Church Rebuilding Efforts
A Special "Thank You" for the many contributions from various surrounding churches
We have been blessed to have the opportunity to resurrect these cherished items from St. Maurice Church into our "new and improved" Our Lady of Lourdes Church. We are indebted to the archdiocese of New Orleans, Fr. Joe (pastor of St. David Church), as well as the gracious parishioners of St. David Church and the fellow St. Maurice Church parishioners. These wonderful gifts will allow us to have a beautiful place of worship once again. We are fortunate to have the ability to restore these items and welcome them into our new church building. We are extremely grateful and appreciative. This beautiful marble altar will hold our new tabernacle perfectly.
Mary, Queen of Peace Church in Mandeville donated their large wooden altar and altar furnishings when they dedicated their new church in 2008. They also hoped to donate their pews for us to have as well. Unfortunately, the cost to restore these pews and fit them into our worship space, made this cost prohibitive. It would cost us slightly more to purchase new pews, that will fit our new church perfectly, than to restore their donated pews. We are grateful to Fr. Calkins and the parishioners of Mary, Queen of Peace for their gifts. We are restoring their large mahogany wooden altar, which matches the donated podium, lectern and altar chairs. These will be a very welcomed addition to our newly rebuilt church.
We had just received a beautiful, brand new tabernacle from a generous Lourdes family donation when Katrina struck. Fr. Frank and Fr. Kyle were in the process of scheduling a special dedication ceremony of the tabernacle, along with the installation of the new stained glass window behind the altar. The new "eagle" window is now installed and the tabernacle is being refinished. We have been assured that the tabernacle will look brand new afterwards. We are elated that the tabernacle was recovered and will be in it's pristine condition for our dedication ceremony. A special Thank You for the generous donation and to St. Anthony for the answered prayers, in the recovery of our "lost" tabernacle.
The rebuilding team meets regularly at church with the architect, contractors and Archdiocese representatives to check the progress of the rebuilding process. We are assured everything is on schedule for the dedication.
These are just a few of the items that have been restored. The altar furniture is complete and ready for delivery. The tabernacle is close to being completely refinished. It is remarkable how well all the metal items were restored. The candle stands and tabernacle pieces all look brand new. Yes, that is Fr. John working. He was helping us touch-up the Stations of the Cross from St. Maurice Church. We are so glad to be able to acquire these cherished items.
The parking lot is being extended with another driveway leading to Judge Perez Drive. The drainage in the circular drive and parking area is FINALLY being fixed. There are new light poles being installed to light up the parking area leading to church. These new improvements with a few others, that are in the works, will be a very welcomed addition to the outside of the church.
