EDITOR: VERY REV. HENRY DAVIS, SSJ

hearts of the little camp-

ers. The psalm theme —

— was great and the kids

journeyed to Moody Gar-

dens for an IMAX Movie

and a day at the Beach.

The culmination of the

camp was brought reality

as we had our camp closing

celebration. Many parents,

grandparents and friends

were treated to a song fest

and a great lunch. Many

thanks to our supporters

especially the Black and

Indian Fund of the United

States with their grant to our

program.

What do you call a

group of children

who come together

during the hottest

days of summer,

screaming shouting,

singing, splashing ,

clapping, reading

the Bible, and creat-

ing beautiful crafts? You

would call it

“PANDAMANIA”, where

“God is Wild about us” take

from Psalm 139. For the fifth

straight year, Our Mother

of Mercy Catholic Church

welcomed 45 youths, 15

counselors and 6 adults

to a wonderful event of

the Vacation Bible School

Summer Camp. This five

week program focused on

five themes which was

tied to biblical stories

from the Old and New

Testament. Biblical

themes were brought to

life through African songs

and God’s creatures who

reflected

those

attributes

in their

own way.

The

themes

were

“God made you.” ,

“God listens to you.”,

God watches over

you.” , “God loves you

no matter what.”, “God

gives good gifts.” The

camp was staffed by the

good people of the par-

ish. Ms. A. Mills was the

director, of Mrs. M.

Denson, Mrs. K. Thomas

and other teachers as-

sisted with the activities.

We began the day with

prayer, songs and dance

with the campers. The

camp was also grateful

for the junior counselors

and this year senior

counselor Jacoby Ander-

son, Mary Pickney and

Al Lewis Jr. who won the

“God Wild About Us” Summer Camp at OMOM!

New Josephites Priests for Missions!

On May 21, 2011, three

young men lives changed

for the good after years of

preparation, prayers and

apostolic duties in the Jose-

phite Parish community.

Rev. Christopher Amadi,

SSJ, who did his diaconate

year here at OMOM. Rev.

Ugochukwu Jerome Cletus,

SSJ our newly assigned

Vicar begin late August

2011 and Rev. Michael K

Okechukwu, SSJ, who as-

sisted here a summer at

OMOM were ordained

to the priesthood at Holy

Comforter—St. Cyprian

Church in Washington, D.C.

The church was filled to

capacity as these men took

the step into serving the

Church as a Josephite

priest. Let us all bless the

Lord and pray for these

men and pray for more men

from our parish to be Jose-

phite priests or brothers.

NEWSLETTER DATE: AUGUST 2011 VOLUME 1 NO. 4 “ST.

OUR MOTHER OF MERCY NEWSLETTER

Special points of in-

terest:

Our youth of our par-

ish attended two con-

ferences this Summer.

Reflections from the

CYM Class of 2011.

First African American

Josephite Superior

elected!

Our Mother of Mercy

Church celebrating 75

years 1937-2011!!

Inside this issue:

Good News!

Junior Counselor

skating the time

away!

Ms. Alexis Reado’s spotlight 2

Very Rev. William Norvel, SSJ 2

KPC Texas has a chaplain! 3

Young disciples of Christ. 3

New Roman Missal 3

School News 4

Very Rev. Henry J. Davis,

SSJ has been appointed the

new Texas State Confer-

ence Chaplain. He will be

the first Fourth Degree

Knight to hold the position

in the state of Texas. His

main responsibilities will

be to assist with the spiri-

tual enrichment of all mem-

bers in the state and to ad-

vise the boards of the Junior

Knights and Daughters and

Senior members Boards

with liturgical celebrations

at each state conferences.

The Knights and Ladies of

St. Peter Claver is a Catho-

lic Organization founded

the Society of St. Joseph of

the Sacred Heart of Jesus

and four lay men over a

hundred years ago. Fr.

