CHURCH HISTORIES Terrebonne Parish, LA CATHOLIC - ST. BERNADETTE CATHOLIC CHURCH Submitted by: Cynthia Daigle Source: The Houma Daily Courier and The Terrebonne Press, Houma, LA. Last modified: 10 MARCH 2008 ================================================== NOTE: Most histories were submitted by the church to the Houma Daily Courier and The Terrebonne Press as part of the newspapers Sesquicentennial Edition. Not all churches submitted histories. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ================================================== CATHOLIC - ST. BERNADETTE CATHOLIC CHURCH Location in 2007 - 409 Funderburk Ave., Houma, LA The Houma Daily Courier and The Terrebonne Press Houma, LA, Oct. 8, 1972, Sunday ST. BERNADETTE CARVED OUT OF LARGER PARISH Arthor: St. Bernadette Sonbrious, Rev. Joseph Latino In June, 1958, Rev. George A. Herbert was appointed by Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel to found a parish in the "Broadmoor" section of Houma. Property approximately seven and one half acres large was already purchased by Archdiocese for a parish plant and many of the people in the area were anxious to have a priest of their own. The priest of St. Francis de Sales had been saying Mass for several years on Sundays, first in the Bayou Cane School and then at Broadmoor School. Father George Herbert, in becoming the first pastor of St. Bernadette Soubrious, said Mass for the first time on June 29, 1958 in the Broadmoor School. The first parish rectory was a small house which was purchased on Collins St. into which Father Herbert moved by the end of July 1958. Immediately, plans were drawn up to build a church; eventually a contract was signed before the end of that year and in seven months Mass was said for the first time in the Parish Church on Sunday, July 5, 1959. The cost of the Church unfurnished was $75,000.00. In 1958, when the parish was founded, there were 435 Catholic families within its boundaries. The original boundaries of the parish were drawn between St. Francis de Sales in Houma and St. Bridget Parish in Schriever, and consisted of those residents living in the Bayou Cane area. Today, St. Bernadette Soubrious Parish consist of over 1300 Catholic families. Father Herbert served the people alone until June 1962 when he received his first assistant, Rev. Andrew C. Taramina. In the fourteen years of the Parish's existence there have been two pastors to succeed Father Herbert - Rev. Arthur Finnegan who is presently retired, Pastor Emeritus, and Rev. Joseph N. Latino. The Parish has also been served by six assistant pastors, and the present assistant being Rev. Louis N. Chaisson who has served here for the past three years.