Confirmants
Confirmation of two of our Parishioners, Stan Lamb and Philipe Blansette, confirmation Saints, St. Michael the Archangel and St. Francis of Assisi respectively. This took place on the 2nd Sunday of Advent administered by Bishop Pivarunas at Christ the King Church in Lafayette Louisiana. Confirmations were also the Feast-day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the official patron Saint of the State of Louisiana! How wonderful is God’s hand that His providence caused this to happen on that day in that state by our Holy Bishop for our parishioners! Blessed be God!
Reception into the Roman Catholic Church
Stan Lamb, CPA from Jonesboro and Saint Philomena Parishioner, formerly a cradle Baptist abjured his errors, was conditionally baptized, made his profession of Faith, and was brought into the Church by Father Geckle on the second Sunday of Advent 2022. On the same day he gave a general confession for all the sins he committed during his life through to his then attained age of 68 and received the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for the First Time in his life! What a glorious day for his beautiful soul!
Quote from Stan, “for a long time I intellectually and logically knew that the Roman Catholic Church was the only Church that could be true, but the teaching coming out of institution under the Vatican and the sins of the clergy seemed to betray what had to be true if the words of Christ are true, which I knew they must. I could not reconcile this seemingly irreconcilable contradiction. When I discovered the details of the great apostasy and Sedevacantism, everything made perfect sense. The fog was lifted. Blessed be God all of the words of Christ are true and the straight path to the narrow gate is available for lovers of truth who, for love of God, will not repel the cross of truth but embrace it, that they might also participate in the resurrection!”
First Vocations
The first-fruits of the Arkansas missions have come forth in the form of two vocations! Daniel Smallwood of Sacred Heart Church will be joining the Brothers of Saint Francis of Assisi on August 22. Colette Crochet from our own Saint Philomena Chapel will be joining the Congregation of the Mother of God on September 4. We celebrated with a farewell party for each of them at the Sacred Heart Chapel. Thanks be to God for calling them to His service and for giving them the grace to answer the call!
Feast Day High Mass
August 11 was the feast of our Dear Little Saint, Philomena. Father celebrated a High Mass in her honor and some visitors from Sacred Heart Church in Mountain View, Arkansas came to help with the singing. Thanks be to God, it was a beautiful liturgy in honor of our patroness who has obtained so many graces and blessings for us!
Corpus Christi Procession
On June 19, we celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the Blessed Sacrament in which the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ is truly present. We adored our God with prayer and song in procession and twice received His blessing in Benediction. “O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving, be every moment Thine!”
Rosary Procession and May Crowning
During the month of May, the Church holds up, in a special way, the devotion to our Lady. We made a rosary procession to publicly show our love and devotion to Mary and to ask her for her most powerful prayers. Then, we crowned her statue with flowers. May the Mother of God assist us in our every need.
The Blessing of Our Chapel and Confirmations
On May 22, 2022, our church was blessed by Bishop Mark Pivarunas. Though we started from humble beginnings, now we have a beautiful church thanks to the blessings of God and the intercession of our dear Saint Philomena. Many of our members also received the wonderful sacrament of Confirmation and became soldiers of Christ.