Davis belong to Council

#78 in New Orleans and

works extensively with

both Councils and Courts at

Our Mother of Mercy and

Blessed Sacrament

Churches. Fr. Davis will be

accessible to any and all

councils and courts who

may be in need of spiritual

direction and advice on the

life of St. Peter Claver. The

next big conference for the

Texas State Conference will

be in May 4-6, 2012 in Cor-

pus Christi, Texas for Sen-

ior members and Junior

State Conference will be

March 8-March 11, 2012 at

the Dallas Forth Worth

Texas.

KPC State of Texas has a new chaplain– Do you

know him?

Meet Very Rev. William Norvel, SSJ

became more involved in

things that bring me closer to

God. Over the years I have

had the pleasure to evangel-

ize with a variety of people

that I probably would have

never met. On our annual

trips I have friends that I can

speak to by name and relate

to them about almost any-

thing, because as a young

Christian we go through the

same things.

By watching the older mem-

bers each year I gained

knowledge on how to be a

leader and worked my way up

the ladder from being a mem-

ber, to being the secretary,

vice president, and finally

president. It is sad to leave a

strong group that has became

a family away from home. I

will take experiences with me

as I embark on my new jour-

ney, college!

God Bless,

Alexis Reado -Class of 2011

To the Class of 2011 by Ms. Alexis Reado

Throughout my high school ca-

reer I have been involved in the

CYM ( Catholic Youth Ministry).

It has helped me be a leader and

take the initiative to be all that

the Lord has in store for me.

When I first joined I was appre-

hensive about the organization

because it was something new.

Everything at that time in my

life was new to me, but I am

glad to say now that I am glad I

did not give into my fear. By

being a member I have strength-

ened my faith as a Catholic and

MS. ALEXIS READO & MR.

IBRAHIM PAYNE

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

FOR THE CLASS OF 2011

ATTENDING THE

DIOCESAN YOUTH

CONFERENCE!

Page 2

OUR MOTHER OF MERCY NEWSLETTER

Very Rev. Henry J.

Davis, SSJ cele-

brating the mass at

Diocesan Youth

conference in

2010& 2011.

The Very Rev. William Norvel SSJ is the Superior General of the

Josephite Society of Priests and Brothers. Father Norvel has

been a leader in bringing African American spirituality into

liturgy in the United States. “My thrust in ministry has been to

bring black culture and black spirituality to the Catholic

Church,” Father Norvel told The Josephite Harvest shortly after

his election.

He is credited with starting the gospel choir movement in

Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. He opened a Josephite

house of spiritual formation in Nigeria, where he served for

five years from 1999 to 2004. A number of Josephite priests

have been ordained as a result of the Nigerian connection. He

known to members here at OMOM. He used to visit when Fr.

Wooka was pastor.

Very Rev. William Norvel, SSJ

first American American

Superior of the Josephites

of Baltimore, Maryland.

Rev. Michael Thompson, SSJ

Rev. William Novel, SSJ

Rev. Tom Frank, SSJ

I am often amazed at how

society can say that our

children and teens can

not focus or get there be-

havior in check. There

may be some credit to the

statement but when you

encounter the teens and

youth at Our Mother of

Mercy Catholic Church,

you can not but contain

the joy and the excite-

ment for the future be-

cause these teens are

strong examples of what

it means to be a follower

of Christ. From “Souper

Bowl of Caring” drives, to

collecting and organizing

can goods, assisting as

ministers of hospitality,

lectors, altar servers,

ministers of music, coun-

selors at VBS, drama, Di-

ocesan Youth

Board Leaders, and of

course members of the

Catholic Youth Ministry,

CYM. This list can go on

and on. Our teens of Our

Mother of Mercy Catholic

always continues to give

you and me cause to say,

“Thank You Jesus and

Amen!” . These young

disciples of Christ wit-

ness their faith by attend-

ing religious classes on

Monday evenings and

attend parish events as

youth members who are

active in this parish. The

Confirmation class this

year had a total of 12

teens who wanted to keep

living their faith in the

Lord. On May 15, 2011,

we celebrated the

Graduation Mass for the

class of 2011. A total of 33

graduates from high

school and college were

honored and due to the

generosity of our parish-

ioners through the Lenten

folders and fundraisers,

we awarded college

scholarships to nine to

our young men and four to

our young ladies totaling

$7000.00.

