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Parish celebrates patron saint with new statue
Sylvia L. White, The Catholic Sun
October 18, 2007
Vincentian Father Jeff Harvey, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, had been trying to acquire a statue of their patron saint for the last two years.
Then, as Fr. Harvey described it, “someone told someone who told someone” and Fr. Perry Henry, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in New Orleans, heard about it in June.
After speaking with his parishioners, Fr. Henry donated a statue to the Phoenix parish. The only catch: someone had to pick it up.
Fr. Harvey made the trip in late August and drove the statue back in an SUV with all the seats down, including the passenger front seat. The statue is 6 feet 5 inches tall and 30 inches wide and took three people to install. Fr. Harvey shared stories of the trip with his congregation during a Sept. 30 Mass, when the parish celebrated the feast of St. Vincent de Paul.
“St. Vincent de Paul found God in others, especially the poor,” Fr. Harvey said during his homily. “He didn’t want the sisters in the convent praying, but out serving the poor.”
He also talked about Fr. Henry and the generosity of his New Orleans parish, still in the midst of recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
Fr. Anthony Nettickatt from St. Joseph was also at the Mass.
Students at the parish school celebrated St. Vincent de Paul three days prior, on the saint’s feast day. The children brought canned goods, placing them around the base of the figure, to give to the poor.
The statue will eventually be placed in the courtyard between the church, school and the social hall.
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