Historic ceremonial dedication rite honors restoration work, those who made it possible

By Pamela Seal
(Reprinted with permission)
"Temple. House. Presence. Prayer."

WELSH – The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, celebrated the Solemnity of Saint Peter Claver, the patron of the Diocese of Lake Charles, Sunday, September 8,  in St. Joseph Catholic Church as he  installed the new pastor for St. Joseph, the Reverend Gali Pradeep, a priest of the Heralds of Good News, a missionary society with a number of other clergy serving in the Diocese.

Bishop Glen John Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles

Dedication of Immaculate Conception Cathedral
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Lake Charles, Louisiana
 
“I have truly built you a princely house and dwelling, where you may abide forever.” II Chronicles 6:2

Did Father Hubert Cramers call to mind that verse from Second Chronicles when he first stepped foot into his new church?   I would like to think he did.   Solomon observes the priests transporting the Ark of the Covenant into the new temple with great ceremony and rejoices that God now lives with His People.    The sacred place is filled with the sound of trumpets and a cloud of incense.   The Lord’s glory indeed consumes the house of God (II Chronicles 5:14).

In commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the official year of 1919 was chosen because in that year the Holy Ghost Fathers took on the task of establishing Sacred Heart Church as a parish. In actual fact, however, the history of Sacred Heart Church as a parish goes back to the “lady with a dream” – Miss Eleanor Figaro, who preceded the first pastor, Father Anthony Hackett, by ter.n years. During the period between 1908 and 1919, the history of the church and that of Sacred Heart School were so interwoven that the development of one cannot be told without telling the other.

By Bishop Glen John Provost
The painting of St. Agatha, which now graces the narthex of the Cathedral, began its journey to us several years ago when Mr. Ronald L. McGinley contacted me to donate the historic work to the Diocese of Lake Charles.   The painting was part of the succession of Brent Wickliffe Fenet to her daughter, Brent Fenet McGinley, Mr. McGinley’s beloved wife.   The painting is donated in memory of Mrs. McGinley and her mother and enjoyed a long history in the Wickliffe family.