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 !