St. Eugene Church, Grand Chenier Churches, Cameron Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Kathy LaCombe-Tell Source: Truman, Stacey Submitted July 2004 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** St. Eugene Church, Grand Chenier 5035 Grand Chenier Highway Grand Chenier LA, 70643 ---------------------------- St. Eugene Parish, domiciled in Grand Chenier, is one of the newer church parishes in the Diocese of Lake Charles, having been established in 1961 by the Most Reverend Maurice Schexnayder, Bishop of Lafayette. It may also be called one of the most isolated of the 36 church parishes in the diocese, being practically "the end of the line" in the southern reaches of the diocese. Geographically the parish lies along two ridges that characterize the southern portion of the civil parish of Cameron: the "front ridge," or Grand Chenier ("chenier" means a ridge of oaks) and Chenier Perdue. It has been described as being "35 miles long and four miles wide." The Rev. Vincent Vadakkedath, pastor of St. Eugene Parish since 1994, and his staff administer to about 180 Catholic families in the area, the economy of which is based primarily upon agriculture and grazing, plus oil industry activities. The Gulf of Mexico is about four miles from the front doorstep of the parish rectory, and, as with all of southern Cameron Parish, is very much a factor in the lives of people and communities along its extent. Although the church is comparatively young, Catholic liturgies have been celebrated in the area for more than a century. One of the earliest notations concerning the area is to be found in the correspondence of the Most Rev. Francis Janssens, Archbishop of New Orleans, as follows: "I hereby authorize Rev. Father J. Engberink of Cameron Parish to accept in my name from Mr. Emmanuel Sturlese a piece of land situated at Grand Chenier, Cameron Parish." The correspondence was dated March 9, 1893. By 1895 Father Engberink, the founding pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Creole, had built a mission chapel at Grand Chenier and Mass was being celebrated. Three times during the ensuing years churches and chapels at Grand Chenier have been destroyed by hurricanes. The present church was built after Hurricane Audrey and has a capacity of 400. The religious educational building was also rebuilt. In addition to his duties at St. Eugene Church, Father Vadakkedath also celebrates Mass and administers the Sacraments at Immaculate Conception Chapel, located at the western end of the elongated parish. The parish carries on a religious education program for elementary and high school age youth, and there are two missions yearly during the Advent and Lenten seasons. Retreats are also held each year, one for the elementary grades and another for the high school grades of the religious education program. Retreatants are asked to stay overnight in the Catholic hall. Father Vadakkedath sees as his chief priorities visiting the parishioners on a regular basis. "We do not skip any family, whether its members attend church or not," he said. "I even visit non-Catholic families. These routine visits have made visible changes in their outlook toward the Church and religious services." The parish has also chosen to honor St. Joseph on March 19 of each year. "Our St. Eugene families come together to share their lives, intimacy and care for each other," the pastor said. St. Eugene Parish has had a dozen pastors in its short history. The Rev. Joseph Decoteau, M.S., now pastor of Our Lady of LaSalette Parish in Sulphur, was the founding pastor. He was followed by the Rev. John DeLeeuw in 1965, the Rev. Charles Soileau in 1967, the Rev. Henry Eugene Ory in 1969 and the Rev. Tolson Jones in 1972. The Rev. Edward Degeyter was pastor for six months in 1974 and was followed by the Rev. A. L. Bedard in December of the same year. The Rev. Joseph Woerdeman became pastor in 1976. He was followed by the Rev. Roland Vaughn in 1977. The Rev. Robert Shreve became pastor in 1984. He was followed by the Rev. Mark Broussard, and Father Vincent, the present pastor, who assumed the reins in 1994. (This history was written by Truman Stacey of and for the Diocese of Lake Charles for the Jubilee Year 2000.)