be of great service to our parish both in access to the hall and to the church building. Over the next week, construction will begin on the first floor on the kitchen side of the building, and myself and Deacons Diesi and Joubert will move into our new offices on the second floor.
The next two phases of construction will cause the most inconvenience to you and our operations, so I ask for your patience. For now, Priscilla Guidroz (our receptionist and archivist) and Lois Joubert (our bookkeeper) will be located on the first floor on the north side of the building. The entire area from the entrance hall to the kitchen will be under construction, and the back door to the kitchen will be unavailable for use. The chapel will remain open for visitation during business hours. We are doing what we can to accommodate all with the facilities that we have available. Please be sure to schedule any use of the facilities with Priscilla as far in advance as possible!
Campaign Update
Last week we began the telephone solicitation phase of the campaign. We continue to move towards our goal. At the time of this writing we are rapidly approaching, if not already exceeded, $300,000 in pledges. Many thanks to all who have made both donations and pledges to this point!
Volunteer Banquet
Don't forget our volunteer banquet set for Sunday evening, November 20th, at 6pm at the Opelousas Catholic Cafeteria. All volunteers who gave of their time and talent to our church community are invited. Look forward to seeing you all there
Fr. Brady
The bulletin for the week of November 20, 2016 has been posted. Click here to see it.
The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.
Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.
Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.
And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.
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