Rita LeBleu

Sulphur has a new church deeply rooted in the past. St. Francis de Sales Oratory offers the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Holy Mass and other sacraments in the traditional Latin liturgy in a Spanish mission-style structure built in 1924.   Saturday, April 17, Canon Jean Marie Moreau invited the public to get a closer look at the “work in progress” at 802 S. Huntington St.

“From 1924 to 1984, this served as a place of Catholic worship,” Moreau said as he led the group inside the remodeled building. “In 1984, there was a need for a bigger, more modern structure, and the school was already there (1109 Cypress Street in Sulphur)…. I have the chalice of Father Egidio Vecchio, the last priest of the original Our Lady of Prompt Succor.”

The building served as the City of Sulphur Courthouse from 1984 to 2020, and now it is an Institute of Christ the King apostolate. (Apostolate comes from the Greek word apostello, which means to send forth or to dispatch.)  Canon Moreau calls it, “a work in progress.”

The first service was held the Saturday before Palm Sunday, March 27.

Canon Moreau is a priest from the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a fairly new foundation established in 1990. He was born in France and was named after Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, who is known for spending as many as 12 to 15 hours in his confessional. Unlike Vianney, Latin and other languages in general, are not a problem for Canon Moreau.          

This is The Institute’s first apostolate in The South. Work began in January 2020, and stopped in March because of pandemic mandates. Demolition resumed that summer. However, the oratory’s opening, originally scheduled for the fall of 2020, was pushed back several months after Hurricane Laura interrupted renovation work in August and damaged the new roof.

“Marcus Trahan, Redmarque Construction, “took the project to heart,” Canon Moreau said.

Monks of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma constructed the altar and will return to complete the reredos, the large piece decorated behind the altar.

Currently, hanging from the ceiling and behind the altar is a painting on loan from Sacred Heart in Creole.

“The monk was supposed to finish the altar and go,” Moreau said, “but then we had the ice storm. He stayed and we had to keep him busy.”

The wooden altar uses a special paint technique that makes it look like marble. The monk taught a Bell City man the technique, and it was used on the columns. The flooring is travertine. Pews are original to the church and have been sanded and refinished. New kneelers are on the way. The wood of the original barrel ceiling has been exposed and painted blue.    

“Blue is color of Mary, the mother of Jesus,” Canon Moreau said.

Michael Dismukes and his family drove from Beaumont for the tour.

“I fell in love with the traditional liturgy,” he said. “I give more weight to its value, its traditional beauty.”

In 1962, the Latin Mass was modernized.

“We didn’t have a Latin Mass for 50 years until the Latin Society Mass of Beaumont was formed, Dismukes said. “Someone made a post on Facebook and we discovered an Oratory was being built less than an hour away.”

He calls it divine providence.

Mike Danahay, Mayor of Sulphur and James Guidry said they were baptized at the “old” Prompt Succor. They remember the traditional Latin Mass. Guidry’s father built the first rectory.

Danahay said the church’s purchase of the property was providential for the city.

Matthew Allen drove in from Orange for the event. He said he spent time working in a petrochemical plant in Normandy before moving to Orange.

“You can’t pass up a French priest,” he said.

Find out more about Sulphur’s  “new-old church,” service times, future phases of renovation, how to donate and Institute of Christ the King. Go to www.institute-christ-king.org and St. Francis de Sales Oratory, Sulphur, Louisiana Facebook page.

St. Francis de Sales Oratory is at 802 S. Huntington St. in Sulphur. The building served as the City of Sulphur Courthouse from 1984 to 2020.

Rita LeBleu