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What's New at St. Elizabeth and St.JulesOur New Pipe Organ arrived from Oregon. Ferrand-Votey Pipe Organ offered to St. Elizabeth Church In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man's mind to God and to higher things. From the Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium #120.
Would you consider being an Organ Donor? One of our parishioners, Mr. Ryan Simmons, has generously donated $10,000.00 for for the purchase of our new pipe organ. It has arrived and is now in climate controlled storage. Assembly of such an historic instrument requires more than mere muscle. Our next step is to find an organ builder to install the instrument in our church. Such an installation is no easy task. The estimated cost will probably be in the range of $50,000.00. Please pray for our efforts and for an outporing of generous donors to help us in our effort to provide our church with a fitting instrument.
St. Elizabeth Church used to have a glorious pipe organ. Sadly, our organ was sold when the parish needed money during the great depression. Mr. Brian Joffrion, an alumnus of St. Elizabeth School who now lives in Shreveport, has done a great deal of research and discovered that our organ was made by the French organ builder, Cavaillé-Coll. This was the same company that built the organ that is in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. These organs are so valuable that France no longer allows these instruments to be sold outside of their country. Mr. Joffrion has seen the actual written document confirming that a small stock model Cavaillé-Coll organ was shipped to St. Elizabeth Church in Paincourtville in 1871. I have spoken with several pipe organ specialists who agree that the value of the organ that we lost would be in the range of millions of dollars! I am told that during hard times many church parishes were taken advantage of by instrument pirates who were looking to make a fortune by buying valuable instruments at a fraction of their actual value. St. Elizabeth Church is arguably the most beautiful churches on Bayou Lafourche, and is now the only such church without a real pipe organ.
Our present organ is an ancient electric organ that has survived longer than anyone expected. When it fails it will cost our parish at least $30,000 to replace it with a new synthetic electric instrument. The cost of a new pipe organ would most likely be hundreds of thousands of dollars which would be an expense that we could not bear.
I am writing to share with you some exciting news! A community of religious sisters sold their property in Saratoga California in order to move to their mission convent in San José. They no longer have a need for their 110 year old pipe organ that is of the same style as the original organ that was once in our church. This is the instrument that we have purchased.
In Christ,
Fr. Labbé. pics of the pipes and console
Assuring the Legacy of St. Elizabeth Campaign: As of August, we have many people stepping forward to make our efforts a success. We have blown past our minimum goal of $300,000 and are drawing closer to our challenge goal of $800,000. To date: Amount Pledged - $742,863.00 Amount Received -$512,817.62 We are currently negotiating with the Architects in order to make St. Elizabeth Community Center a reality. Please keep our cause in your prayers. RCIA: The rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is a program for those who are interested in becoming Catholic and for those non-Catholics who are just interested in learning more about the Catholic Church. Everyone is welcome to join us in the small (CCD) building to the right of St. Elizabeth Church. We meet every Sunday morning at 9:30am.
Restoration of the choir loft at St. Jules? The plans have been drawn and approved by the bishop and the diocesan building review board. It looks like we have a contractor, Mr. Rene Porrier from Donaldsonville! We hope to begin construction soon. Reasons for restoring the choir loft:
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