Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: November 04, 2018
I don’t want another paragraph to go by before extending many thanks to everyone who made last Sunday’s GRAND Day so wonderful! In church we heard inspiring readings from young Mia Barfield and Wil Weston, and our procession of saints featured Carter Barfield, Ada Diez, Matthew Dupré, Eli Gendron, Davis Kelley, Miles and Madelin Melancon, Vera Spencer, and Philip Takyi. The St. James Treble Choir from our neighbor St. James Episcopal Church down the street, under the direction of Eric Johnson, added a wonderful, fresh choral voice to the Mass, along with our own magnificent Cathedral Choir under the direction of our Director of Music and Organist Robbie Giroir.
Lots of appreciation goes out to Bobbie Carey, who chairs our Development Committee. No group shares responsibility better than they do: Tino Dalmau, Tommy Darensbourg, Mary Ellen Davros, Mary Furlow, Dorothy Hall, Gwen Hamilton, Jackie Kreutzer, Shirley Mundt, Michelle Nardini, Tom Oswald, Rose Mary Poirrier, Erick Swenson, Nancy Virga, Vic and Joy Weston, and Sylvia Winder. Lorie Weeks and the Cathedral staff of Carla Kennedy, Debbie Orsot and Rick Naputi were also indispensable.
Tom Acosta leads the wonderful Knights of our KC Council No. 13632 as Grand Knight, but a special word has to go out to Dan Bouy who was the “head chef” out by the grill. The Red River Bank Ice Cream Truck offered wonderful treats: I especially liked the “Italian ice” pushups (but Bobbie said she was especially impressed with the ice cream sandwiches which dwarfed any others she’s ever seen!). Deputies Kim Rankin and Ron Johnson, our regular security team, provided their usual watchful eye, as did some Baton Rouge City Police personnel who blocked off a few streets and shepherded cars around the blockades as needed. The usual “supporting cast of musicians, face painters, caricature artists, balloon-bending specialists – and of course the wonderful folk who provide the petting zoo, pony rides and little train – are now beloved “fixtures” here on GRAND Day. Huge thanks go out to them all!
Lastly I want to thank all of the GRANDchildren, -parents and -grandparents – and GRAND friends of the Cathedral! – who came and made the day special by such wonderful, friendly participation. It was the best-attended GRAND Day ever: the church was virtually full and for the first time we actually ran out of hamburgers before I got one! (Fortunately plenty of hot dogs, chips, ice cream and soft drinks made up for it!) I laughingly took credit for the wonderful weather, but in reality of course it is our GRAND God who’s responsible for that!
The only thing that took away from the joy of GRAND Day was the national sadness over the senseless murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the day before. While it seems to me that the perpetrator clearly is mentally-ill, his racist views along with his murderous actions deserve the strongest condemnations. It behooves all of us to redouble all of our efforts to enjoy not just a safe society, but one in which the diversity of religions, ethnic groups and heritages are valued and promoted. God’s priorities are our faith community’s values – and we must work to spread them throughout our country and world.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Paul D. Counce
