Pastor Letters
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Letter from Fr. Dubois
On October 17th I will be with our next group of volunteers who will begoing
to Mississippi to continue our efforts in helping to clean up and rebuild
the devastated area around St.Thomas Parish. I am looking forward to this
trip to see what progress has been made since my last visit just after Hurricane
Katrina moved through the area. I have been speaking to Fr. Louis on a regular
basis and I know from him and from those who have gone there since my last
visit that a certain amount of progress has been made. But there is so much
more to do. I will take many photos and will share them with you when I return.
I am so proud of all those who have gone on these mission trips already and
of those who are looking forward to going in the future. This is a great ministry.
Since our parish is centered on the two foundation pillars of Love and Service
we are truly carrying out those principles in action. If you were unable to
make this trip I believe that there is one being planned for some time in
January (a great way to get away from the cold and snow for a week). Please
keep us in your prayers and please continue to pray for all those affected
by that devastating hurricane.
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Letter from Fr. Lohan
It is almost one year since Hurricane Katrina
crossed our coast and destroyed all of the buildings on the campus of St. Thomas the Apostle in
Long Beach. Only the steel beams for the church and Parish Life Center still stand with portions of
the roof -- the stain glass windows in the church survived. Since that day, we have encountered God in so
many different ways -- through visitors, volunteers, donors, helpers, prayers -- we are I awe of
the many ways that we have received help from all around the world.
Even though many of our families lost their homes or have homes that are severely damaged,
the loudest cry from our parish families is: "Give us back our church." Our Knights of Columbus
Council 4898 bought a local skating rink. With the help of Seabees, parents, volunteers, Knights and
their families, the skating rink was turned into our school, church, and later, parish offices.
Prior to our first Mass celebrated in the "skating rink", we were fortunate to be able to use the sanctuary
of Grace Lutheran Church. Immediately, our parish families came together to worship and to
share. Slowly but surely, different ministries have been recreated (we started from scratch with no
paperwork, files, equipment, music, candles, etc.) Most of the materials and resources to revitalize
our parish life came from donations. We received the news that our elementary
school and the elementary school of St. Paul's in Pass Christian would be merged into one school to
be built at Our Lady of Lourdes -- the new name of our school is St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School.
A big decision to be made by the parish was where to rebuild our church and other buildings.
After a parish survey, we are now proceeding with plans to rebuild our Parish Life Center, Church,
Educational Classrooms and Rectory on the site which has been occupied by the parish since 1905 -- at 720 East Beach Boulevard. Now, we are in the meeting
stages -- making decisions that we will coordinate with an architect to design our new, beautiful campus which we will be able to build because of the generosity of
our donors and the faith of our parish.
(Taken from Gulf Pine Catholic, Biloxi Diocesan Newspaper, Aug. 18,2006).
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