Our CYM group is well

known around the Dio-

cese and often times,

asked to assist other

youth groups in develop-

ing strong faith witness-

ing skills and parish lead-

ership. This year we are

blessed once again to

have a member of our

CYM group to present us

on the Diocese Youth

Board. Mr. Julien Owens,

a young servant of the

Lord will bring our teens

concerns and experience

to the committee. We are

also blessed to have to

youth members who at-

tended the

Oracle

Summer

Institute in

Washing-

ton D.C.

Mr. Jordan

Chambers

and Ms.

Donya

Stagg. We

are in-

debted to

the many

adults who give of their

time for assisting but in

particular of Ms. Joyce

Lombard our youth direc-

tor for many years, May

Continue to bless our

Youths as they continue to

serve the Lord.

Our Catholic Teens are Disciples of Christ!

Page 3

VOLUME 1 NO. 4 “ST. JOSEPH, HEAR OUR PRAYER!”

The Roman Catholic

Church on November 27,

2011 will be using the

Third Edition of the Ro-

man Missal. In the com-

ing weeks, we as a parish

community will begin to

sing and pray new words

to our celebration. There

have been many hand-

outs in the parish bulle-

tins and workshops to

prepare us. The next wor-

ship will be in October

2011 in the parish. You

are invited to keep re-

viewing to understand

your role as we all wor-

ship anew.

Our Mother of Mercy Church

3390 Sarah Street

Beaumont Texas 77705

The Josephits Fathers and Brothers

Phone: 409-842-5533

Fax: 409-842-4710

Web page: www.omomcc.org

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church joyfully announces its

75th Anniversary kickoff celebration on January 21-22, 2012 at

all the masses. On that weekend we will pass out the schedule

of events. Each ministry organization will sponsor an activity

each month and we will have a parish Lenten Revival, 75 hours

of adoration before the Holy Eucharist, a 75th Banquet in the

Summer of 2012 and the great Evangelization Quest Drive to

bring back to our Church 75 members who left and to recruit

75 new parishioners. We will have friends and family day and

special masses of remembrances to honor Our Mother of

Mercy, patroness of our parish and all departed parishioners

of our parish. As members of the parish , you will be also

asked to give a special gift to your church to renovate the

Church from the front to the back fundraiser. More details will

be on the way. Our great theme for our 75th Anniversary

represents the discipleship of our patroness, “Our Spirits

Rejoice in God our Savior!”

PAGE 4 AUGUST 2011 “OUR MOTHER OF MERCY, PRAY FOR US!”

dents to succeed in all acade-

mia and they offer the presence

of Christ to them everyday. Tell

your family and friends to send

their children to the best school

in the Diocese of Beaumont.

Tuition is affordable and you

can not afford to miss the op-

portunity to form your child in

the ways of the Lord. You can

register on online at

www.omomcs.org or contact

Mrs. Wheaton at 409-842-5534

for more information and quali-

fications for your child to be

admitted to the school. Our

motto, “Enter to Learn, Leave to

Serve!”

Our Mother of Mercy Catholic

School continues to be a place

to grow little minds with the

knowledge of God’s world. Our

school assists with encounter-

ing the lessons of reading, writ-

ing, arithmetic, and computer

skills. Our school encourages

all its youth to engage with ac-

tivities of the sports, music and

worship as each student prays

everyday and on Wednesdays

@ 8:30 a.m. celebrates the

Eucharist as a student body.

You can see the difference in

their little lives as they boldly

sing out to the Lord and pro-

claim the readings of the day

with confidence. Our teachers

continue to meet the challenge

of drilling and teaching the stu-

Our Mother of Mercy School continues to

educate God’s most precious little ones.

Our Mother of Mercy Church celebrates its 75th Anniversary.

1937-2012

O UR SPIRITS REJOICE IN GOD OUR SAVIOR !