Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: March 13, 2016
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This week invitations to a very special celebration are going out. It originated back in the 1980s as “Bishop’s Day in Plantation Country,” when our beloved Bishop Stanley Joseph Ott would join St. Joseph parishioners on a fun bus-trip to various beautiful venues in the area. Simplified to just “Bishop’s Day,” it then became a parish fundraising banquet. This year we’re re-branding the event yet again, to make best use of the calendar and of our renovated and expanded Cathedral Parish Hall. It’s now being called “An Evening at the Cathedral” and it will be held on Saturday, April 16. Please mark your calendars now!
We’ll begin with a special vigil Mass at 4 pm, and then move over to the Hall for a glass of wine or two before enjoying a wonderful banquet dinner catered by our good friends at Boudreaux’s. Tickets are only $60 per person – a real bargain for so much good food and drink and friendship! – and so I hope you will be able to come!
Part of the celebration is the identification of some of our wonderful faithful as “St. Joseph Apprentices.” Looking back over the years – we’ve been doing this for 26 years now! – the roster of “St. Joseph Apprentices” reads like a Hall of Fame for St. Joseph Cathedral Parish. These are people who mean so much to us, because of their loving presence, their active service, their generous support and of course always their deep and abiding faith.
Heading the list of Apprentices in 2016 will be retired Archbishop Alfred Hughes, former Bishop of Baton Rouge and a longtime friend of so many in our community. Also being recognized are Mr. Chip Landry; Mrs. Angele Davis Kelley; and Mr. and Mrs. Marino and Betty Casem.
Chip has been the Sexton of our historic St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery further down Main Street for decades now: no one is more knowledgeable and involved in its upkeep. His is truly a labor of love as he looks after the resting places of so many of our forebears who await the resurrection of the dead in that quiet, sacred place.
Angele has served our Parish as extraordinary minister of the eucharist, as part of the team who helped make our Together for Tomorrow capital campaign five years ago successful (especially by starring in the video!), and now in our Parish Nursery every few Sundays. She and her husband Judge Tim Kelley also have their hands full raising their son Davis to be more than just cute and smart!
The Casems are longtime members of the Parish, always sharing their prayers and smiles at the 10 am Sunday Mass. Many will remember “Coach” Casem for his years of service as football coach and athletic director of Alcorn State University and more recently Southern University; he is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. And he’s proud to acknowledge that his lovely wife Betty is the one who coaches him!
Since 2013 our Parish has bestowed another award, too. Known as the “Cathedral Community Award,” it expresses our Parish’s gratitude to some who do so much for the broader population. We are, after all, the Cathedral for the entire Baton Rouge area, and have a responsibility within that larger community! This year’s honoree, though, is also one of our own: Mr. Davis Rhorer, the Executive Director of the Downtown Development District here in Baton Rouge. As a downtown church, we know well what Davis has championed over the years: he and the DDD have brought businesses, entertainment, safety, events, and most of all residents back to our area. And downtown’s renaissance shows no sign of stopping: we’re proud to honor him for being, bar none, the best salesman for downtown in every way!
But one more event is coming up this very week! On Friday, March 18 (the day before the actual day itself, since it falls on a Saturday), here at the Cathedral we will celebrate our diocese’s and parish’s patronal feast: the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Bishop Muench’s special noon Mass that day will include a special blessing of the traditional St. Joseph’s Altar prepared by the Ladies of the Cathedral. Also, a free Lenten meal for everyone will be served in the Parish Hall from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm by them and our loyal Knights of Columbus of Council No. 13632. St. Joseph gave tender, fatherly care to Jesus, and since he’s our patron he surely offers the same fatherly spiritual care to us all. Please join us if you can!
In Christ’s love,
