Our Lady of Grace offers lively services

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 14, 2001

AMY SZPARA

PHOTO: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Reserve has several Masses parishioners can attend, including a late morning Sunday service featuring a full-gospel choir. (Staff Photo by Amy Szpara) RESERVE – The Sunday late morning Mass at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Reserve packs a full house, and even the young people get excited about attending because of the full-gospel choir and the feeling of complete freedom to really let the Holy Spirit move them from their seats. “It’s less conservative, less reserved,” said the Rev. Joseph Rodney, who is going on his third year as pastor at Our Lady of Grace. “This church has good community spirit.” Established in 1937, the church now has around 400 families on record, and there are plenty of opportunities to worship. There is a Saturday vigil Mass at 5 p.m., then on Sunday, there are Masses at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. The early morning Mass is less crowded, and it caters to those who prefer to worship in a more quiet, traditional manner. A Monday evening Mass is offered at 6 p.m. throughout the year except for during the summer. Tuesday Mass is at 6:30 a.m., and a Holy hour at 5 p.m. is followed by a 6 p.m. Mass on Wednesday nights. Before becoming pastor at Our Lady of Grace, Rodney was at St. Benedict in Napoleonville. “This is a great parish,” he said. “The people are really attending on Sundays. We are prospering and will continue to prosper. The good attitude here will continue.” One interesting aspect of the church is that the children host the services once a month. They usher, sing and do the readings. A church with real character, the history and spirit-filled, gospel-style services give the church a unique individuality. According to Rodney, there is no difference in the teachings between white and black Catholic churches, but the difference lies in the music style. “A lot of black Catholic churches have a more spirited worship style, the kind you would find in a Protestant church,” said Rodney. Though the church is open to everyone, its parishioners are predominately black. Rodney said the congregation grew out of the St. Peter Catholic Community just down the road. Due to segregation, black Catholics needed their own place to worship, and shortly after Monsignor Jean M. Eyraud built a school for black children in 1931, plans for a church emerged. In 1937, the original Our Lady of Grace was constructed, and it remained intact until 1992 when parishioners got their new building. The Catholic school built in 1931 sat behind St. Peter, but it was later moved to the site where it is now. Though St. Peter and Our Lady of Grace do not combine efforts to have social activities together, Rodney said that may be in the future. “Little by little, things are getting there. The two schools visit each other, and I’m friends with the pastor there,” he said. When parishioners decided to build a new church, the old one was moved across town and given to a Protestant congregation. It is still in its original form and is now used by the Rev. Steven Perrilloux, who is pastor at Riverlands Christian Center in Reserve. The old convent, which sits to the left of Our Lady of Grace, nestled in between the school and the house of worship, no longer houses nuns. The children are taught by lay teachers, and Rodney uses the convent as his home. The original rectory, to the right of the church, looks more like a house with its small peach frame, but it is now being used for meetings. Rodney plans to move into the building soon and turn the convent into an office building. Wilhelmina Armour, 73, has been a member of Our Lady of Grace her entire life. She made her first communion at St. Peter, where her mother and father both made their first communions. “All black Catholics went to St. Peter up until 1937,” said Armour. “It was segregated, and we had to sit in the back of the church.” Armour was about 10 years old when Our Lady of Grace was constructed and she moved to her new church. She was also in the first group of graduates from the school. Armour was later one of the first lay teachers at the school, beginning when it was turned into a high school in 1951. She later worked for the public school system. Because of her first-hand knowledge of the parish, she has written the history of Our Lady of Grace. According to Rodney, she is an expert on Our Lady of Grace, and anyone wanting to know the history of the school, church or parish, gets the story from her. With its rich history, the lively Sunday morning worship services and the dedicated parishioners, Our Lady of Grace adds special flavor to Reserve. Editor’s Note: This article is part of a weekly series of profiles of River Parishes’ houses of worship. If you would like to have your house of worship profiled by a member of the news staff, contact Community Editor Donna Keating at 985-652-9545 or send an e-mail to lobnews@bellsouth.net