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Gulf Pine Catholic
•
July 18, 2014
Official
Appointment
Rev. Chuong V. Cao appointed Pastor of Blessed
Francis Seelos Parish and Our Mother of Sorrows
Parish, both in Biloxi, effective July 14, 2014.
Most Reverend Roger P. Morin, D.D.
Bishop of Biloxi
O
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M
other of
S
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From page 1
“This place welcomed me, educated me and gave
me hope for a life in the religious,” Father Norvel said.
“The Josephites were especially happy that I could be a
part of this celebration.”
Father Norvel recalled how Josephite Father Samuel
Kelly, who was also the founding pastor of his home
parish, St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Pascagoula,
“came to this area of Division Street and saw a need to
found a house of God to serve the spiritual needs of the
African American brothers and sisters.”
“In collaboration with Father Kelly, your ancestors
and their hard work, vibrant faith and brotherly love
established here on Division Street this parish,” Father
Norvel said.
“So, enlivened by your Catholic faith, you reached
out in a spirit of evangelization to welcome into the
Catholic Church your brothers and sisters who were
looking for a church home. How many families have
been initiated by the life giving waters of baptism at the
font here in this church, received the precious body of
the Lord, at this altar rail, got married or entered into
eternal life within the walls of this church? How good
God has been to you! That is why we gather here today
as a parish family to return our heartfelt thanks to God.”
Among those who received the sacraments from
Our Mother of Sorrows Church were the late Archbish-
op Eugene Marino, who shepherded the Archdiocese of
Atlanta, and his sister, Sister Mary Eileen Marino of the
Oblate Sisters of Providence.
“I can vividly remember the day when Sister Eileen
Marino visited our school here at Our Mother of Sor-
rows,” Father Norvel said. “She was beautiful, inspiring
and she exuded the blessed assurance that there was a
place for us black youth in the ministerial ranks of the
Catholic Church.”
Father Norvel and Archbishop Marino were class-
mates at the Josephite seminary.
“Back in those days, who would ever think that Fa-
ther Marino would be the first African American vicar
general of the Society of St. Joseph? His selection and
years of service made us all very proud. But our God
is full of surprises. He silenced the hierarchy and ener-
gized the laity when he selected Father Marino to be the
Archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia right down here in the
Deep South. What a sense of humor God has! You have
much to be thankful for.”
Archbishop Marino died in 2000 and is buried in
Biloxi Cemetery. Sister Eileen traveled from Baltimore
for the Mass. Their sister, Clare Rhodeman called the
100th anniversary celebration “wonderful and exhila-
rating.”
Our Mother of Sorrows Church
Father Steve Wilson, CSsR, pastor,
preaches the homily during the July 13
Mass.
Bunny Thompson and members of the Our Mother of Sorrows
Choir sing during the parish’s 100th Anniversary Mass
